Once properly collected and sorted, many wastes have a positive value on the recycling market. Then, they can be traded, which may lead to shipments to other countries. In order to avoid losing control on what happens next with the waste (remember the many scandals in the 80s), these transfers are regulated by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (link). This convention entered in force in 1992 and applies the “Prior Informed Consent” procedure, according to which all the concerned countries (export, transfer, import) must give their authorization for any shipment to take place legally. The exporter has a duty to take back waste shipments that are found to be illegal or cannot be treated as intended (including the recovery or disposal of waste).
The EU has implemented the Basel Convention via the EU Regulation n°1013/2006 on waste shipments that contains additional procedural elements going beyond the Basel Convention, such as time limits for the approval process, tacit consent in certain cases and pre-consent procedures. The goal is to create an internal market for waste destined for recovery operations (the so called “green list”) and secondary raw materials. Ideally this market would have to make sure that, on one hand, waste is routed to the more appropriate and efficient recovery facilities and, on the other hand, the recycling sector growths and creates jobs while achieving a high level of protection of the Environment and Public Health. This has to be seen as a sort of living lab for circular economy.
The EC commission is, of course, in charge of elaborating the regulatory framework so that the market will function as smooth as possible. In anticipation of the 2020 evaluation of EU Regulation n°1013/2006, DG Environment commissioned in 2016 a study on the functioning of waste markets in the EU (link). It considered both direct barriers to movements of waste within the EU and distortions of the EU’s waste markets. Several policy recommendations on regulatory change came out of this study:
- Develop a Schengen area for waste for recycling and recovery
- Harmonise and strengthen the system of preconsented facilities
- Ensure more harmonised classification system for waste shipments
- Facilitate compliance with export of waste administration
- Address delays in shipping waste via transit countries
- Address problems of cooperation between authorities at different levels
- Guidelines to organize schemes for extended producer responsibility, disregarding whether these are obligatory or voluntary.
- Strengthen the implementation of the Waste Shipment Regulation and the Waste Framework Directive
Finally the COVID 19 pandemic and the oil price decline have deeply shocked the market for waste recovery (link) but, unlike natural raw materials whose mining can be suspended, wastes are a continuous flow and shipments will always have to occur. This is another issue for regulation.
Sustainable Synergies 