European Union | A new European Regulation has been introduced to control exports of non-hazardous recyclable and recoverable 'wastes' from EU-27 member states to mostly non-OECD countries. It replaces the short-lived and controversial Regulation 801/2007 that entered force in July this year. The new (EC) No. 1418/2007 regulation affects EU exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap, recovered paper, plastics and textiles for recycling, depending on the responses of prospective importing countries' governments to an EU questionnaire. Some of the replies are 'not at all right', according to the BIR world recycling body's Environmental & Technical Director Ross Bartley. For example, India had argued over a number of years in the United Nation's Basel Convention for the free import of certain types of cable scrap containing metals such as copper and aluminium and coated with non-hazardous plastic insulation. And yet, in response to the questionnaire, India's administrators have called for 'waste metal cables coated or insulated with plastics' to be subject to prior written notification and consent - the same controls as apply to hazardous waste.
'India is not alone as a number of governments appear unaware of their national industry material needs,' Mr Bartley asserts.
For the almost 120 non-OECD countries that did not reply to the questionnaire, exports from the EU will be controlled under prior written notification and consent procedures. 'Exports can still take place,' explains Mr Bartley, 'but the months of delays in the control process and the extra costs in completing the paperwork may persuade scrap sellers to look to other countries for customers.'
BIR hails (EC) No. 1418/2007 as an improvement on its predecessor. However, the world body does not support in principle the legislative mechanism of 'implicit consent' because it is 'so dependent on good communication and understanding' and does not take into account 'trade distortions caused by non-OECD country export restrictions or use of taxes on recyclables'.
Mr Bartley states: 'The regulation is the wrong mechanism to control the well-established and mature markets in recyclables. Achieving an optimum price for quality scrap ensures optimum collection, ie diversion from disposal to recycling, and so supports sustainable development and improves the environment and brings economic benefits too.'
