Ljubljana - Investment in environment protection in Slovenia totalled EUR 412 million in 2020, a 69% rise compared with 2019. The majority, or EUR 200 million, went for air and climate protection, up 49%, the Statistics Office (SURS) said ahead of World Environment Day, marked on 5 June.

Current expenditure on environment protection in 2020 increased by 2% to EUR 698 million, of which as much as 56% went for waste management.

SURS also provided some statistics about food waste, waste water and forests for 2020, which show there was more food waste generated but less urban waste water in 2020.

The country generated 143,570 tonnes of food waste, a rise of 2% from 2019 and 21% more than in 2013. Households generated 52% of the total, food services 30%, food stores 11% and food production 7%.

A total of 231 million m3 of waste water was meanwhile brought into the public sewage system, 4% less than a year earlier.

It came from different sources: 5% from industry, 11% from other activities and 27% from households, with the rest being "other waste water", such as rainwater.

Forests meanwhile covered an area of 1.17 million hectares, or 58% of the country.

The removal in forests was about 20% lower than a year earlier - 4.2 million m3 of timber was felled in total, with sanitary felling accounting for 42% of total timber removals.