Europe finalises rules for more recycling, less waste exports

On Monday (25 March), the Council of the EU unanimously voted to adopt the revised Waste Shipment Regulation. This text, which now becomes EU law, aims to encourage more local waste management and greater recycling of raw materials, while exports of waste to non-EU countries will be reduced. 

Under the new rules, waste shipments between EU countries will require the permission of national governments in both the dispatching and receiving countries. In contrast, procedures concerning waste recycling will be eased and accelerated.

Tighter rules on waste exports mean more recycling opportunities

The new law imposes stricter restrictions on the export of waste to countries that are not members of the EU or the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Non-OECD countries are generally less economically developed than their OECD counterparts.

Waste can only be sent to non-OECD countries if the recipient country confirms that it is willing to receive the shipments and can guarantee that the waste will be treated in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner.

Waste management procedures in these countries must be independently audited and the Commission will have monitoring powers.

Stéphane Arditi, Director of Policy Integration and Circular Economy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) welcomed the move, saying:

“Shipping waste outside the EU is […] a missed opportunity to turn waste into secondary raw materials, reducing our dependence on imported natural resources and eventually making the EU a secondary raw material exporter.”

According to the European Environment Agency, only 46% of waste is currently recycled in the EU. The Council notes that EU waste exports have increased by 75% since 2004.

The president of the European Waste Management Association, Claudia Mensi focused on the implications for domestic recyclers: “Our role […] is now to make understand that such restrictions require improved recycling and waste management capacities, a strong and stable demand for recyclates, and improved procedures for us to be able to process these increased amounts of waste.”

A focus on plastic 

The new rules also introduce a ban on the export of non-hazardous plastic waste to non-OECD countries. However, this ban can be lifted in the future for individual recipient countries, if their governments confirm a willingness to accept plastic and can prove to the Commission that they meet waste management standards.

The shipping of plastic between EU countries and OECD countries will be treated like other waste shipments, but the Commission will scrutinise these activities more closely.

“We are reassured that the EU has heard our pleas and is acknowledging the horrific impacts caused by over-consumption of plastic and the export of its waste”, explained Pui Yi Wong from the Basel Action Network, an NGO.

However, the European Recycling Industries Confederation (EURIC), reacting to the law’s approval by Parliament in February, cautioned that “a complete ban on plastic exports without outlet possibilities within Europe severely harms EU plastic recyclers and the domestic plastic recycling industry”.

Illegal shipments

Another key focus of the rules concerns illegal waste shipments. It is estimated that between 15% and 30% of waste shipments are illegal.

According to the Council, illegal shipping increases environmental risks and takes out of circulation material that could be reused or recycled. The regulation supports transnational actions to investigate waste trafficking and creates a European group responsible for enforcing the regulations and strengthening cooperation.

EU law with an international basis, requiring national implementation

The current text updates the 2006 EU Waste Shipment Regulation and builds upon the 1989 Basel Convention and 2001 OECD Decision. These are international agreements respectively concerned with cross-border movements of hazardous waste and control systems for waste destined for recovery.

“It is now for EU member states to ensure that every effort is made so that future EU plastic waste exports are managed in an environmentally sound manner and do not negatively impact the recycling capacities of recipient countries,” said Lauren Weir, senior campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) on behalf of the Rethink Plastic alliance.

[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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