Resource management company Geminor has announced it handled 1.82 million tonnes of waste in Europe last year, bringing an increase of almost 9% from 2021.
The total tonnage handled by Geminor in 2022 ended at 1,815,281 tonnes - up from 1,670,907 tonnes in 2021.
Residual waste for energy recovery (RDF/SRF) is growing by as much as 14%, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total volume handled by Geminor in Europe last year.
The second-largest fraction after RDF, waste wood for material recycling and energy recovery, fell by 4.5% last year. Cardboard and paper (RCP) fell by 21%.
The tonnage of hazardous waste is still modest compared to the bigger fractions but increased last year by as much as 41%. The handling and treatment of waste plastics, which has been a focus area for Geminor and partner company Quantafuel, more than tripled in 2022 compared to the previous year.
"It is gratifying to see that we have managed to increase our volumes quite significantly from 2021," said Geminor's CEO Kjetil Vikingstad.
"At the same time, we had expected a somewhat larger increase. A turbulent year caused by high energy prices, strong inflation and lower business activity has led to a reduction in waste volumes and hence a new market situation."
Germany moves to imports
Vikingstad added that the firm had to adapt to a new reality in some of Europe's markets, due to the political and economic changes in 2022.
Countries such as Germany and Finland have gone from being exporting to becoming importing markets.
In the UK, an increasing number of national industry players have taken a larger share of the waste volumes, leading to less export of waste resources. We have increased our tonnage in the UK by securing more national offtake in 2022, continued Vikingstad.
"In Norway, which is our largest market, we have handled roughly the same tonnage as in 2021. Last year we experienced a more stable but competitive Norwegian market," said Vikingstad.
"The international common denominator for 2022 is a substantial increase in the competition for waste volumes in the market."
Growth in Southern Europe
At the same time, Geminor said it had increased shipments of waste resources from the surplus markets of Southern and Eastern Europe. This export and supply have assisted in balancing and stabilising the market.
"In 2022, Italy has been an important export market and secured supplies of high-demand waste resources to players in both Central Europe and the Nordics.
"The market in Poland also continues to develop, and we have had several deliveries of Refuse-derived Fuel (RDF) to Germany, among other countries.
"We have also had a good year in Denmark where we managed to increase exports significantly within waste wood," said Vikingstad.
"If 2022 has taught us anything, it is the importance of being present in several markets. Therefore, our ambition is to contribute to developing new surplus markets, such as France, so that we can secure the supply to European offtakers in the coming years," he concluded.
Geminor: waste-for-energy recovery growing by 14%
