CONFERENCE REPORT
25recyclinginternational.com | September/October | 2019
materials still change legal status two
or three times when they cross bor-
ders of two EU Member States,’ she
said, adding it was time to get right
the interface between waste and
chemicals legislation. ‘Recyclers’
inputs are waste while our outputs are
recycled materials ready to be used
by steel mills, smelters, paper mills or
plastic converters for the manufactur-
ing of new products.’
INDUSTRY INPUT NEEDED
Daniel Calleja-Crespo, director-gener-
al Environment for the European
Commission, told the EuRIC audience
that it was in everyone’s interest to
continue rolling out the Circular
Economy. ‘We will simply have to
make it a success, there is no Plan B,’
he said.
According to Calleja-Crespo, it is cru-
cial that all parties involved work
together. ‘That’s lawmakers and politi-
cians in Brussels as well as the recy-
cling industry. We can only go fast if
we help each other. So please give us
your input.’
The Circular Economy is ‘the new nor-
mal to build a better world for our-
selves and future generations,’ agreed
Caroline Craenhals, ceo of Belgian
Scrap Terminal (BTS). However, ‘grow-
ing and ever-complex’ legislation
increasingly hindered the day-to-day
work of recycling companies like BTS,
she complained.
Craenhals also noted that the public
might sometimes have a poor impres-
sion of recyclers. ‘We are not the trou-
blemakers, we do not add or create
dangerous substances. It’s the battery
that causes fires at scrap yards.’
French scrap metal recyclers
process the equivalent of 1 200
Eiffel Towers every year.
24-25_euricreport.indd 25 30-09-19 16:55
