At the latest webinar of Bureau of International Recycling hosted by International Environment Council (IEC) held online, participants voiced their worries regarding the European Commission’s proposed revision of EU waste shipment regulation.
The draft proposal is said to establish much stricter rules for the export of the EU’s green-listed waste, which covers a range of recycled raw materials, except where conditions applied in the receiving country are “broadly equivalent” to those in the EU.
Saying that free and fair trade is needed when it comes to recycled raw materials both in European and global markets, Emmanuel Katrakis, secretary general of the European Recycling Industries' Confederation (EuRIC), stated that extending restrictions to recycled materials which are “unlikely to pose any problem” if exported beyond the EU would be akin to “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. He added that the EU should concentrate on benefits accrued from recycling, rather than export restrictions.
Stating that the circular economy at a global level is already working, IEC Chairman Olivier François of Galloo in Belgium/France warned that the EU export restrictions could lead to retaliatory action by other countries.
Adina Adler, the US body’s vice president of International Affairs, said that export restrictions would impact negatively on jobs, local economies, tax revenues and potentially compromising recycled content and circular economy requirements.