Countries With the Lowest Recycling Rates
Every country with a figure for recycling rate, ranked from lowest to highest. The top three are Turkiye (0%), Costa Rica (0.941%) and Mexico (4.99%). The middle country of the 35 has 26%.
What this measures
Municipal waste recycling rate, in % of municipal waste. Source: OECD. For this measure, higher is better.
The share of waste collected by local councils that is sent for recycling, not counting composting. About thirty countries, from a 2018 release kept as a snapshot, so the series ends in 2015.
The full ranking
Each country’s latest figure, from 2012–2015. The year beside each value says when it was measured.
| Rank | Country | Recycling rate | Year | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Turkiye | 0% | 2014 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 2 | Costa Rica | 0.941% | 2015 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 3 | Mexico | 4.99% | 2012 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 4 | Slovak Republic | 7.67% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 5 | Greece | 15.6% | 2012 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 6 | Israel | 15.7% | 2015 | Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan |
| 7 | Portugal | 16.2% | 2014 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 8 | Spain | 16.8% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 9 | Canada | 17.9% | 2012 | North America |
| 10 | Japan | 20.5% | 2014 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 11 | Iceland | 21.3% | 2014 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 12 | France | 22.3% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 13 | Lithuania | 23.3% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 14 | Netherlands | 24.6% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 15 | Latvia | 25.2% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 16 | Czechia | 25.5% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 17 | United States | 25.7% | 2014 | North America |
| 18 | Hungary | 26% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 19 | Norway | 26.1% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 20 | Austria | 26.2% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 21 | Poland | 26.4% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 22 | Estonia | 27% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 23 | Denmark | 27.3% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 24 | United Kingdom | 27.4% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 25 | Finland | 28.1% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 26 | Luxembourg | 28.5% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 27 | Italy | 29.1% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 28 | Switzerland | 31.9% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 29 | Sweden | 32.4% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 30 | Ireland | 34% | 2012 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 31 | Belgium | 35.1% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 32 | Australia | 41.6% | 2015 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 33 | Slovenia | 47.8% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 34 | Germany | 47.8% | 2015 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 35 | Korea, Rep. | 58.1% | 2014 | East Asia & Pacific |
More on recycling rate
- Countries With the Highest Recycling Rates
- Recycling rate by country: trend over time and what it goes with
Related rankings
- Countries With the Lowest CO2 per Capita
- Countries With the Lowest Forest Area
- Countries With the Lowest Agricultural Land
- Countries With the Lowest Protected Land
- Countries With the Lowest Environment Scores
A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.