Montenegro recycled 1,145 tonnes of municipal waste in 2025, just 0.28% of the 401,000 tonnes generated, the Montenegro Statistical Office (Monstat) reported in its research on waste generated and treated. The Government’s State Waste Management Plan targets a 65% recycling rate by 2035 and calls for 400 million euros of investment by the end of 2029, requiring expanded collection and treatment capacity.
Monstat defines municipal waste as waste collected by municipal companies from households, service businesses and other users. Its figures show that municipal waste generation rose 6.9% from 2024. Each resident generated an average of 644 kilograms over the year, or 1.8 kilograms a day.
Municipal companies collected 361,000 tonnes during 2025, while residents, producers and other legal entities delivered 21,000 tonnes to landfills. A further 18,300 tonnes of household waste was outside the public collection system and ended up at illegal dumps or was discarded elsewhere, Monstat reported.
Waste collection services covered 88.5% of the population in 2025, compared with 88.4% a year earlier. Based on that coverage, Monstat said nearly 12% of residents dispose of or discard household waste outside designated places.
Plan targets infrastructure and enforcement
The Government adopted the State Waste Management Plan in October 2025. It sets a goal of raising municipal waste recycling to 65% by 2035, in line with a new European Union directive that also sets a minimum 65% target for that year. A waste management strategy published in 2015 had set a lower target of 50% by 2030.
The recycling rate remains below earlier levels recorded in the strategy and Monstat data. Montenegro recycled 5,809 tonnes, or 2.38%, in 2013, while the figure for 2021 was 5,600 tonnes, or 1.8%. The amount recycled was 1,021 tonnes in 2022, 1,089 tonnes in 2023 and 1,016 tonnes in 2024, before rising to 1,145 tonnes in 2025.
Funding is a central requirement of the plan: it estimates that 400 million euros must be invested in waste management during its first four years, through the end of 2029. The plan’s stated aim is to establish a more efficient and sustainable system that supports reuse and recycling, reduces landfill disposal and is more acceptable for human health and the environment.
Planned measures include four regional waste management centres in Podgorica, Nikšić, Bijelo Polje and Bar, alongside modernisation and expansion of the existing recycling and treatment network. The plan also calls for all non-sanitary landfills to be closed and remediated by 2030 and for the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfills to be reduced.
It assigns responsibilities to producers whose operations generate waste and identifies collection and alignment with new EU regulations as key ways to meet the targets. Separate procedures are planned for paper, plastic, glass, medical waste, motor vehicles, electrical waste, industrial waste and mining waste.
The Government plan also provides for stronger inspections and institutional oversight of municipal companies and waste producers, as well as more precise databases. Monstat’s figures for all waste types show that Montenegro generated 1.32 million tonnes in 2025, including 317,000 tonnes classified as hazardous, or 23.9% of the total.
Monstat reported that 119,000 tonnes of all waste types were recycled in 2025, 30% less than the 172,400 tonnes recorded in 2024. The recycled total related almost entirely to industry and the reuse of waste in construction, wood processing and manufacturing.
