Global recycling groups criticise EU WSR

The EU's proposed revision of its Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) will aid "backdoor protectionism", international recycling groups said during the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) conference on 2-4 February.

The European Parliament voted last month to adopt a proposal for a revision of its WSR that will impose controls on exports of scrap metal from the EU to non-OECD countries.

"It's basically backdoor protectionism," Bureau of International Recycling president Tom Bird said. "The revision is presented as a tool to protect the environment, public health and fighting illegal shipments. But the reality is it's meant to keep recycled goods within the EU and strengthen the domestic economy at the expense of us being able to trade with trading partners in other countries and it's distortion of market prices... The point is, we would supply every last ton of scrap into the EU market if they would buy it but they don't," Bird said. The excess supply in the region would pull down prices and directly harm the international scrap market, Bird added.

The WSR amendment, if applied, will have major impact in terms of trade between the EU and India, European Recycling Industries Confederation secretary general Emmanuel Katrakis said, adding that India's ferrous scrap imports from the EU had increased threefold by November.

The Indian Ministry of Steel's additional secretary Ruchika Govil raised concerns over whether any new directives from Europe will be enforced correctly. She cited similar restrictions already applied to the recycling of EU ships, which have reduced flow to Indian shipbreaking yards that are compliant with EU regulation and which are losing out to countries that do not strictly follow these rules.

"EU has very strict legislations, but the enforcement is not always there, including with European countries," Katrakis said. "So, some very excellent players in India who are playing by the rules might not receive the materials that they should and all the players who are not, might actually receive them because no one is there to enforce those regulations."

India's low consumption base means that the country will be reliant on imported scrap for years to come. And growing protectionism from the EU and the Middle East is a cause of concern.

The implementation of the WSR proposal will be extremely challenging for India as it depends on Europe for about 30pc of its raw materials, MRAI senior vice-president Dhawal Shah said.

"Developed countries are asking developing countries to transition towards the green economy," Shah said. "India wants raw material to do this, but then on the other side, Europe comes and says we want you to do this, but we won't be able to give you raw materials anymore, regardless of the fact that we consume it or not, [and] that's a dilemma."

Under the amended WSR, scrap metal exports will be allowed only to non-OECD countries that apply for consent and demonstrate their ability to treat waste sustainably through third-party audits.

UK recyclers are very concerned that the UK Government may follow the EU's lead in imposing similar export restrictions, British Metals Recycling Association president Susie Burrage said.

"International trade in commodity grade metal scrap is necessary to cope with the imbalance between supply and demand," she said. "Export restrictions would lead to decreasing the value of metal scrap, which in turn will affect collection and recycling rates as well as the ability of recycling companies to invest and scale up capacities."

The US-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries chiefs said that they do not see any restrictions of scrap outflows from their country in the near future.

By Sumita Layek