England exported significantly less refuse-derived fuel (RDF) last year than in 2024. According to the latest data published by the Environment Agency (EA), total shipments of RDF and secondary recovered fuel (SRF) to countries outside the United Kingdom amounted to 1.48 million tonnes in 2025. This is a decline of 223,000 tonnes or 13 per cent compared with the year before. Since 2013, England has recorded a lower level of waste-derived fuel exports only once, in 2022.
English exports of these fuels already peaked several years ago. At their height between 2016 and 2018, shipments to mainland Europe exceeded 3 million tonnes per year. Since then, exports have generally trended downward, with few exceptions, reflecting the expansion of domestic waste-to-energy (wte) capacity in the UK and rising transport costs.
For several years now, Sweden has been the most important destination country by far for RDF and SRF from England. However, after hitting a record level in 2024, shipments fell by 127,000 tonnes to 779,000 tonnes in 2025. The Netherlands, the second largest importer, imported 172,000 tonnes from England last year, almost 60,000 tonnes less than a year earlier. Shipments to Germany, Denmark and Norway also declined by double-digit percentages last year....
