The world’s top recyclers of municipal solid waste are Germany, Taiwan, Wales, South Korea, and Belgium, according to a report by the European independent consultancy Eunomia.

The adjusted recycling rates for these countries range from about 54 percent for Germany to about 50 percent for Austria.

The other top five countries are Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Singapore.

Eunomia created this top-10 list after adjusting the self-reported recycling rates, to take into account what material is included and clarifies definitions of recycling. For example, the report says, the adjusted list clarifies how much rubble is included, and how much incinerator bottom ash.

Total recycling rates are different than municipal recycling rates. The total recycling rates are higher because they include recycling that happened before products reach consumers such as recycled manufacturing wastes.

The United States is not in the adjusted list, which includes only the top 10 recyclers. The U.S. is in the self-reported, non-adjusted list, coming in 25th out of 25 countries, with all but the U.S. in Europe or Asia. Singapore and Hong Kong were the other Asian locations that made the top 25 on the non-adjusted list. Germany was at the top of both the self-reported and the adjusted lists.

What all of the leading nations have in common, Eunomia says, are: comprehensive schemes that make it possible for people to recycle; clear recycling targets; good funding for recycling, including government funding and manufacturer responsibility; and incentives for citizens, including pay-as-you-throw and deposit-refund schemes and restricting the amount of waste that cannot be recycled, reused, or composted that is allowed.

According to the study, Wales, now in third place, is “moving towards a 70 percent target” and could soon overtake Germany.

Steps taken in Germany

— Green Dot system: A “Green Dot” on products tells consumers that the manufacturer contributes to the cost of recycling the product. The system encourages manufacturers to cut down on packaging, since the more packaging there is, the higher the fees the manufacturer must pay.

— Sorting of recyclable garbage: Germany uses a system of color-coded bins dotted over every neighborhood. The glass bin has different slots for depositing green, brown, and clear glass. Paper and cardboard all go into another bin, and cans and plastic into another. Composting is popular, with many households using bio-waste such as kitchen or garden scraps in the garden, or putting it in a separate bin that is picked up more frequently. There are small bins just for batteries. Other household waste is put in a bin destined for incineration. Residents bring their hazardous waste to regular collection sites.

According to a report called “Waste Management in Germany 2018” from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany is committed to the idea of a “circular economy,” the goal of which is to transform waste management into a resource-management system.

Waste management in Germany, this report says, has evolved into a large and powerful economic sector with more than 270,000 people working in about 11,000 companies with an annual turnover of around 70 billion euros, which is equivalent to 82 billion dollars.

The core principles of the circular economy were made into law in 2012, the report says, with the Circular Economy Act, which mandates “the polluter-pays principle, the five-tier waste hierarchy, and the principle of shared public and private responsibility for waste management.”

The five-tier waste hierarchy prioritizes, the report says, in order: prevention; preparation for reuse; recycling; other forms of recovery, particularly for energy; and disposal.

The report notes that shoppers’ use of plastic bags, “already below the European average at around 72 bags per person per year,” was halved by the voluntary introduction by retailers of a charge for plastic bags.