The total volume of solid waste generated in Macau continued to rise last year, an increase of 1.0 percent from 2024, according to the Environmental Protection Bureau’s (DSPA) report on Macau’s environmental state for 2025 published yesterday.
The bureau had customarily published its annual report on Macau’s environmental state for the previous year on June 5, World Environment Day, but this time the report was published yesterday, June 8.
According to the report for 2025 published yesterday, Macau generated 532,053 tonnes of solid waste last year, an increase of 1.0 percent from 2024 when 526,979 tonnes were dumped.
Waste still lower than pre-pandemic level
The total volume of solid waste generated in 2025 was still lower than in pre-pandemic 2019.
Macau was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for three years from early 2020 through 2022.
In pre-pandemic 2019, according to previous DSPA data, Macau generated 545,725 tonnes of solid waste, because of which last year’s volume of solid waste represented 97.5 percent of the 2019 level.
Last year, according to the report published yesterday, each person generated an average of 2.13 kilogrammes of solid waste per day in Macau. The figure was 2.10 kilogrammes in 2024.
This time, the report published no longer compares Macau’s average daily volume of solid waste generated per capita with other neighbouring cities.
Solid waste generated in Macau is treated in its incinerator in Pac On district in Taipa.
Moreover, according to the report published yesterday, the total volume of construction waste generated in Macau dropped by 30.3 percent to 1.257 million cubic metres last year from 2024.
Construction waste generated in Macau is disposed of in its only construction waste landfill in east Cotai.
Meanwhile, according to the report, Macau’s electricity consumption increased by 1.3 percent last year from 2024.
The report also said that the amount of greenhouse gases generated in Macau decreased by 1.8 percent last year from 2024.
Moreover, the report also said that 38.5 percent of Macau’s newly registered cars in 2025 were electric ones, up from just about four percent in 2019.
The report also said that Macau’s total energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 5.4 percent last year from 2024.
A woman walks past an enclosed waste chamber on Travessa de S. Domingos yesterday, an alley running between Largo do Senado, the city’s main square, and Largo da Sé, where the city’s Catholic Cathedral is located. – Photo: Tony Wong
