Rather than picking up, the recycling rate in Romania actually dropped in 2018 compared with previous years than in previous years. Back in 2013, for instance, the country had a recycling rate of 13.2% and peaked at 14% in 2017. The EU average in 2013 was at 41.5%.
The highest recycling rate in the EU is in Germany, of 67.3%, while the lowest recycling rate, of just 6.5%, was in Malta.
Romania lags behind countries in the regions, as the recycling rate stood above 30% in 2018 in Hungary (37.4%), Slovakia (36.3%), Poland (34.3%) and Bulgaria (31.5%).