Recyclers' Anger at EU Waste Shipment Changes
by Environment Daily
5 November 2003 – Recommendations for new EU transfrontier waste shipment rules approved by the European parliament's environment committee on Tuesday could seriously damage Europe's secondary materials recycling industry, according to lobby group BIR.
MEPs' proposals relate to an ongoing revision of the EU's 1993 waste shipments regulation. Their impact would be a massive new administrative burden on non-hazardous waste handlers, BIR claims. The group insists that the committee's vision contradicts the entire rationale of the revision, which it says should streamline notification and permitting procedures.
The committee was voting on proposals tabled by the European Commission in July. These aim to bring EU rules into line with OECD and other international waste shipment rules.
In one major change to the Commission's proposals the committee said firms sending non-hazardous waste for recovery in another member state - such as paper or steel for recycling - must notify authorities in writing in advance.
This would create a completely new requirement for around 90% of all waste movements in the EU, Ross Bartley of BIR told Environment Daily, with authorities likely to be "snowed under" with paperwork. It would also "open the possibility" for them to charge for shipments where currently they do not, he argued.
Mr Bartley also slammed the committee's demand for details of all shipment notifications to be posted on the internet. This would damage competitiveness by allowing big waste handlers to undercut smaller firms more easily, leading to market consolidation and eventually forcing up prices. "Just because it's labelled waste doesn't mean everyone needs to see the details," he said.
Other committee proposals were motivated by "protectionism", he said. Authorities would have much greater scope to block shipments destined for recovery abroad, by invoking the proximity principle or simply by referring to their own national environmental laws.
Elsewhere, MEPs say interim waste shipments - those not immediately for disposal or recovery but to be mixed with other wastes and repackaged for shipment elsewhere - should be banned.
A proposal to put even tighter conditions on waste shipments, including setting minimum recovery rates and calorific content before waste movements would be permitted, was defeated by a whisker.
This was prompted by a landmark European court of justice ruling on when waste incineration is recovery and when disposal. The recommendation could be reinstated when the parliament's plenary body votes on the law. The council of ministers has yet to seriously debate the draft revision, sources say.
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