Following a five-year high in 2024, exports of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from England declined again in the first half of 2025. According to data published by the Environment Agency (EA) in early August, England exported approximately 819,000 tonnes of RDF and the higher-quality secondary recovered fuel (SRF), as well as other waste from mechanical waste treatment processes destined for energy recovery.
This total represents a decrease of 93,000 tonnes or ten per cent compared to the same period last year. The sharpest decline by almost one-fifth was recorded in shipments to the Netherlands. German imports of RDF from England fell by seven per cent.
The earlier boom in English RDF exports came to an end with Brexit and the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. While England exported an average of 254,000 tonnes of RDF per month to mainland Europe between 2015 and 2019, that figure dropped to just under 133,000 tonnes per month over the following five years.
The export volume in the first half of 2025 was very close to this level – averaging around 136,000 tonnes per month. The strong performance in the same period last year, when exports averaged 152,000 tonnes per month, thus was an exception....
