Counting every building site, factory, shop and home, Iceland is estimated to produce 1.3 million tonnes of waste in 2026, or roughly 2.8 billion pounds.
The last full count is from 2022, when Eurostat measured 1.58 million tonnes. More than half of it was rock, gravel and sand dug up for building work, which is why Iceland's total can swing by hundreds of thousands of tonnes from one count to the next.
Iceland recycled 77.3% of its packaging in 2023, well past its 65% target for 2025. Yet packaging came to just 65,688 tonnes, a sliver of a national total estimated at 1.3 million tonnes for 2026.
Iceland's waste totals (2014-2026)
Eurostat's waste generation collection counts Iceland's waste every two years, alongside the EU countries. The table runs from 2014, the first year of Statistics Iceland's current waste table, to our estimates for 2024 and 2026.
| Year | Tonnes | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,284,560 | +140,548 (+12.3%) |
| 2024 | 1,144,012 | -436,975 (-27.6%) |
| 2022 | 1,580,987 | +520,084 (+49.0%) |
| 2020 | 1,060,903 | -232,608 (-18.0%) |
| 2018 | 1,293,511 | +226,192 (+21.2%) |
| 2016 | 1,067,319 | +252,171 (+30.9%) |
| 2014 | 815,148 | baseline |
Note: Eurostat's waste generation collection (env_wasgen), all economic activities plus households. Odd years are not measured. The 2024 and 2026 rows are our estimates. Eurostat also lists 510,941 tonnes for 2010 and 529,351 tonnes for 2012.
Most of the swing is excavated rock and gravel. In Iceland's own count it rose from 468,503 tonnes in 2020 to 904,178 tonnes in 2022, almost doubling, while the total rose 49.0%.
Estimating Iceland's waste for 2024 and 2026
Iceland also counts its waste every year. Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) holds the yearly series from 2014 to 2022, and the Environment and Energy Agency (Umhverfis- og orkustofnun) publishes a summary for each year since.
The agency's 2022 total, 1,581,001 tonnes, matches Eurostat's to within 14 tonnes. So we split Iceland's waste into two parts and moved each one on its own.
- Excavated rock, gravel, sand and clean soil: 740,108 tonnes in 2023 and 546,335 tonnes in 2024, from the agency's summaries. For 2026 we use the average from 2020 to 2024, 670,117 tonnes, because this part rises and falls with building work and shows no steady trend.
- Everything else: 616,910 tonnes in 2023. For 2024 it moves with Eurostat's count of municipal waste, down 3.1%. For 2026 it grows with the population, up 2.8% from the start of 2024 to the start of 2026.
That gives 1,144,012 tonnes for 2024 and 1,284,560 tonnes for 2026, 18.7% below 2022. Per person it comes to about 3,258 kg for everyone living in Iceland at the start of 2026.
Why the agency's 2024 total is not used whole
The agency's 2024 summary adds up to 1,370,231 tonnes. But 257,877 tonnes of it are booked as disposed of with no landfill or incineration figure behind them, 94,765 tonnes of that mixed household waste.
Its 2023 summary adds up to the tonne. So we take only the rock and gravel from 2024, where the rows add up.
The margin on Iceland's estimate
We tested the method on the years Statistics Iceland has already counted. Moving everything except rock and gravel with municipal waste came out 3.5% to 10.0% too low on every period tested between 2015 and 2023, so the true figure more likely sits above our estimate than below it.
- 2024, 1.14 to 1.21 million tonnes: from our estimate up to the largest miss in that test.
- 2026, 1.0 to 1.6 million tonnes: rock and gravel at their lowest level since 2015 (391,458 tonnes, in 2015) or their highest (904,178 tonnes, in 2022).
Who handles waste in Iceland?
Iceland is not in the EU. It belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA), which takes in EU laws only once they are added to the EEA Agreement. The way Iceland pays for packaging waste is its own.
- Úrvinnslusjóður, the Icelandic Recycling Fund: charges a recycling fee on packaging and seven other product groups. There are no competing schemes to join.
- Skatturinn, the tax authority: collects that fee, from importers together with their customs duties and from Icelandic producers directly.
- Endurvinnslan: runs the deposit on drinks containers.
- Umhverfis- og orkustofnun: collects the records every waste operator must file on what it treats or exports, and publishes the national waste figures.
Per person, Iceland generated 4,139 kg of waste in 2022, below the EU average of 4,981 kg. Leave out the major mineral waste and it was 1,409 kg, against 1,771 kg for the EU.
Norway, which sits outside the EU in the same way, generated 2,573 kg per person. Countries do not count waste in exactly the same way, so read those gaps as rough.
What Iceland's waste is made of
The 2022 total splits into very different kinds of waste. This is how Eurostat recorded Iceland's 2022 waste by type.
| Waste type | Tonnes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Rock, gravel and sand | 892,203 | 56.4% |
| Household and similar waste | 123,498 | 7.8% |
| Building and demolition rubble | 116,403 | 7.4% |
| Chemical waste | 111,495 | 7.1% |
| Metal | 61,353 | 3.9% |
| Wood | 54,840 | 3.5% |
| Everything else | 221,195 | 14.0% |
Note: Eurostat's waste generation collection, 2022 reference year. "Rock, gravel and sand" is Eurostat's "other mineral wastes". The seven lines add to 1,580,987 tonnes.
Rock, gravel and sand made up 56.4% of Iceland's total, against 25.1% across the EU. Eurostat books almost all of it under construction, which generated 888,821 tonnes in Iceland in 2022.
Soil works the other way round. It was 2.2% of Iceland's total and 22.1% of the EU's, because Iceland records most of what it digs up as stone and gravel rather than soil.
Construction and demolition waste in the narrower sense, the broken concrete, tiles and asphalt left when buildings and roads are rebuilt, was a much smaller 7.4%.
Household waste per person in Iceland
Iceland generated 561 kg of municipal waste per person in 2024, above the EU average of 513 kg, according to Eurostat's municipal waste collection. Countries differ in how much business waste they count as municipal, so part of that gap is a counting difference.
The figure has come down from 702 kg per person in 2018. The total was 217,000 tonnes in 2024, against 247,000 tonnes in 2018.
How much packaging waste Iceland generates
Under extended producer responsibility, the companies that bring packaged goods into Iceland pay for that packaging once it becomes waste. In Iceland they pay through the recycling fee.
Iceland generated 65,688 tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, or 170.3 kg per person. That is a little below the EU average of 177.8 kg.
The 2023 total splits like this by material, with the share of each that was recycled.
| Material | Tonnes | Recycled |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and cardboard | 20,540 | 120.3% |
| Plastic | 18,246 | 39.1% |
| Wood | 13,296 | 80.6% |
| Glass | 10,151 | 59.5% |
| Metal | 3,455 | 63.6% |
Note: Eurostat's packaging waste collection, 2023 reference year, with recycling shares on the basis set for the 2025 targets. The five lines add to 65,688 tonnes.
Overall Iceland recycled 77.3% of its packaging in 2023, up from 42.1% in 2022 and above the EU's 67.4%.
Why paper shows more than 100% recycled
Iceland measures the two halves of the rate in different ways. The tonnes generated are what customs records show coming onto the market, worked out with a model, while the tonnes recycled come from what waste operators report.
For paper and cardboard in 2023 the recycled figure, 24,712 tonnes, was the bigger of the two.
Why Iceland's packaging rate jumped in 2023
Two changes explain most of the rise, according to the notes Iceland sent Eurostat with its 2023 figures.
- Glass: the Recycling Fund took on glass packaging from 1 January 2023. Glass that used to be crushed and used as fill was sent abroad for recycling instead, and its rate went from 0% to 59.5%.
- Wood: wooden pallets made in Iceland, many of them for the fishing industry, were counted for the first time. That lifted wood packaging from 2,300 tonnes in 2022 to 13,296 tonnes.
What a company selling into Iceland has to sort out first is in Repax's guide to EPR in Iceland, with the packaging side in detail on packaging EPR in Iceland and the fee system on the Icelandic Recycling Fund page.
Recycling targets and where Iceland stands
Iceland sets its packaging targets in its own packaging regulation, no. 609/1996. An amendment in 2025 raised them to the levels the EU set for the end of 2025 and the end of 2030.
The table sets Iceland's 2023 packaging rates against both sets of targets.
| Packaging | Target 2025 / 2030 | Iceland |
|---|---|---|
| All packaging | 65% / 70% | 77.3% |
| Paper and cardboard | 75% / 85% | 120.3% |
| Glass | 70% / 75% | 59.5% |
| Ferrous metals | 70% / 80% | 63.2% |
| Aluminium | 50% / 60% | 63.7% |
| Wood | 25% / 30% | 80.6% |
| Plastic | 50% / 55% | 39.1% |
Note: Regulation 609/1996, Article 8, as amended by regulation 880/2025. Iceland's rates are Eurostat's, 2023 reference year. Steel is the ferrous metal in Eurostat's packaging data.
On the 2023 figures Iceland already met four of the seven targets for 2025, and the same four for 2030. Three were still short of the 2025 level.
- Plastic: 10.9 percentage points short of 50%.
- Glass: 10.5 points short of 70%, in its first year inside the Recycling Fund.
- Ferrous metals: 6.8 points short of 70%.
Less of Iceland's municipal waste goes to landfill
Iceland landfilled 32.9% of its municipal waste in 2022 and 10.3% in 2024, half the EU average of 20.7%. Over the same two years the share burned for energy rose from 12.6% to 37.4%.
Iceland recycled 44.9% of its municipal waste in 2024, against an EU average of 49.3%.
Frequently asked questions about Iceland's waste
Below are the seven questions readers ask most about Iceland's waste figures.
How much waste does Iceland produce each year?
Iceland is estimated to produce about 1.3 million tonnes of waste in 2026, down from the 1.58 million tonnes Eurostat measured in 2022, which is the most recent year with official figures. That 2022 total came to about 4.1 tonnes per person.
Can Iceland's waste be compared with other countries?
Only with care. Eurostat says differences between countries reflect consumption patterns and economic wealth, but also depend on how municipal waste is collected and managed, so part of any gap between Iceland and another country is a difference in counting.
Why did Iceland's waste jump in 2022?
Almost all of the rise was excavated rock and gravel from building work. In Iceland's own count it went from 468,503 tonnes in 2020 to 904,178 tonnes in 2022, while the total rose 49.0% to 1.58 million tonnes.
How much packaging waste does Iceland generate?
Iceland generated 65,688 tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, or 170.3 kg per person, a little below the EU average of 177.8 kg. It recycled 77.3% of it, above both the EU's 67.4% and its own 65% target for 2025.
Why does Iceland report more paper recycled than generated?
The two figures come from different sources. Generated packaging is estimated from customs records of what comes onto the market, while recycling comes from waste operators' reports. For paper in 2023 the recycled tonnes were the larger figure, giving a rate of 120.3%.
Who pays for packaging waste in Iceland?
The companies that import or make packaged goods do. They pay a recycling fee to Úrvinnslusjóður, the Icelandic Recycling Fund, which the tax authority Skatturinn collects, for imports together with the customs duties. Drinks containers also carry a deposit.
Does the EU packaging regulation apply in Iceland?
Not yet. Iceland is in the European Economic Area but not the EU, and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation has not been added to the EEA Agreement. Iceland's own regulation already sets the same recycling targets for 2025 and 2030.
Images: Akigka
