site.btaWaste Import Increasing in Bulgaria, Remains Lower than Export, While Both Decrease in EU in 2022

In Bulgaria as a whole, the export of waste decreased by 8.9%  in 2022 and from 954,052 tonnes in 2021 it reached 869,591 tonnes, shows annual data on waste trade published on Thursday by Eurostat. Import of waste from third countries to Bulgaria , as well as from EU countries, has increased by 31.3% - from 519,425 tonnes in 2021 to 681,811 tonnes in 2022.

Bulgaria's export of waste to non-EU countries in 2022 decreased by 7.4%  on an annual basis to 699,999 tonnes. The export of waste to the other 26 EU members decreased by 14.5% 169,592 tonnes.

The import of waste into Bulgaria from countries outside the EU increased by 38.3% in 2022 compared to 2021 and amounted to 175,486 tonnes. This represented a maximum since 2017, when this country exported 199,402 tonnes of garbage to third countries.

The import of waste from the other EU member states to Bulgaria increased  by 29% compared to 2021 to 506,325 tonnes in 2022.

The export of waste from the European Union to third countries has decreased at an annual rate of 3% in 2022, to 32.1 million tonnes. At the same time, the import of waste into the EU decreased by 5% and amounted to over 18.7 million tonnes. 

Turkiye  was the largest destination for European waste exported in 2022. With a volume of 12.4 million tonnes, the country received 39% of all EU waste exports. It was followed by India, which received 3.5 million tonnes of waste from the EU in 2022, followed by the United Kingdom (2.0 million tonnes), Switzerland (1.6 million tonnes), Norway (1.6 million tonnes ), Egypt (1.6 million tonnes), Pakistan (1.2 million tonnes), Indonesia (1.1 million tonnes), Morocco and the United States (0.8 million tonnes each).

In 2022, the EU exported 17.8 million tonnes of ferrous metal (iron and steel) waste, which accounted for 55% of the bloc's total waste exports. Turkiye was the main recipient, importing 10.7 million tonnes, almost two-thirds (60%) of all ferrous scrap exported from the EU.

Significant amounts of paper waste were also exported, amounting to 4.9 million tonnes or 15% of EU waste exports last year. The main destination was India (30% of the total export of paper waste).

In terms of imports, the EU received 4.2 million tonnes of ferrous metals (22% of all imports) and 2.4 million tonnes of paper waste (13% of all imports). The largest amounts of this waste came from the UK, 1.3 million tonnes or 33% of total ferrous metal imports and 1.2 tonnes or 49% of total paper waste imports.