BIR adds its voice to European trading concerns

The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has joined the Association of German Metal Traders and Recyclers (VDM) in warning of negative consequences stemming from a recent European Parliament vote.

In a Jan. 18 news release, BIR states, “Following yesterday’s plenary vote in the European Parliament regarding the revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR), BIR is very concerned regarding its potential impact on the global circular economy."

“Intra-European movements are clearly facilitated” in the latest iteration of the proposal, BIR adds. but “exports to countries outside the EU--industrialized (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD) countries and developing (non-OECD) countries--will be considerably burdened by intergovernmental agreements and inspections, audits and checks on facilities in third countries.”

As did Germany’s VDM, the BIR points to environmental advocacy attention to improperly discarded plastic as being misapplied to interfere with existing global secondary commodity markets. The WSR fails to help in all cases, the BIR says.

“The worldwide concern about plastic pollution will likely lead to a prohibition on plastic recyclables exports from the EU, and furthermore has led to harsher conditions on exports of other recyclables desired by industries around the world,” the bureau adds.

The BIR says there are additional legislative steps to undergo at the EU Council of Ministers before the new regulation is final, during which it says it “will be working with its members to secure their future business.” The BIR is urging both OECD and non-OECD country governments to look carefully at the impact of the proposed laws on the material needs of their own industries.

“I have mentioned many times that, in my opinion, these regulations represent a thinly disguised back-door protectionism that puts our industry in danger while severely disrupting the global circular economy,” says BIR President Tom Bird. “It should be blatantly clear to everybody that the trade of vital raw materials such as recycled metals should not be restricted, and BIR as an organization remains fully committed to ensuring exactly that--free trade of recyclables in a global circular economy.”