BIR 2021: EU could ban scrap metal exports by December despite industry protests

A decision by the European Union on the future of the bloc's scrap metal export trade, which is worth billions of euros per year, could come as early as December this year, the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in Brussels heard on Tuesday October 26.

The recycling industry is facing tremendous challenges, panelists said. The EU has proposed restrictions on the export of "waste" material, and BIR representatives have been trying over the past year to convince the EU's executive branch, the European Commission (EC), that it should no longer regard processed, clean scrap of high metallic content as "waste."
The EC's intention is to avoid any adverse "effects on the environment and public health caused by shipments of waste to third countries outside the EU," according to its website.
But the way it intends to achieve this could jeopardize exports of scrap metal from European countries, and could cause ripple effects for the global metals supply chain, according to Murat Bayram, director and head of non-ferrous metals at recycler EMR.

"The...

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