The bar chart illustrates how the average amount of waste in an European country disposed in three kinds of methods changed from 2005 to 2008 in million tonnes.
Overall, the figure for landfill treatment was the highest among the three methods but the amount of this method declined yearly, while burning trash witnessed an increasing trend before surpassing the two left groups and became the leading. Trash dumped at the sea remained stable through the four selected years and also the least amount in the three methods
In the year 2005, the number of landfill waste reached the peak of it, standing at 1800 million tonnes, far exceeding the two left categories. Meanwhile, the tonnes of waste dumped in the sea was only one-third of the leading figure in the same year but it was higher than the figure for burning trash, which was only 400 million tonnes. In the following year, the amount of the landfill treatment declined significantly from 1800 tonnes to 1200 tonnes. However, waste treated by the burning method rose slightly to 600 tonnes, which equalled that number of dumping waste at sea.
The year 2007 witnessed a sharp decline in the amount of the landfill treatment from 1200 tonnes to around 900 tonnes. Burning waste increased to more than 800 tonnes, while throwing it at the sea remained unchanged, at 600 tonnes. In the last year, waste burned surpassed the two left methods, ending at around 850 tonnes. In contrast, the landfill and dumping waste at the sea declined to just around 600 tonnes.