Bruna Alves
Research lead covering environment and sustainability
Plastic waste in Spain - statistics & facts
Plastic waste is a global issue, and within Europe, Spain is a big part of the problem. Ranking as the fourth-largest producer of plastic packaging waste in the European Union – behind only Germany, France, and Italy – the Mediterranean country’s output stood at almost 1.8 million metric tons in 2021. With only a fraction of this getting recycled, halting the squandering of plastics while enhancing the country’s waste management scheme stands as a pivotal priority in Spain.
While packaging accounts for the vast majority of plastic waste generated in Spain, plastic waste generation from other sectors – such as industry, agriculture, and construction – has also been on the rise, amounting to 950,000 metric tons in 2021. Around 70 percent of this total was recycled, with the remaining amount being sent to landfills or incinerated for waste recovery. The volume of plastic waste landfilled in Spain has grown by 65 percent since 2018.
In addition to public awareness, the Spanish government has also established a series of measures against plastic waste pollution. The 2022 “Law of residues and contaminated soils” saw the establishment of a plastic tax on non-reusable plastic packaging. The law also sees the establishment of a series of waste reduction targets, including a 70-percent reduction on single-use plastic use by 2030 in comparison to 2022 levels, a minimum collection rate of 85 percent of plastic bottles by 2027, and an increase in the contained recycled material of PET bottles put on the market from 2025 onwards.
Waste generation and management
The generation of plastic packaging waste in Spain has increased year after year, growing by roughly 35 percent in the past decade. Meanwhile, the country’s recycling rate of plastic packaging waste – which had been continuously growing – dropped to below 50 percent in 2020 and 2021, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Spain’s plastic packaging waste is managed by Ecoembes, an organization that coordinates the collection, sorting, recycling, and recovery of all types of packaging waste through selective collection containers. In recent years, Ecoembes has found itself the target of criticism for reporting overinflated recycling figures. The discrepancies are mainly due to the fact that their reported recycling figures only consider the waste generated by associated companies.While packaging accounts for the vast majority of plastic waste generated in Spain, plastic waste generation from other sectors – such as industry, agriculture, and construction – has also been on the rise, amounting to 950,000 metric tons in 2021. Around 70 percent of this total was recycled, with the remaining amount being sent to landfills or incinerated for waste recovery. The volume of plastic waste landfilled in Spain has grown by 65 percent since 2018.
Plastic pollution
With such large volumes of plastic waste generated each year, some of it inevitably ends up in the environment. In 2022, nearly 80 percent of the waste items found across Spanish beaches were made of plastic. Nevertheless, most of Spain’s population is seemingly aware of the growing plastic waste problem. For example, over 75 percent of Spaniards agreed on the importance of banning unnecessary single-use plastics or plastics that cannot be easily recycled.In addition to public awareness, the Spanish government has also established a series of measures against plastic waste pollution. The 2022 “Law of residues and contaminated soils” saw the establishment of a plastic tax on non-reusable plastic packaging. The law also sees the establishment of a series of waste reduction targets, including a 70-percent reduction on single-use plastic use by 2030 in comparison to 2022 levels, a minimum collection rate of 85 percent of plastic bottles by 2027, and an increase in the contained recycled material of PET bottles put on the market from 2025 onwards.
