Global Waste Recycling Market - Country Wise

At present, humans are generating different types of waste such as municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, industrial non-hazardous waste, agricultural and animal waste, medical waste, radioactive waste,  construction and demolition debris, extraction and mining waste, oil and gas production waste, fossil fuel combustion waste, etc. Each and every country generates different amounts of waste which are also recycled at different recycling rates. Waste management is one of the key UN sustainable development goals which almost every country on the planet is making efforts to accomplish. Some countries perform well in waste recycling and management, whereas others perform on average.

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South Korea and Slovenia are among the top countries with high waste recycling rates.

In South Korea, Waste recycling and management have been a critical priority for the last three decades. The country has one of the most robust waste management and recycling programs around the globe. These programs include legislation and initiatives such as a deposit-refund system, volume-based waste disposal system, extended producer responsibility, etc., to ensure minimum waste with rapid urbanization.(3) The country's waste is segmented into recycling, landfill, incineration, and composting for adequately managing the waste. 

Similarly, Slovenia is also consistently making efforts to recycle its waste. Fifteen years ago, Slovenian waste went directly to landfills, but Slovenia is currently recycling around 75% of its waste.(4) From vast landfills in the past to clean cities at present, Slovenia has achieved a lot in the last few years. The Centre for waste management came into existence in 2015 to ensure zero waste. Less than 5% of waste is now going to landfills, and the remaining waste is sent to processing facilities for making solid fuel and recyclable materials.

Germany is also a leading country in recycling and waste management both at the European and global levels. Over the last few decades, the government has accomplished untamed progress in recycling and waste reduction. Germany is the leader in recycling because of the plans and policies such as the circular economy framework, waste hierarchy principles, Polluter pays schemes, subsidiary programs, etc. 

Australia is another giant in the room in waste management and recycling. The Australian government invests heavily in waste management initiatives to promote recycling and waste reduction through its National Waste Policy. "Waste Less, Recycle More" is one such program by the Australian government with a budget of over $330 million.(5) The country is further aiming to move from this program to waste and sustainable materials strategy 2041 to reduce and eliminate waste going to landfills. 

The UK is also slowly progressing in improving waste management through recycling. Despite producing millions of tons of plastic waste, the country gradually increases its plastic recycling rate through regulations and legislation. The deposit return scheme, packaging produce responsibility system reforms, and environmental act 2021 are some efforts by the UK parliament to ensure a high recycling rate consistently. The country is also experiencing more waste due to import restrictions placed by China on plastic waste. This is another reason behind the UK's adoption of more recycling strategies.

The USA also highly focuses on waste recycling to achieve a high recycling rate through proper regulations and initiatives. The country is working on several strategies like the National Recycling Strategy to achieve a 50% waste recycling rate by 2030.(6) Five objectives were determined by the US in 2021 for creating a cost-effective and more resilient recycling system. These are as follows:

• Improving the recyclable commodities market to promote development, increasing manufacturing of recyclable materials, etc.
• Enhancing the material collection and management infrastructure to increase awareness among people, continuing to fund research, improving trash collection, etc.
• Preventing the contamination in the recycling materials stream ensures the availability of resources and better quality of recycled material.
• Implementing proper programs and policies to assist the circular economy by strengthening federal coordination, conducting analysis of recycling challenges, etc.
• Developing new measurement standards and data collection methods for measuring targets, tracking performance indicators, creating recycling content measures, etc. 

The USA and UK are among the most developed and technologically advanced countries of the 21st century. However, both countries do not have such an advanced level of waste recycling. Both USA and UK are among the worst countries when it comes to waste recycling. Their recycling rates are even lower than the recycling rates of smaller countries like Slovenia, South Korea, Latvia, etc. A strong focus on industrialization and production are among the prominent factors due to which these countries focused less on recycling in the past. These countries are slowly progressing towards waste recycling in terms of strategies, techniques, and investments.