Exports of waste plastics and selected waste metals from EU Member States, 1999–2011

Methodology

a)

For plastics, data on waste exports (product codes: 39151000, 39152000, 39153000, 39159011, 39159013, 39159018, 39159019, 39159080, 39159090, 39159091, 39159093 and 39159099) is extracted from the comext database of international trade. Waste plastics export quantities (in 100kg) within EU27 (select partner: EU_intra), out of the EU27 (select parnter: EU_extra) and from selected Asian countries (select partner each Asian country: China, India, Japan, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea Republic of (South), Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan) is extracted for each year from 1999 to 2011. The sum of all the waste types (codes) represents the total amount of exports of plastics. In order to convert the waste export amounts into million tonnes, the sums of the raw values (as extracted from the Eurostat database) is divided by 10000000.  

b)

For iron and steel, data on waste exports (product codes: 72041000, 72042100, 72042110, 72042190, 72042900, 72043000, 72044910, 72044990, 72044991 and 72044999) is extracted from the Comext database of international trade. Waste iron and steel export quantities (in 100kg) within EU27 (select partner: EU_intra), out of the EU27 (select parnter: EU_extra), and from selected Asian countries (select partner each Asian country: China, India, Japan, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea Republic of (South), Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan) are extracted for each year from 1999 to 2011. The sum of all the waste types (codes) represents the total amount of exports of waste iron and steel. In order to convert the waste export amounts into million tonnes, the sums of the raw values (as extracted from the Eurostat database) are divided by 10000000.  

c)

For copper, aluminium and nickel, data on waste exports (product codes: 74040010, 74040091, 74040099, 75030010, 75030090, 76020019 and 76020090) is extracted from the comext database of international trade. Waste copper, aluminium and nickel export quantities (in 100kg) within EU27 (select partner: EU_intra), out of the EU27 (select parnter: EU_extra), and from selected Asian countries (select partner each Asian country: China, India, Japan, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea Republic of (South), Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan) are extracted for each year from 1999 to 2011. The sum of all the waste types (codes) represents the total amount of exports of waste copper, aluminium and nickel. In order to convert the waste export amounts into million tonnes, the sums of the raw values (as extracted from the Eurostat database) are divided by 10000000.  

d)

For precious metals, data on waste exports (waste codes: 71121000, 71122000, 71123000, 71129000, 71129100, 71129200, 71129900) is extracted from the Comext database of international trade. Waste precious metals export quantities (in 100kg) within EU27 (select partner: EU_intra), out of the EU27 (select parnter: EU_extra), and from selected Asian countries (select partner each Asian country: China, India, Japan, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea Republic of (South), Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan) are extracted for each year from 1999 to 2011. The sum of all the waste types (codes) represents the total amount of exports of precious metals waste. In order to convert the waste export amounts into million tonnes, the sums of the raw values (as extracted from the Eurostat database) are divided by 10000000.   Precious metals include silver, gold and platinum.