How much waste does the Netherlands produce? For 2026 the figure works out at an estimated 122.8 million tonnes, or roughly 271 billion pounds.
The last year anyone measured is 2022, when the Netherlands generated 122.5 million tonnes. Two fifths of it, 48.9 million tonnes, was material dredged from the beds of its harbours, rivers and canals, a kind of waste that barely registers anywhere else in the EU.
The Netherlands generated the seventh-largest waste total in the EU in 2022, 122.5 million tonnes. Almost two fifths of it was dredged material, and the country recorded 84% of all the dredging spoil counted across the EU that year.
Dutch waste year by year (2010-2026)
Eurostat measures national waste every two years, so the table runs on even years, carried forward from 2022 to 2026, with each change measured against the previous reading.
| Year | Tonnes | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 122,758,516 | +0.1 million (+0.1%) |
| 2024 | 122,670,475 | +0.2 million (+0.1%) |
| 2022 | 122,504,859 | -2.6 million (-2.1%) |
| 2020 | 125,138,771 | -20.1 million (-13.8%) |
| 2018 | 145,245,469 | +4.2 million (+3.0%) |
| 2016 | 141,024,020 | +8.7 million (+6.5%) |
| 2014 | 132,362,297 | +11.2 million (+9.2%) |
| 2012 | 121,194,466 | +0.05 million (+0.04%) |
| 2010 | 121,145,468 | baseline |
Note: Eurostat's waste generation collection, covering all economic activities plus households. 2022 is the newest year it has published, so the 2024 and 2026 rows are our own estimates, explained in the next section.
The line climbed for eight years, peaked at 145.2 million tonnes in 2018 and then fell back to roughly where it started in 2010. Almost all of that rise and fall sits in one kind of waste, the dredged material.
Where the 2018 to 2020 drop came from
The total fell by 20.1 million tonnes between 2018 and 2020. Recorded dredging spoil fell by 18.8 million tonnes over the same two years, from 69.5 million to 50.7 million, so it accounts for 93.5% of the drop.
The rest of the Dutch total fell by just 1.7%. The quality report that Statistics Netherlands (CBS) files with Eurostat gives no reason for the drop, so this page does not guess one.
Behind the 2026 estimate for the Netherlands
The two newest rows in the table are estimates built on the measured 2022 figure. Below is which parts of that figure move to 2026 and which are held at their 2022 level.
| Part of 2022 | Share | To 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Households | 6.8% | Moved |
| Dredging spoil | 39.9% | Held flat |
| Everything else | 53.3% | Held flat |
Households are the one part with a measured guide that works. Municipal waste per person came to 473 kg in both 2022 and 2024, while the population grew 3.1% between January 2022 and January 2026.
Tested on 2016 to 2022, that pairing came within 2 percentage points of the household waste Eurostat later measured, in every period.
Construction and manufacturing failed the same test. Between 2020 and 2022 the construction output index rose 9.7% while construction waste outside dredging fell 2.8%.
Manufacturing waste stayed flat while its output index rose 15.8%, and dredging has no activity index at all. All three are held flat.
Dredging is also the part that swings. Since 2010 it has moved by between 29.6% down and 39.2% up over four years. Applying those moves to it puts the 2026 estimate of 122.8 million tonnes in a range from 108 million to 142 million.
The Netherlands in brief
Five figures place the Netherlands in the European picture, each with the year it describes.
- Population. 17.7 million in 2022, the seventh-largest in the EU.
- Total waste. 122.5 million tonnes in 2022, the seventh-largest total and 5.5% of the EU's 2.23 billion tonnes.
- Per person. 6,921 kg in 2022, eighth-highest of the 27 member states, against an EU average of 4,981 kg.
- Without dredged material. 4,158 kg per person in 2022, below that EU average.
- Packaging. 3.0 million tonnes in 2023, the fifth-largest packaging total in the EU.
So the Netherlands sits where its size would put it on the total, and above average per person only because of the dredging line. Part of any gap between two countries is also down to how each one counts its waste, so the per-person order is a rough guide rather than a league table.
Why is so much of the Dutch total dredged material?
Counted by what the waste is, the Netherlands' 2022 total breaks down like this.
| Waste type | Tonnes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Dredging spoil | 48,900,449 | 39.9% |
| Mineral rubble from building sites | 20,452,306 | 16.7% |
| Excavated soil | 7,288,050 | 5.9% |
| Household and similar waste | 5,808,702 | 4.7% |
| Everything else | 40,055,352 | 32.7% |
Note: Eurostat's waste generation collection, 2022 reference year. Shares are rounded, and the five lines add up to the full total of 122,504,859 tonnes.
Dredging spoil is the sediment dug out when harbours, rivers and canals are deepened or cleared. CBS takes the Dutch figure from registrations kept by Rijkswaterstaat, the agency of the national infrastructure ministry that manages the country's main waterways.
Of the 58.3 million tonnes of dredging spoil recorded across the whole EU in 2022, 48.9 million were Dutch. France came next with 3.3 million tonnes.
Why construction looks so large in the Netherlands
Counted by who produced it rather than what it is, the dredged material is booked to construction. That is why construction made up 64.7% of the Dutch total in 2022, against 38.7% across the EU. Without the dredging, construction's share falls to about a quarter.
Most of what remains is construction and demolition rubble and dug-out soil. Across every sector those two came to 27.7 million tonnes.
The rest of the Dutch economy
Manufacturing produced 10.8% of the total, and more than half of that, 7.8 million tonnes, came from food, drink and tobacco. Households accounted for 6.8%, below their 8.8% share across the EU.
Mining and quarrying, which produced 22.4% of the EU's waste in 2022, made up just 0.1% of the Dutch total.
What Dutch households throw out
Municipal waste is the slice most readers picture, the household bins plus similar waste from shops and offices. It is counted per person, which makes it the closest thing to a like-for-like figure across Europe.
The Netherlands generated 473 kg of municipal waste per person in 2024, the newest year Eurostat has published, against an EU average of 517 kg that year.
That is below the average, though countries differ in how much commercial waste they count as municipal, so part of any gap is a counting difference.
Packaging waste in the Netherlands
Packaging is the part of the pile that extended producer responsibility covers, and the part a company selling into the Netherlands pays for directly.
The Netherlands generated 3.0 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, the newest year on record, 0.8% more than in 2022. That works out at 169 kg per person, below the EU average of 178 kg, and it was the fifth-largest packaging total in the EU.
The table below breaks the 2023 total down by material, with the share of each that was recycled.
| Material | Tonnes | Recycled |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and cardboard | 1,480,133 | 89.4% |
| Plastic | 532,677 | 49.1% |
| Glass | 498,601 | 80.6% |
| Wood | 308,039 | 57.0% |
| Metal | 186,672 | 88.0% |
| Other | 6,571 | 0.0% |
Note: Eurostat's packaging waste collection, 2023 reference year, with recycling shares calculated on the basis set for the 2025 targets. The six lines add up to the full total of 3,012,693 tonnes.
Paper and cardboard made up almost half of the Dutch packaging total, 49.1%, and 89.4% of it was recycled.
Who pays for packaging in the Netherlands?
There is no government packaging register in the Netherlands. Producers sign up with Verpact, the producer organisation formerly known as Afvalfonds Verpakkingen, and Verpact passes the legal notification on to Rijkswaterstaat's producer register.
Sign-up is required above 50,000 kg of packaging a year. Deposit bottles and cans and single-use plastic packaging are caught from the first unit. Producers then declare their tonnage per material by 31 March of the following year.
Since 12 August 2026 a seller abroad shipping straight to Dutch end users has to appoint an authorised representative for EPR under the EU packaging regulation.
The full set of duties is on the EPR rules for selling into the Netherlands, and the packaging rules in detail on packaging EPR in the Netherlands.
How much of the Netherlands' packaging gets recycled?
The Netherlands recycled 75.8% of its packaging in 2023, against 67.4% across the EU. Only Belgium, at 79.7%, did better among the 23 member states with a figure for that year. Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Poland had not reported one.
Plastic is the exception. Of the 532,677 tonnes of plastic packaging, 49.1% was recycled and 45.8% was burned for energy recovery. About a quarter of the recycled plastic was processed outside the EU.
The EU packaging regulation sets recycling targets in its Article 52, one wave due by the end of 2025 and one by the end of 2030. The table sets the Netherlands' 2023 rates against both waves.
| Packaging | Targets 2025 / 2030 | Dutch rate |
|---|---|---|
| All packaging | 65% / 70% | 75.8% |
| Paper and cardboard | 75% / 85% | 89.4% |
| Glass | 70% / 75% | 80.6% |
| Ferrous metals | 70% / 80% | 95.0% |
| Aluminium | 50% / 60% | 69.4% |
| Wood | 25% / 30% | 57.0% |
| Plastic | 50% / 55% | 49.1% |
Note: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Article 52(1). The Netherlands' rates are Eurostat's, 2023 reference year.
On its 2023 figures the Netherlands already met six of the seven targets for 2030 as well as 2025. Plastic was the one short, by 0.9 percentage points for 2025 and 5.9 points for 2030.
Very little goes to landfill
Household-type waste tells a similar story. In 2024 the Netherlands sent 1.5% of its municipal waste to landfill, against 21.3% across the EU. It recycled 58.0% and burned 39.6% for energy, against the EU's 48.1% and 25.5%.
EU rules require the landfilled share to fall to 10% or less by 2035, a level the Netherlands was already well under in 2024. Producers comparing the tools that prepare their Dutch packaging declarations can start with the EPR software built for the Dutch market.
Frequently asked questions about the Netherlands' waste
Below are the eight questions that come up most often about the Netherlands' waste figures.
How much waste does the Netherlands produce each year?
The Netherlands is estimated to produce around 122.8 million tonnes of waste in 2026. The newest measured year, 2022, came to 122.5 million tonnes, the seventh-largest total in the EU, at 6,921 kg per person against an EU average of 4,981 kg.
Can the Netherlands' waste be compared with other countries?
Only with care. Eurostat notes that differences between countries reflect consumption and wealth but also how much commercial and administrative waste each one counts as municipal, so part of any gap between two countries is counting practice rather than rubbish.
What is dredging spoil in the Dutch waste figures?
It is the sediment dug out when harbours, rivers and canals are deepened or cleared. The Netherlands recorded 48.9 million tonnes of it in 2022, 39.9% of its total waste and 84% of all dredging spoil recorded in the EU.
Why did Dutch waste fall between 2018 and 2020?
Almost all of the 20.1 million tonne fall came from dredging spoil, which dropped from 69.5 million to 50.7 million tonnes. The rest of the Dutch total fell by just 1.7%, and the statistics office's quality report to Eurostat gives no reason for the drop.
How much packaging waste does the Netherlands generate?
The Netherlands generated 3.0 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, or 169 kg per person, below the EU average of 178 kg. Paper and cardboard made up almost half of it, followed by plastic and glass.
Does the Netherlands meet the EU packaging recycling targets?
On its 2023 figures the Netherlands met six of the seven targets for both 2025 and 2030, with an overall rate of 75.8%. Plastic was the exception at 49.1%, just under the 50% target set for 2025.
How much Dutch waste goes to landfill?
Very little. The Netherlands landfilled 1.5% of its municipal waste in 2024, against 21.3% across the EU. It recycled 58.0% and burned 39.6% for energy, already well below the EU's 10% landfill limit for 2035.
Who runs packaging EPR in the Netherlands?
Producers sign up with Verpact, formerly Afvalfonds Verpakkingen, once they place more than 50,000 kg of packaging a year, or from the first deposit bottle, can or single-use plastic item. Verpact notifies Rijkswaterstaat, and declarations are due by 31 March.
Images: Donald Trung Quoc Don
