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Weekly Bulletin issue no. 25, 1998 <sti>Stikktittel

Municipal waste, 1997:

More waste, but more recycling

Last year Norwegians generated an average of 308 kilos of household waste each. This is more than ever before and represents an increase of 15 kilos from the previous year. Ninety kilos of the waste was recycled, which is a higher percentage than the year before. As a result, less of the remainder is incinerated or dumped in landfills.
The figures are obtained from a sample survey conducted by Statistics Norway in 53 municipalities. In 1997 altogether 393,000 tonnes, or 29 per cent of household waste, was brought to recycling sites. The survey shows that the percentage of household waste that is recycled went up an average of 26 kilos per resident compared to 1996.

An increase in the amount of household waste has been registered every time since the first surveys were done in the early '70s. In 1974 each resident generated an average of 174 kilos of household waste, and last year the quantity rose to 308 kilos. Somewhat different methods were used to produce the statistics, and some of the increase in the early years could possibly be attributed to this fact. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the quantity of waste has increased, and that the increase rate has actually been the highest in recent years. The trend flies in the face of the main objective of the environmental protection authorities' policy on waste, which is to reduce the quantity of waste.

Recycling increasing the most

In recent years, both central environmental protection authorities and the municipalities have implemented programmes to increase recycling of waste. As a result, the quantity delivered for recycling has increased each year. In the last two years the increase in recycled household waste has been greater than the overall increase in the quantity of household waste. The result is that the remainder that is incinerated or dumped in landfills has actually declined.

New Statistics

Municipal waste, 1997.
The statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and also in the Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) for 1992 and 1995. For more information, contact: olav.skogesal@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 51 65 or ole.osvald.moss@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 52 32.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 25, 1998