Recent figures from the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging note that more than 2.2 million metric tons of post-consumer steel packaging was recycled in Europe in 2004. The figure results in a recycling rate of 60 percent in the expanded European Union, and an estimated 62.5 percent for the original EU countries. The recycling rate was 61 percent in 2003.
According to APEAL, over the past five years there has been significant growth in the recycling rates in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
In Central and Eastern Europe, according to the level of collection infrastructure in place, recycling performances of Green Dot systems ranged from 11 percent metals in Lithuania to 43 percent steel in Hungary. (click here to view larger image of chart)
The best progression in metal packaging recycling was registered in the Czech Republic, which saw its collection climb from 29 percent in 2003 to 37 percent last year.
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