Indonesia affirms scrap import impurities rule

The Ministry of Trade in Indonesia has officially affirmed that pre-export inspected recyclable commodities, primarily metals and paper scrap, may be imported into that nation with an up to 2 percent impurities threshold. The Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) reports that it received notice of the Ministry of Trade in Indonesia’s decision in a letter July 16.

“ISRI is grateful to the government of Indonesia for working with us to establish a technical regulation that addresses their interests to import only specification-grade raw materials,” says ISRI Vice President of Advocacy Adina Renee Adler. “Our members also received tremendous support from the U.S. embassy throughout the process, and we thank them for their hard work and support.”

According to a news release from ISRI on the notice, the letter states that the import of nonhazardous and toxic waste for industrial raw materials must be verified in the country of origin before shipment to Indonesia based on the Regulation of Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia Number 83 of 2020. Additionally, the joint decree, which was entered into force May 27, 2020, regulates that the impurity tolerance for paper and plastic nonhazardous and toxic waste is 2 percent maximum. ISRI says the letter concludes that the implementation of impurity provisions will be further regulated through the regulation of the director general of foreign trade Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia.

According to ISRI, the Indonesian government told the association in 2019 that its impurities threshold would be 2 percent at the outset and transition to 0.5 percent in two years. ISRI and members participated in a variety of advocacy efforts to solidify the regulation, including trips to Indonesia to brief the government and conduct training on the ISRI specifications with testing, inspection and certification provider Cotecna. ISRI reports that Indonesia’s new impurities ruling is to go into effect in September.