European recyclers are "dismayed” following the European Parliament’s vote on Tuesday to restrict transboundary waste shipments in the proposed amendment of the EU Waste Shipments Regulation (WSR). Such rules would create "major inconsistencies” that would undermine certainty for recyclers as well as the trade in recycling materials, warned the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (Euric) in a press release. "Recycled materials already struggle to compete with extracted raw materials. If current waste shipment proposals are adopted, this will be yet another major setback for Europe’s recycling industries and our climate ambitions,” commented Euric’s secretary general Emmanuel Katrakis.
"If the EU wants a vibrant recycling industry that leads the circular economy transition and reinvests in Europe, it must establish rules that accelerate rather than impede demand for recycled materials,” he added. He called on the member states to "act swiftly” to address Eurics’s concerns or "risk unprecedented levels of incineration and massive stockpiling of valuable resources in landfill”.
Euric member VDM, the Federation of German Metal Traders and Recyclers, also criticised that the Parliament's position does not differentiate between types of waste, which also makes it more difficult to freely trade recycled metals. "For many companies, the loss of the international market would mean they invest less and only process those raw materials that are in demand within the EU. It is therefore clear to us that less trade leads to less recycling,” VDM said....
