Transfrontier Shipment of Waste – May 2022 Summary
This article is available as a downloadable PDF here.
The latest waste export figures from the Environment Agency show an overall year-on-year tonnage rise of 4.5% (12 months to March 2022 vs same period 2021). Waste exports (as covered by Transfrontier Shipment (“TFS”) regulations) are performing as follows:
Mixed General Wastes: 1.7 million tonnes (+1.0%)
Chemical Wastes: 162,000 tonnes (+37.7%)
Non-Metallic Wastes: 162,000 tonnes (+22.7%)
Discarded Equipment: 52,000 tonnes (+75.0%)
Construction Waste: 14,000 tonnes (-63.7%)
Metallic Wastes: 2,000 tonnes (+53.2%)
The Mixed General category is dominated by the movement of Refuse-Derived Fuels (“RDF”) which have experienced large declines over recent years, though this slide appears to have stabilised, even reversing slightly to very slender growth. The Chemical Waste category continues to grow, driven by rising volumes of waste oils heading to Denmark and Greece. The growth of Acid & Alkali volumes is down to salt slags being exported to Germany.
Within the Discarded Equipment grouping (which includes waste electronics and electrical equipment as well as end-of-life vehicles), lead battery exports are showing a significant increase via various notifier companies, with most of the flow heading to Metalurgica de Medina SA in Spain.
Wood waste exports, which have declined significantly over the past few years owing to increasing biomass energy recovery capacity in the UK, seem to have reached a stable level, hovering around to 100,000 tonne per annum mark (though all going to EFO AB in Sweden).
An interactive online report – the ‘TFS Overview Dashboard’ – is available from Footprint Services, allowing users to delve and burrow into the data, identifying trends, notifiers and consignees by EWC code. Please get in touch for more information. See website for contact details.