Waste processing facilities received 1,581 thousand tonnes of waste in 2022. Of this, 1,420 thousand tonnes were recovered in some way, while 147 thousand tonnes were sent to landfill sites. The proportion of waste that went to landfill in 2022 was therefore 9.3% of the total amount processed.
The largest portion of material received was earthen material, gravel, and other material that can be allocated as filling material, which is considered reuse and therefore recovered material. The proportion of material used for filling has been around 50% of the total weight in the preceding years, but was 60% of the total in 2022. Other recycling was 19% and other reuse 9%.
The recorded amount of material sent to landfill sites has been approximately 200 thousand tonnes yearly since 2014. Significant progress has been made in reducing material sent to landfills since 2019, especially in regard to mixed urban waste. This category consists of mixed waste from households, community disposal centers and from businesses that are not required to return their waste separately. In 2019, nearly 219 thousand tonnes of waste were sent to landfill, of which 140 thousand tonnes were mixed urban waste. By 2022, this sort of landfilling had decreased by more than half to about 68 thousand tonnes.
The total amount of waste going to landfill in 2022 was just over 147 thousand tonnes, which is a 35% reduction compared with 2019. In 2019, almost all mixed urban waste was either landfilled or burned without energy recovery. However, in 2022, about 39% of mixed urban waste was sent abroad for energy production, which counts as material recovery.