- Trash Volume in MV Decreases Once More
After a period of continuous growth, household waste production in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has seen a significant decrease once more. The Statistical Office in Schwerin reveals that the average individual generated 426 kilograms of waste in 2022, marking an 8% decrease compared to 2021's 465 kilograms. The highest waste production per person was recorded in 2020, with 469 kilograms.
Over the past decade, household waste generation had been on an upward trend. One of the contributing factors was the surge in online shopping, which led to an increase in packaging waste. Notably, the waste levels in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern reached unprecedented heights in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 period. In 2022, the waste production returned to the levels seen in 2015, as per the statistics.
In total, approximately 6.5 million metric tons of waste were disposed of in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2022. Around 10% of this total was household waste. Accordiing to the Statistical Office, waste levels have been decreasing since reaching their peak in 2020, when 6.8 million tons were treated and disposed of in the state's 215 waste disposal facilities. In 2022, around 1.4 million tons of waste originated from other federal states. Landfills accepted 820,000 tons of waste, while over 900,000 tons were incinerated. The same amount of organic waste was separately processed. The majority of waste, which amounted to 2.9 million tons or 44%, was disposed of in approved landfill sites.
The decrease in household waste production in 2022 can be attributed in part to improvements in waste management strategies. Despite the significant reduction, it's crucial to continue implementing sustainable waste management practices to maintain this trend.
