Comparability

Comparability - geographical

Waste Accounts are consistent with the primary waste statistics published and reported to EU by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. Waste Accounts are produced according to SEEA 2012, the UN statistical standard for environmental economic accounts, and therefore comparable to waste accounts from other countries using this standard.

Comparability over time

The statistics have been published since 2015 and are comparable over time, as they are complied using the same method and based on the same source. The source (ADS) has been fully operational since 2011 and has been continuously improved. Many improvements in data quality have been applied for all the years as far as possible, however in some cases changes can only be implemented going forward. In such cases, shifts - for example between industries - may therefore reflect quality improvements in the most recent years rather than actual changes in waste volumes.

From 2016, food waste and other organic waste are presented separately. For the years 2011-2015, these two waste types were shown together as Biodegradable waste. In addition, from 2016, waste types Textiles and Mixed packaging are presented separately. In the years 2011-2015 these two waste types are shown as part of Other waste. For the years where the separation is not in place, a 0 is shown for the relevant waste type.

Coherence - cross domain

The energy accounts have figures on incinerated waste. These are not identical to the figures on waste collected for incineration. The differences are due to imports of waste for incineration as well as to some waste being treated differently than originally reported when it was collected, e.g. when waste is collected for materials recovery, there may be a residual which is eventually incinerated.

Coherence - internal

Full internal consistency.