ISRI PSI Chapter follows up with Indonesian government

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries’ (ISRI’s) Paper Stock Industries (PSI) chapter members met with Indonesian government representatives and U.S. Embassy officials earlier this month in Jakarta, Indonesia, to address the nation’s pending import restrictions on scrap paper. If finalized, reportedly in the next two months, a new ruling from the Indonesian government would then impose a maximum allowable impurity level of 2 percent on imports of scrap paper, decreasing over several years to a targeted 0.5 percent.

ISRI President Robin Wiener led the ISRI delegation, which included three ISRI members—PSI Chapter President Leonard Zeid of Midland Davis Corp., Peter Kong of Genesis Resource Enterprise and Janet Goh of SIHU (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., part of Genesis Resource. Simon Ellin of The Recycling Association also participated in the trip, representing the U.K. recycling industry.

According to a news release from the PSI Chapter of ISRI, the ISRI delegation’s goals included gaining a deeper understanding of the underlying issues behind the new rules, attempting to make the final impurity level in Indonesia’s new rules consistent with the prohibitive levels in ISRI’s specifications and discussing trade issues with the U.S. Embassy leaders and staff to enlist their help on this issue and future issues.

During the two-day visit, ISRI reports that its delegation met with representatives from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment, Indonesian Pulp & Paper Association and KSO Sucofindo, which oversees the implementation of preshipment inspections for commodities, including scrap. The PSI Chapter of ISRI reports that these meetings prompted ISRI to consider taking the following steps:

• Modifying the ISRI specifications to provide clear definitions of the terms “outthrows” and “prohibitives” so they are more meaningful and useful to policymakers and other stakeholders. The terms might need to be changed for export transactions in particular.

• Developing a forward-looking proposal of what defines “responsible recycling” in scrap exports, including a mechanism for differentiating “good” players from ‘bad,” such as certification or licensing of suppliers, brokers and consumers.

• Asking the PSI Chapter to develop a recommended procedure for measuring impurities that ISRI could provide to the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Trade as well as KSO Sucofindo for them to adopt.

• Sharing with ISRI paper recycling members photos of opened containers and bales inspected by the Indonesian authorities that have been rejected. 

• Continue working with the U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on the current proposed import restrictions, ISRI’s upcoming trade mission to Indonesia focused on metals and other issues.

“We’re optimistic that the decisions by the Indonesian government will allow the continued movement of quality material into Indonesia,” says Zeid. “It will be incumbent upon us to maintain a high quality in our shipments to Indonesia and other countries to ensure this market and our other markets around the globe remain strong.”