The EU is increasingly relying on imported recycled materials to meet its raw material demand. Last year, the 27 member states imported more recyclable and recoverable raw materials than ever before. According to figures released by Eurostat, imports from countries outside the bloc amounted to 49.7 million tonnes. This surpassed the previous record of 47.1 million tonnes, which had only been set the year before. Although EU exports of recycled raw materials also rose by 5 per cent to 36.2 million tonnes, the Union remained a net importer of recyclable and recoverable materials.
As in previous years, the bulk of "recycled raw materials" imported into the EU from third countries in 2025 consisted of organic material. As the statistics office notes, these are less "waste" in the strict sense than industrial by-products. The largest category was oilcake and other solid residues from soya-bean oil production, imports of which rose to 20.9 million tonnes in 2025 from 18.8 million tonnes a year earlier. Around 86 per cent of these imports originated from Brazil and Argentina.
Overall, imports of organic recycled raw materials into the EU increased from 28.6 million tonnes to 30.0 million tonnes in 2025. Trade in waste in the narrower sense accounted for just over 3 per cent of this total, according to Eurostat....
