A policy briefing released by the European Suppliers of Waste-to-Energy Technology (ESWET) has called for the European Commission’s revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation to continue to support the shipment of waste for energy recovery in the EU. As part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission committed to revising the Waste Shipment Regulation, holding a public consultation which ran until 30 July,
In response, ESWET’s policy briefing makes a number of recommendations for the revision of the Regulation. The briefing calls for the European Commission to adopt a proximity approach to waste exports – maintaining European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries as a preferential partner, and ‘taking responsibility for its own waste’. This comes after reports of illegal waste shipments to developing countries from the UK and the EU.
For example, Chinese customs authorities recently intercepted 500,000 tonnes of illegal waste being smuggled into the country, triggering a country-wide crackdown on waste imports and a ban on solid waste imports from 2021. As part of a functioning market for secondary materials, ESWET’s policy briefing states that it is ‘crucial not to overlook the treatment of non-recyclable waste’ and that the revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation should ‘not make it impossible for waste to be treated a certain way’, such as in EfW facilities.
Piotr Barczak, Senior Policy Officer for Waste at the European Environmental Bureau, added: “The briefing identifies some important issues, but makes use of misleading arguments to promote false solutions such as the wasteful and polluting incineration of waste. “The world needs a common legal framework to address the way our governments manage and trade waste. Such a framework must prioritise the prevention of waste at home and abroad as the only way to effectively save resources in a way that’s 100 per cent climate neutral.”
Source: Resource
Global site 
Finnish site