Developments in shipments of paper waste as an example of non-hazardous wastes out and within the EU from 1995 to 2007

Everyday a freight train carries 700 tonnes of municipal waste from Naples in Italy to Hamburg in Northern Germany for incineration (with energy recovery) This eases the waste 'situation' in Naples in the short term, but a more sustainable solution will have to be found. A key aim is that each EU Member State should dispose of its own waste. However, this has yet to be achieved. In 2005 20 % of the waste shipped was for disposal while 80 % was shipped for recovery operations. The EU is increasingly acting like a common market in terms of hazardous and problematic waste treatment. Indeed, from 1997 to 2005 the export of these types of waste from one EU Member State to another quadrupled. The data do not facilitate an analysis of whether the shipped waste receives better treatment at its destination, so we don't know whether it is bad for the environment. More detailed reporting of national data to the EU could facilitate this.