The Brussels Times reports that Belgium's performance for 2021 was well above the European average of 39.7% and even higher than green champions such as The Netherlands, which had a performance of 48.9% and Germany, with 48.4%. France had one of the lowest recycling rates for plastic packaging in the EU, at 23.1%.

When it comes to the quantity of plastic packaging, Belgians generated less waste than the EU average, at 32.02 kg per capita, compared to EU's average of 35.92 kg, while it recycled more, at 15.7 kg, as opposed to the average of 14.2 kg.

Romania didn't send updated statistics regarding plastic packaging waste recycling for 2021, but the year before that, in 2020, the country had a recycling share of 30.1%, placing it pretty much middle of the road.

It's certain that EU's amount of generated plastic packaging waste increased between 2010 and 2021 by almost 8 kg per capita, but unfortunately, the unrecycled plastic packaging waste also increased, as well, throughout the EU, from 18.1 kg to 21.6 kg per citizen.