What proportion of waste is collected separately?

Breakdown by waste stream, not just the total

This concerns the breakdown of waste generation by hazardous and non-hazardous waste, and where possible further by treatment method: recycling, incineration, landfill. This is therefore a follow-up question to how much waste the company generates per year — that shows the total; here it is asked how that total is composed. A customer asking this question wants to see which part of the waste is kept separate for recycling or reuse, and which part is disposed of as residual waste.

Many SMEs do not keep track of this in a single overview: the waste processor provides figures per stream (paper, plastic, metal, residual waste), but no one adds these up to a percentage of "separately collected". If that overview does not exist, the most honest answer is that the breakdown is not available, rather than presenting an estimate as hard figures. Invoices or annual summaries from the waste processor are usually the fastest source to reconstruct this, because the tonnages per stream are already listed there.

Where that is stated in the VSME base module

The VSME Basic Module of EFRAG asks for waste indicators to be broken down by hazardous and non-hazardous waste, and recommends also stating the destination where known — recycling, recovery or disposal. This appears in the same environmental paragraph as the question about the total waste figure; the separation rate is an additional detail within it, not a separate chapter. Those who have already filled in the indicator for the total only need to break down the existing figures further for this part, not set up a new measurement.