Blog

Where Clinical Reality Meets Standards

As countries around the world expand their clinical use of ionizing radiation, accurate measurement and calculation remain essential for the safe and effective use of radiation-based technologies. Primary and secondary standards laboratories provide reference measurements that allow medical professionals to trace their results directly to the International System of Units — ensuring global consistency. Dosimetry codes of practice reinforce this traceability and enable the optimized application of ionizing radiation in clinical settings. 

“Recent technological developments — from new diagnostic approaches to cutting-edge computational methodologies that leverage Monte Carlo models and artificial intelligence (AI) — have shaped dosimetry standards, audit practices and quality assurance guidance,” said Mauro Carrara, IAEA Head of Dosimetry and Medical Radiation Physics and one of the symposia’s scientific secretaries. “For medical physicists, radiation metrologists and other scientists and researchers in the field, there is a critical need to comprehensively review innovations while addressing the growing complexity of available tools.” 

“In building on the legacy of previous symposia since 1987, IDOS2026 will provide an international forum to discuss and disseminate the latest advances across radiation dosimetry, radiation medicine, radiation protection and their associated standards,” said Zakithi Msimang, IAEA medical radiation physicist and the event’s other scientific secretary. “Its proceedings and conclusions promise to provide relevant recommendations for the medical and scientific community.”

In 2023, 79.7 million tonnes of packaging waste were generated in the EU, or 177.8 kg per inhabitant. While this marks a reduction of 8.7 kg per capita compared with 2022, the figure remains 21.2 kg higher than in 2013.

Out of all the packaging waste generated, 40.4% was paper and cardboard, 19.8% was plastic, 18.8% glass, 15.8% wood, 4.9% metal and 0.2% other packaging. 

An average of 35.3 kg of plastic packaging waste was generated in 2023 for each person living in the EU. Out of this, 14.8 kg were recycled. The amount of generated plastic waste decreased by 1.0 kg compared with 2022, while the amount of recycled plastic waste increased by 0.1 kg. Between 2013 and 2023, the amount of plastic packaging waste generated increased by 6.4 kg per capita, while the amount recycled increased by 3.8 kg.

Source dataset: env_waspac

This information comes from data on packaging waste published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on packaging waste.

Increase in plastic packaging waste recycling

In 2023, the EU recycled 42.1% of all the generated plastic packaging waste, indicating an increase in the recycling rate compared with 2013 (38.2%).

Belgium recorded the highest recycling rate at 59.5%, followed by Latvia (59.2%) and Slovakia (54.1%).

In contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Hungary (23.0%), France (25.7%) and Austria (26.9%).

Source dataset: env_waspac