No EU blanket ban on scrap metal exports

The European Commission published its long-awaited proposal of the final adoption on EU waste shipment regulations on 17 November, and stopped well short of proposing the blanket ban on scrap metal exports that recyclers feared was a possibility.

The commission recommended to the European Parliament that the EU should consider banning scrap metal exports to non-OECD countries that fail to "notify the EU of their willingness to receive EU waste exports and demonstrate their ability to treat this waste in an environmentally sustainable manner".

The export restrictions proposed in this document are significantly softer than some market participants had warned last month and much closer to what participants anticipated earlier this year.

The commission proposed to introduce "a strong regime governing the export of waste outside the EU". In order to achieve this, the it recommends the EU should restrict exports of all waste to non-OECD countries that effectively fail to adhere to EU environmental standards and enhance monitoring of waste exported to OECD countries.

A list of authorised non-OECD countries will be drawn up by the commission and exports of waste to countries that are not included in the list will not be permitted.

The EU will also require its waste exporting countries to demonstrate that their exports are sustainable. Exporting companies will have to "conduct independent audits in the facilities to where they ship waste in order to ensure that those facilities are operating in line with criteria showing that they manage waste in an environmentally sound manner".

The EU exported 3.6mn t of ferrous scrap, 532,000t of stainless scrap, 535,000t of aluminium scrap and 602,000t of copper scrap to non-OECD countries in 2019.

The largest non-OECD buyers of European ferrous scrap in 2019 were Egypt, India and Pakistan, which purchased more than 2.3mn t combined.

The commission will also establish clearer criteria for items that are often labelled as used commodities such as end-of-life vehicles, waste batteries or textile waste.

In addition, the commission identified that reducing unnecessary barriers and burdens that currently hinder a smooth circulation of reusable products and secondary raw materials in the EU is key to unlocking the potential of the EU internal market.

It said that member states should work to establish a harmonised criteria used to classify waste such as contamination thresholds, which will help to speed up waste shipment internally.

The commission also proposed to shift to digital solutions for issuing and exchanging waste shipment documents between member states and to set much stricter rules for shipments of waste destined for landfill.

The proposal will now be reviewed by parliament and the European Council. This process typically takes at least one year, although some market participants said that this review has a high political priority and could be fast-tracked. Once this proposal is adopted by parliament and the council, the provisions on exports to non-OECD countries and requirements to audit non-OECD facilities will apply after three years, while most of the other measures will begin to apply in two years.

By Chi Hin Ling