China rations exports of critical raw material; the US uses tariffs to protect domestic trade; now the European Union wants to limit exports of various scrap metals to keep valuable streams at home. Is the beacon of free trade losing its shine?
Here Recycling International considers the issues around the EU’s controversial Waste Shipment Regulation.
What is the background to the current row?
Our starting point is the Waste Shipment Regulation of 2006 and an updated version which came into being in May 2024. Updated provisions for most exports, which concern global trade, will kick in from 21 May next year. Crucially, it is an environmental regime aimed at (in Brussels’ words):
- ensuring the EU does not export its waste challenges to third countries
- strengthening enforcement to prevent illegal shipments
- increasing traceability of waste shipments
Under the existing WSR, there is already a general ban on waste exports for disposal and a ban on hazardous waste exports to non-OECD countries. The first material to come under the spotlight of the new WSR was plastics. Since May, plastic waste can only be exported under the prior informed consent procedure. And from 21 November, no plastic waste can be exported to non-OECD countries.
So what is the problem for recyclers of other secondary materials?
Exports of non-hazardous materials – notably metals – face a fundamental shift. On 18 September, the Commission published a draft list of non-OECD countries that would be allowed to import such ‘waste’ from the EU after May 2027. It’s based on submissions from would-be importing countries as to their suitability and facilities. An annex to the WSR sets out which countries can receive materials – and which specific streams are to be allowed. It’s 40 pages long so there’s much to pick through. But even a cursory reading makes it clear that ferrous and non-ferrous metals will not be leaving Europe. Non-EU members such as Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine and Serbia may receive certain grades; India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam may not.
Why are European recyclers crying foul?
The Commission insists it is an environmentally led regulation. And, as we’ve seen, significant non-OECD markets do not make the list for ferrous and non-ferrous streams under the justification that their applications did not guarantee environmentally sound waste management. The decision effectively bars exports of the materials to those countries.
A cynical (and some say pragmatic) view is that the list is being driven by an economic imperative to keep scrap in Europe. A trade barrier by another name.
One example shows a potential paradox. India is included in the annex for textiles and paper waste but not for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. However, this comes only weeks after the Commission included two Indian shipyards in a provisional list of approved ship recyclers. Its facilities could be approved to recycle EU-flagged ships – great lumps of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap – while the country’s ports will not be able to receive EU ferrous and non-ferrous waste.
End-of-waste criteria
As ever, we run up against the eternal conundrum of the definitions of waste/scrap/secondary raw materials. The WSR is all about ‘waste’ and its environmental challenges. But the secondary materials it legislates for are often NOT waste. Critics says that defining what is ‘waste’ more closely to the everyday experiences of recyclers and traders in secondary materials would be invaluable.
So it’s just ‘us and them’: recyclers and the EU?
This is where it is becoming very interesting. Major lobbying organisations such as BIR and Recycling Europe are vocal on the principle of ‘free trade’. In the US, ReMA takes a similar position. But that may be changing. President Trump’s trade barriers cutting the import of ferrous metal scrap, for example, have been warmly welcomed by domestic yards because they see an uptick in demand from US steel mills. Business is better.
And the recent comments of a leading Dutch recycler show a ‘free trade’ position may not be absolute. Martijn van de Poll of Myne Circular Metals argues that stricter controls on waste shipments are essential to boost investment in European recycling. ‘A strong WSR will stimulate these investments, create skilled jobs, keep valuable raw materials in Europe and strengthen our industrial competitiveness,’ he insists on LinkedIn. ‘We should encourage investment in European recycling.’
What happens next?
The Commission allowed four weeks for consultation, which ran out on 16 November. The final list of authorised non-OECD countries is expected on 21 November with the new rules applying from 21 May 2027. But it won’t be the end of the matter as the list must be updated every two years.
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