At present, variety in practices concerning the reporting of municipal waste recycling rates is a given for European Union Member States. Arguably, however, this phenomenon is potent enough to have a negative effect on the overall robustness of target-based recycling and reuse policy in the EU. Therefore, research is necessary to inform national and EU policy makers how to improve present reporting rules and procedures.
This paper provides a case study of Bulgarian reporting practices in an effort to reveal the substantive effects of target-based EU policy related to municipal waste recycling. Further, the study explores why these effects are taking place and how the negative effects can be overcome. Finally, an effort is made to extend the scope of case study findings to other Member States with the help of ‘analytic generalisation’.