The release last week of updated rules for exporting green-listed wastes from the EU to non-OECD countries has "caused quite a stir" in recovered paper circles, according to Andreas Otto.
Speaking with EUWID, the vice-president of ERPA, the recovered paper division of the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (Euric) and managing director of Melosch Export GmbH, explained that the source of industry concern was changes to the annex of EU Regulation 1418/2007 which lists the waste types which may be exported from the EU to individual non-OECD countries for recovery and which control procedures apply to them.
In the new EU Regulation 2021/1840 published in the Official Journal of the European Union last week, the entry for recovered paper (B3020) now appears in the annex’s column a) for India, indicating that shipments of that material from the EU to that country are to be banned. Until now, India has permitted recovered paper imports and has not signalled publicly that it was looking to reduce imports, let alone ban them entirely.
On Monday, Mr Otto told EUWID he considered it possible that the change in the table had been made inadvertently. He noted that recovered paper was not the only entry to change position in the table for India. Self-adhesive laminate label waste (B3027) now appeared in column d), where wastes which are subject to a national control procedure in the destination country are listed. In the previous version of the annex, recovered paper had appeared in this column. Shipping self-adhesive label waste (B3027) from the EU to India had previously been banned.
At the time of going to press, the EU Commission had not responded to requests for clarification. The update of the Regulation was coordinated by the Directorate-General for Trade.
Please find the full article in EUWID Pulp and Paper No 43/2021, which will be published tomorrow.
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