RezeroLab Data

GDP decoupling and waste production

Data from Spain

Waste production is a complex parameter that depends on many other variables, such as the economic situation, the legal instruments implemented, the evolution of environmental awareness among citizens, tourism, etc.
GDP is one of the parameters that is observed to have a closer relationship with waste generation: tf GDP increases, so does waste generation (the more wealth a territory has, the more waste it generates), and vice versa.

For this reason, decoupling economic growth from waste generation is one of the main European waste prevention strategies.

Evolution of the amount waste production and anual GDP of Spanish State

Source:Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge and National Institute of Statistics
Graphics

GDP and waste generation in Spain have maintained a clear positive correlation over the last two decades, especially since 2014.

We will have to continue to observe the evolution of the two parameters in the coming years, after the entry into force of Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, to see if this affects the generation of waste in Spain and whether or not the decoupling of these two magnitudes begins.

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