UK: Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) exports from England to decline by 13% to Europe fell by 13.4% year-on-year to 2.71Mt in 2019 from 3.09Mt in 2018. Waste recovery company Germinor reported the results of the survey from Footprint Services, which uses UK Environment Agency data. However, the report also said that exports of solid-recovered fuel (SRF) grew by 4%.
According to the Environment Agency data, the Netherlands remains the biggest importer of English waste-derived fuels (RDF and SRF), with 1.16Mt and 43% of the market in 2019. Sweden is the second biggest offtaker nation with 0.6Mt, followed by Germany at 0.4Mt and Denmark at 0.14Mt and Norway at 0.14Mt.
Geminor said that it led the list of waste-derived fuels exporters in 2019 with 0.31Mt in 2019. Biffa Waste Services was the second biggest exporter, followed by SUEZ UK and N&P Alternative Fuels.
Its UK country manager James Maiden said that 2019 was a challenging market for UK export, mostly due to issues surrounding Brexit, the Dutch temporary import restrictions and an increase in UK domestic capacity and facilities. He expected these conditions to continue into 2020, where the Dutch and Swedish tax announcements will impact on UK flows. Maiden said that the English export market is decreasing but that Geminor was balanced this with additional export volumes transported from Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and internal UK flows.
