New rules on shipments of waste should boost our circular economy

Setting up a truly working circular economy in the EU is a key priority for Renew Europe. In the transition to a circular economy, which is a necessary tool to meet our climate goals, we handle our raw materials and waste carefully. The waste we generate as a society must therefore be managed properly because it is a resource with great economic potential that provides numerous environmental benefits when recycled and cleaned into fractions from which we can make new materials and products.

Making the most of the economic and environmental potential of the EU waste market and to boost the circular therefore implies a more sustainable management of our waste streams. Therefore, Renew Europe welcomes the vote in plenary today on a New Waste Shipment Regulation.

The new regulation not only provides for new and stricter conditions to tackle illegal waste shipments, it establishes a fully electronic exchange system to reduce the administrative burden on business and to facilitate the shipment of waste for recycling and re-use in the EU, while ensuring a phase out of plastic waste to third countries, which should unlock the potential of the EU waste market.

Frédérique Ries (MR, Belgium) Renew Europe Shadow Rapporteur says:

“We aim for an ambitious reform of the European waste shipment rules to better protect the environment and the health of our citizens but also to avoid that some countries remain the world’s waste bins. Creating a real recycling market in Europe is of great importance for ourselves and the planet we live on.”