"Let's change our habits, reduce the generation of waste," the office said to mark the European Week for Waste Reduction, which this year takes place between 16 and 24 November.

The quantity of municipal waste generated in households increased by 18% between 2014 and 2018, but the office is not surprised by the increase as "our society is still consumer-oriented: buy, use, discard."

It added that while Slovenian households had spent an average EUR 17,334 for means of subsistence in 2015, this amount had increased to EUR 19,560 in 2018.

The quantity of generated municipal waste also increased in the manufacturing and services sector between 2014 and 2018, by 11%.

The trend of increasing quantity of municipal waste is also noticed at the EU level, with Eurostat reporting that the quantity has been increasing in recent years. The average per capita was up from 478 kilos in 2014 to 486 in 2017.

Although the overall quantity of municipal waste generated in Slovenia increased in the last five years, its share in total waste generated decreased from 19% in 2014 to 12% in 2018.

The share of sorted waste meanwhile increased gradually from 65% in 2014 to 71% in 2018, while the quantity of such waste per capita also increased from 280 kilos to 351 kilos in the same period.

In this period, the quantity of landfilled municipal waste per capita decreased from 101 kilos to 28 kilos, while the share of recycled municipal waste increased from 36% to 58%.

This share placed Slovenia second in the EU, and it trails only Germany, where 68% of municipal waste gets recycled.

On the other hand, the quantity of food waste in Slovenia increased from 61 kilos per capita in 2014 to 68 kilos in 2018.

To mark the European Week for Waste Reduction, some 120 events are taking place in Slovenia, focusing waste re-use, especially of bulk, textile and packaging waste.