Waste treatment infrastructure, 2020

456 waste recycling facilities operated in Slovenia, in which 37% of total waste generated in or imported to Slovenia was recovered. Almost 3.2 million tonnes of waste was recycled, which is 12% less than in 2018.

In 387 waste recovery facilities for backfilling, 3.4 million tonnes of waste was recovered, which is 39% of total waste generated in or imported to Slovenia. Compared to 2018, in 2020 the amount decreased by 18%.  

In twelve facilities for waste incineration for the purpose of energy recovery, more than 191,000 tonnes of waste was utilized for energy, which is just over 2% of total waste generated in or imported to Slovenia and 8% less than in 2018. In three facilities for waste incineration for the purpose of waste disposal, little more than 38,000 tonnes of waste (3% less than in 2018) was removed, or less than 1% of total waste generated in or imported to Slovenia.

The number of waste treatment facilities increased by 32% between 2018 and 2020, which is partly due to the improvement of the quality of administrative source records. Nevertheless, the amount of recovered waste decreased.

17 landfill sites were operating in Slovenia, of which 13 for non-hazardous waste, three for inert waste and one for hazardous waste. Eleven landfill sites were located in the cohesion region Vzhodna Slovenija and six in Zahodna Slovenija.

Slightly more than 177,000 tonnes of waste were disposed of on landfill sites, which is 2% of total waste generated in or imported to Slovenia in 2020. The vast majority of disposed waste (95%) was disposed on non-hazardous landfill sites, 3% on inert landfill sites and 2% on hazardous landfill sites. Compared to 2018, more waste was disposed of on non-hazardous (a tenth more) and inert (20 times more) landfill sites, and less on hazardous landfill sites (a third less). The reason for the large increase in waste landfilled on inert landfill sites is the opening of a new landfill site for inert waste.