Slovakia is consistently one of the EU’s strongest performers when it comes to recycling plastic packaging. Eurostat’s 2022 data shows Slovakia at the top of the European rankings with a 60 percent recycling rate. Although the figure reported for 2023 drops slightly to 54.1 percent, it still places the country among the best in the bloc, just behind Belgium and Latvia.
Key points from recent data:
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2022: Slovakia recorded the highest plastic-packaging recycling rate in the EU at 60 percent.
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2023: The country reached 54.1 percent, ranking third in the union.
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EU context: Across the EU, 41 percent of all plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2022, only a modest increase from the 38 percent recorded a decade earlier.
Several other countries posted strong results in 2022: Belgium at 54 percent, Germany and Slovenia both at 51 percent. On the opposite end, Malta managed only 16 percent, with Denmark, France and Austria also showing relatively low performance.
Eurostat’s broader packaging-waste figures reveal the scale of the problem. In 2022, the EU generated more than 83 million tonnes of packaging waste—about 186.5 kg per person—with paper and cardboard making up the largest share. Plastic accounted for 19 percent of the total, alongside glass.
Breakdown of plastic-packaging recycling per person in 2022:
The average EU resident generated 36.1 kg of plastic packaging, of which 14.7 kg was recycled, matching the bloc’s overall 41 percent recycling rate.
Below is a snapshot of how countries performed in terms of total packaging waste recycled in 2022 (in tonnes):
Germany (1,691,260)
Italy (1,084,233)
Spain (816,341)
France (612,202)
Netherlands (251,791)
Belgium (198,509)
Portugal (168,728)
Hungary (118,305)
Ireland (110,842)
Sweden (97,970)
Slovakia (86,508)
Greece (81,746)
Austria (76,216)
Bulgaria (58,572)
Denmark (49,607)
Finland (49,283)
Lithuania (47,199)
Slovenia (28,912)
Croatia (25,945)
Latvia (23,126)
Estonia (20,211)
Luxembourg (9,073)
Cyprus (8,524)
Malta (2,555)
(Czechia, Poland and Romania did not provide data.)
