It has now been several years since the heyday of English refuse-derived fuels (RDF) exports. However, the sharp downward trend observed especially in 2019 and 2020 is now nowhere to be seen. In the first quarter of 2023, RDF exports to offtakers in Continental Europe even increased again, according to data from England's Environment Agency (EA) published at the beginning of May. The most important destination countries for exports continue to be Sweden and the Netherlands. The largest single offtaker is the German company EEW Energy from Waste with its waste to energy (wte) plants for municipal and commercial waste in Germany and the Netherlands.
According to the Environment Agency, a total of 402,000 tonnes of RDF or the higher-quality SRF (solid recovered fuel) were exported from England to the European Continent in the period from January to March 2022. This was 48,000 tonnes or 13 per cent more than in the first quarter of last year. The export volume reported for January, some 163,000 tonnes, was the highest monthly value in recorded in almost three years....
