Global trade association BIR has backed EuRIC’s call on the EU not to enforce a blanket ban on waste shipments.
In a letter to the European Commission, European Parliament and Slovenian Presidency of the Council, EuRIC said there should be a clear distinction between problematic waste streams and raw materials from recycling.
BIR president Tom Bird said: “At the height of the pandemic in Europe, the recycling industry was almost universally regarded as ‘essential’ and was therefore allowed to continue in operation.
“It is only by maximising the substitution of primary raw materials by raw materials from recycling that we will succeed in optimising the climate change mitigation effects of recycling. And what is true at a European level is even more true globally.
“Therefore, one of the first courses of action should be to engage with the recycling industry, listen to our powerful arguments and create the circumstances in which our industry’s massive environmental potential can be fully unlocked.
“No circular economy can be seriously considered and achieved without a fluid global market for raw materials from recycling.”
