2024 BIR World Recycling Convention: Recyclers must have a voice in WSR implementation

The European Union’s revised Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) is in the process of being enacted and has the potential to up-end the recycling industry as it could make transboundary shipments of recyclables more difficult.

Those attending the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) World Recycling Convention and Exhibition’s International Trade Council session May 27 heard from Martyna Robakowska, policy officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General Environment, who spoke to the need for the regulation, as well as from a panel of recyclers who expressed great concern with its implementation.

Session moderator Michael Lion, president of Hong Kong-based Everwell Resources Ltd. and the outgoing chair of the International Trade Council, described the regulation as “a subject that has generated a great deal of passion,” which was on display by the industry panelists.

Robakowska said the EU exported more than 35 million metric tons of “waste,” known in the industry as specification recyclable materials, in 2023 at a value of 18.5 billion euros, or $20.2 billion, while importing 17 million metric tons of material valued at 15.7 billion euros, or $17.1 billion. Recovered iron and steel made up more than half of those EU exports, followed by paper and cardboard.  

While she acknowledged that these exports are “valuable secondary raw materials because they are processed in sound environmental conditions,” she said the EU’s Circular Economic Action Plan requires EU member countries to take more responsibility for this “waste.” This led to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 on “waste” shipments, which entered into force May 20, though most provisions have longer windows for enactment.

The regulation is intended to protect the environment and ensure the EU meets its commitments under multilateral environmental agreements, such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, Robakowska said.

It applies to virtually all forms of nonhazardous recovered materials when shipped between EU countries, imported into the EU from non-EU countries and exported from the EU to non-EU countries.

For shipments within the EU, the regulation calls for setting up control procedures for shipments, improving traceability of material movements and encouraging shipments for recycling. Shipments outside of the EU must be managed in an environmentally sound manner in the destination countries.

For shipments outside of the EU, Robakowska said importing countries must actively request the materials and explain their legal frameworks and the controls they have in place for these materials. Receiving countries also must describe their national waste management strategies and provide a list of facilities authorized to process the recyclables, explaining how their rules are practically enforced.

Exporters from the EU are obligated to demonstrate through third-party audits that the facilities to receive the materials will manage them in an environmentally sound manner.

Robakowska said the commission will assess these notifications and publish and regularly update a list of countries that are eligible to receive exports of certain green-listed recyclables from the EU.

The European Commission is legally obligated to contact all non-OED countries by August of this year to inform them of the need to request such shipments, she said, with counties needing to file a request by February 2025. The commission will publish its first list of approved countries by November 2026, which is six months before the prohibition starts to apply.

“The most controversial issue” in the WSR revision process, Robakowska said, involved additional restrictions for plastic scrap exports, culminating in a ban on EU shipments to non-OECD countries starting November 2026, with a derogation possible upon request from non-OECD countries from May 2029.

With the revised WSR  having been formally adopted, Lion said recyclers will need to take a collaborative approach with the European Commission to ensure the regulation’s objectives are fulfilled while enabling the continued functioning of the “vitally important” recycling industry.

Julia (Blees) Ettinger, secretary general of Brussels-based EURIC, noted that the distinction between waste and recycled material doesn’t exist under the law, agreeing that, “Trash should not be exported; it should be dealt with where it occurs.”

Robakowska said the regulation is not intended to disrupt trade, adding that the European Commission is “aware that what we call waste are valuable raw materials.” She added that the regulatory body is working to make these rules clear as far as distinguishing waste form nonwaste.

Murat Bayram, managing director of EMR Ltd., thanked Robakowska “for being here and allowing us to present our frustrations.” He then criticized the “one-size-fits-all” aspect to the regulation, saying it was like “one guy doing something wrong, and the whole classroom getting punished.”

“We need to communicate and to engage,” said Ibrahim Aboura, managing director of Aboura Metals in the United Arab Emirates and chairman of the BIR Communications Committee. He also noted that the WSR regulation has been implemented and “we need to look forward.”

John Sacco, president of Sierra International Machinery, Bakersfield, California, said, “Free and fair trade is what we’re all about.”

Regarding the revised WSR, he said, “I just see a disaster waiting to happen.”

Sacco added that inevitable errors could lead to intractable delays for businesses unless collaboration could ensure disputes were settled quickly, while Lion noted the immediate nature of the recycling industry is at odds with the nature of policymaking.

“Now is the time to sit at the table together," Sacco urged. "Let’s all get in a room together now. If you don’t know what we do, someone will write bad legislation, and it will hurt what we do.”

“I believe your presence here indicates you want to get this right,” Lion said to Robakowska.  

Ettinger said not all regulation is bad, citing eco-design as an example. “Waste shipment legislation is not in our favor, but we need to work together on implementation."

The BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition was May 27-29 in Copenhagen at the Bella Center.