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

Waste accounts are comparable over time, as the source and methods are the same for the period published (2011-). However, the source (ADS) and validation of data is still being developed and improved at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. When errors are detected and corrected, this is done for all the years as far as possible, but there may be cases where this is not possible. Especially at the most detailed level, some changes over time may be the result of improved quality of data rather than actual changes.

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.