Consumption and production patterns have wide environmental and social impacts. The Sustainable Development Goal ‘Responsible consumption and production’ (SDG 12) calls for action on many fronts. These include the adoption of sustainable practices by businesses, promotion of sustainable procurement practices by policymakers, environmentally aware lifestyles of consumers as well as the development of new technologies and production and consumption methods, by researchers, scientists and others.
Monitoring SDG 12 in an EU context focuses on progress made in decoupling environmental impacts from economic growth, fostering the green economy, while tackling waste generation and management.
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- BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE OF THE WESTERN BALKANS
In 2020, raw material consumption decreased by three percent (13.7 tonnes per capita) compared with 2016 (14.0 tonnes per capita).
The share of secondary raw materials out of all input materials in the economy (‘circularity rate’) stood at 11.7 percent in 2021, an increase of 0.2 percentage points since 2017 (11.5 percent).
In addition, in 2020, the generation of waste went down by five percent to 4.8 tonnes per capita in comparison with 2016 (5.1 tonnes per capita).
How is your country doing?
Do you know how much waste is generated in your country? What about the extent to which recycled materials are used to create new products?
The visualisation tools in our data visualization ‘SDGs & me’ will help you to easily explore and evaluate the situation in your country as well as enable you to compare it to others.
The European Commission has recently adopted an important package of measures for the sustainable use of key natural resources. The aim is to strengthen the resilience of natural ecosystems across the EU, better help Europe to adapt to climate change, and ensure lasting food and material security.
Source: Eurostat
