Transboundary flows of woody biomass waste streams in Europe
The report focuses on trans boundary shipment flows of solid biomass waste, particularly wood waste (hazardous and non-hazardous), in the north-western part of Europe in the years 2010-2016. Non-hazardous wood waste is a rather cheap fuel in comparison to other solid biomass resources and hence is used in some countries for bioenergy production on a significant scale. Also, large amounts of hazardous wood waste are traded, but an overview of these trade flows is so far lacking in literature.
An analysis of its transboundary shipment can be helpful for the national plans of the countries involved as well as the industries and organizations. Next to the valorisation as material, wood waste is being used for producing energy in modern bioenergy plants in Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden. The main importers of both hazardous and non-hazardous wood waste are Germany and Sweden with a yearly import of 600+ kilotonnes (KT). The main exporters of non-hazardous wood waste are UK, The Netherlands and Norway.
