Brussels – In 2025, the European Union imported 49.7 million tonnes of recyclable raw materials and exported 36.2 million tonnes to non-EU countries. This means that the difference between the two, i.e. the net volume of imports, amounts to 13.5 million tonnes. Recyclable raw materials are all waste materials (rubbish or end-of-life products) which, through specific industrial processes, can be transformed and reused. According to Eurostat, the EU Statistical Office, in 2025, the net volume of imports increased by around one million tonnes, an increase of 7.8 per cent compared to the previous year. The data also show that the EU has been a net importer of recyclable raw materials since 2005, the year the data series began. While the lowest net import volume was recorded in 2023 (1.07 million tonnes), the largest gap (21 million tonnes) dates back to 2006. Compared to 2006, however, the difference recorded last year amounts to 35.6 per cent.
Metals dominate exports, organic materials dominate imports
In 2025, the EU exported 18.9 million tonnes of metals, a figure accounting for more than half (52.1 per cent) of total exports of recyclable raw materials. These were followed by paper and cardboard (6.0 million tonnes; 16.5 per cent) and organic materials (4.4 million tonnes; 12 per cent). As for imports, the latter stand out (30 million tonnes)—accounting for 60.3 per cent of all imports of recyclable raw materials—and are followed by minerals (8.3 million tonnes; 16.7 per cent) and metals (6.3 million tonnes; 12.7 per cent). The data on recyclable raw materials and the waste trade, when compared, reveal distinct differences in the sourcing of materials: while metals, paper, and cardboard are traded almost exclusively as waste, organic materials appear mainly as by-products. In this regard, Eurostat points out that waste accounts for only a small proportion of the organic trade, corresponding to 1.8 per cent of exports and 3.2 per cent of imports.
Turkey and Brazil remain the main trading partners
In 2025, Turkey was the leading destination for the EU’s exports of recyclable raw materials, with a volume of 12.8 million tonnes. The next-largest volumes were recorded in India (3.9 million tonnes), the United Kingdom (3.4 million tonnes), Egypt (1.9 million tonnes), and Norway and Switzerland (1.5 million tonnes each). In the same year, imports came mainly from Brazil (11.2 million tonnes), Argentina (8.7 million tonnes), the United Kingdom (4.4 million tonnes), Ukraine (4.0 million tonnes), and the United States (2.4 million tonnes).
