November 17, 2021 – The EC today presented its proposal for a new EU Waste Shipment Regulation. According to this proposal, all non-hazardous waste exports, including steel and aluminium scrap, to non-OECD countries should be banned.
EC to ban export of steel and aluminium scrap
As expected, the European Commission presented its amendment proposal for the EU Waste Shipping Regulation today, Wednesday. In short, the EC’s preferred proposal (No. 4) bans the export of green-listed (non-hazardous) European waste to non-OECD countries. If the waste is to be exported to non-OECD countries, the countries must demonstrate in advance that they are capable of handling the waste appropriately. At the same time, waste exporters and countries have to prove that their facilities can process the waste properly.
EU aluminium and steel producers to be protected
In its draft, the EC explicitly names European steel and aluminium producers as beneficiaries of the proposed changes. But the rest of the spectrum of ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap also falls under this de facto ban.
Reason: EU does not want to burden other countries with its own waste
The EC justifies the proposal for the new Waste Shipment Regulation with the EU Green Deal. Why European steel and aluminium producers have not bought and used the almost 19 million tonnes of exported EU scrap in recent years remains unanswered.
World market will be poorer by 19 million tonnes of scrap metal
In any case, these 19 million tonnes of aluminium and steel scrap will in all likelihood be lacking on the world market in the future.And whether anyone will still sell the EU the 5 million tonnes of scrap that it previously imported remains to be seen.
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