RECYCLERS DISPUTE NEW EU WASTE SHIPMENT PROPOSALS

Europe's metal recycling associationshave attacked the european Comission over a proposedd revision to strenghten EU controls on trade in waste. The changes would unjustifably hamper trade, according to the industry organisations. The planned revision of the 1993 regulation on transboundary waste shipments is intended to align EU law with recently-revised OECD rules and with the UN Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous waste. Under changes introduced last year, the OECD brought its system of waste lists into line with that of the Basel Convention. Its former three-tier system of green, amber and red wastes for successively more dangerous substances has been replaced by just two categories of waste: hazardous (amber controlled) and non-hazardous (green controlled). In response to the EU's proposed revision, Europe's metals and metals recycling industries have published a joint position paper. As these EU regulations affect trade in secondary raw materials worldwide, the Brussels based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has been actively supporting the actions of the European federations, in parallel with its involvement in work on regulating trade in materials for materials recovery and recycling within the OECD. The European federations covering ferrous and non-ferrous metals recycling - EFR and Eurometrec - teamed up with Eurofer and Eurometaux to comment on the revision of Council Regulation N* 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community. According to BIR, the proposed regulations appear more severe than those in use within the OECD area, which is likely further to hamper trading conditions for the European recycling industry. The revision contains a call for further administrative restrictions, suggesting the introduction of a new form to be filled in for any movement of unprocessed 'Green Waste'. Although the OECD requires only tacit consent for the movement of amber controlled wastes, the EU wants prior written notification and consent for hazardous waste shipments, effectively extending the 'red controls' of the original 1993 regulation to a whole raft of substances. As some EU authorities are known to publish details of commercial transactions, the disclosure of information on such a form could lead to a breach of comercial confidentiality and a distortion of competitiveness, it is claimed. Also, the lack of a clear distinction in the EU revision between unprocessed waste and processed secondary raw materials is said to represent a danger both to the recycling industry and to their customers.