Indian recyclers urge EU to rethink metal export restrictions: BIR

Indian metal recyclers have pleaded with policy makers in the EU to rethink the upcoming updated Waste Shipment Regulation, which excludes India, among other non-OECD countries, from recycled metal exports from the bloc.

The plea came at the Bureau of International Recycling's World Convention on Oct. 27, according to an Oct. 29 BIR media statement

As part of the updated WSR, India and other non-OECD countries were excluded from a provisional list of EU-approved destinations for exports of ferrous and non-ferrous recycled metals. The list is due to be finalized after consultation on Nov. 21 and be implemented in May 2027, although BIR and Recycling Europe have asked for a delay.

Dhawal Shah, managing partner at Indian trading and recycling firm Metco Ventures, told the plenary session of BIR's International Trade Council that the updated WSR would imbalance the upcoming free trade agreement due to be signed between India and the EU in December.

"Intermediate products of aluminum or copper can flow into our country [from the EU]. We welcome that, but my simple question here is: 'Why not scrap?' Maybe better sense will prevail, and we may have some corrections," he said.

Shah said the European Commission talked about "environmentally sound management of materials," but he believed it was more about economics.

BIR International Trade Council Chair Emmanuel Katrakis said the council's discussions were increasingly about restrictions on the movement of secondary materials rather than free trade.

"For the last two years, there has been strong lobbying either on export tariffs or, latterly, the export ban to non-OECD countries. But we also see this [trend] in other parts of the world, in North America, in South America," he said.

The BIR has been vocal about its opposition to the updated WSR and called on the EC earlier in October to reconsider proposed restrictions on exports of recycled metals to major non-OECD markets, saying there should be a reassessment of the proposed restrictions and of the evidence and legal reasoning underpinning them.

Circularity loop

According to the statement, Belgian Scrap Terminal's CEO Caroline Craenhals agreed that Europe was trying to create a circularity loop by closing its borders, but said "a loop is not a cage."

"When we close markets through export restrictions, we don't just restrict trade, we weaken recycling itself," she said, adding that Europe risked creating a surplus of recycled materials for which there was not sufficient domestic processing capacity.

Craenhals added that she supported traceability, environmental standards and responsible trading.

"We must know where materials go and how they are treated, but we must clearly distinguish waste dumping from the legitimate trading of high-quality recycled raw materials," she said.

She also said that more effort was needed on End-of-Waste regulations to ease market access, while demand measures would boost circularity in Europe.

Kevin Gershowitz, president of US-based Gershow Recycling, said there was a "big difference" between restricting exports and limiting imports.

"With an export restriction you shoot yourself in the foot; with an import restriction, you shoot the other guy," he said.

Gershowitz said there was a chance of "copycat" export measures in the US, but he believed the US Recycled Materials Association had strong enough relations with Congress to challenge any such move.

He added that the strong US steel sector meant secondary ferrous exports from the US were unlikely to grow.