A new assessment from the European Environment Agency (EEA) confirms that waste is increasingly moving across EU borders, for recovery or disposal, and trade in hazardous waste is also expected to increase. The report recommends encouraging new technologies and business models that generate less waste, or waste that is less hazardous.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published the ‘Movements of waste across the EU's internal and external borders’ report which shows that waste is increasingly moving across EU borders, for recovery or disposal. This is true for waste shipments between EU countries, and also transfers of waste outside the EU. The report confirms that there are increasing demands for recyclable materials, both within the EU and beyond, particularly in booming Asian economies. In March 2012, Eurostat published that 502 kg of municipal waste was generated per person in the EU in 2010.

Countries transport more waste material elsewhere, for example if they do not have the facilities to recycle or dispose of particular types of waste, because of increasingly stringent and harmonised waste policies in the EU. In particular, exports of waste plastics and metals picked up after the economic downturn and exceeded the pre-2009 levels in 2011. While trade of hazardous waste grew between 2001 and 2007, shipped volumes decreased in 2008 and 2009, probably due to the economic downturn, according to the report.

The report recommends encouraging new technologies and business models that generate less waste, or waste that is less hazardous. The international trade in recyclable material is expected to continue to grow, the report states, driven by more recycling, growing global competition for resources and increasing awareness of the value of waste. Trade in hazardous waste is also expected to increase, although the driver in this case will be the need to treat waste in specific facilities that are not available in all countries.