Revisions to the European Union's Waste Shipments Regulation (WSR) are intended to promote and encourage investment into the circular economy as well as to provide further protection to developing countries from the transfer of hazardous waste, executives from European Aluminium told Fastmarkets during an exclusive interview on last week.
They said the regulations are not intended to ban the export of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap from the bloc.
A recent period of public consultation over the revisions to the regulations has generated controversy from various trade bodies,
with some lobbying against the legislation in fear of a blanket ban on scrap exports from the EU.
"There seems to be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding around this [legislation]," said George Karkampasis, circular economy and recycling manager at European Aluminium.
"We never called for a ban. We called for the development of a level playing field," he added.
The purpose of the review is to "ensure how to facilitate that EU policy on waste shipments promotes recycling in the EU to support the transition to the circular economy,"
according to the EU Commission website.
"The review will also explore ways to reduce the export of waste through a better inspection...