Waste Paper Procurement: Be Prepared for Evidence, Documentation, and audit Process

Waste Paper Procurement: Be Prepared for Evidence, Documentation, and audit Process

17th November 2022 | The Pulp and Paper Times

European recyclers are making an urgent plea to shadow rapporteurs as revised EU rules threaten to severely impact trade of recycled materials risking irreversible economic damage and job losses to Europe’s leading circular economy industries.

Talking to The Pulp and Paper Times over a phone call, Mr. Marc Ehrlich, CEO, VIPA Group says, the new EU Waste Shipment Regulation has been under development for many years now and is under final stages at the EU Parliament level. We believe it could pass the vote at the EU parliament in early 2023. There will be after that some further process between the parliament and the EU Commission, which makes it difficult to predict the date of implementation of the new law and the transition period which is also under discussion.

He further says that the new law will make it extremely difficult to ship recovered paper from Europe into India. This will combine three levels, first - All streams are considered as “waste”. There is no favorable treatment for non problematic streams (recovered paper that can not harm the environment, copper with a value of USD 10’000/to) as compared to problematic streams like mixed waste plastic. Everything is “waste”.

Second, the country of destination (India for example) will need to demonstrate its ability to receive the “waste” and need to prepare all the appropriate evidence and documentation on that. This will be reviewed and evaluated by the EU Commission. I would like to underline that the same administration took about 6 months in 2022 to correct in their database a typing mistake done by the Indian government. We can with no doubt say that we are in the “right” hands !
 
“And last, the receiver of the “waste”, the paper mill will need to be audited to attest broadly equivalent standards. We do not know what those standards are exactly. Will that cover also CO2 emissions for example ?, he informed.

Mr. Marc emphasises that in order to find a suitable solution for paper mills, the Indian Government should be urged by the Paper Mills Association in India to evaluate this law and consult with the EU authorities.. He added, “all that is known for months already and I am still very surprised of the lack of reaction of the recycling industry (paper mills and metal smelters) in India on that. India will be the most hit country with this legislation and nobody is asking the government to react and liaise with EU authorities”

"At the same time, the collection in Europe will collapse, as the lack of exports will lead to low prices, discouraged investments and we will see job losses. Recovered paper will go more and more to landfills. Nobody is reacting, all will loose, including the Environment !!!" he adds.

Current proposals for the revision of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation threaten to "decimate" the European recycling industry, warns the umbrella organisation Euric. Almost 80 per cent of metal recyclers and more than 70 per cent of recovered paper recyclers expect a decrease in turnover as a result of the provisions currently under consideration. As many as half expect to have to cut jobs, the European Recycling Industries' Confederation (Euric) reported in September. According to the association, the industry as a whole currently provides more than 300,000 green jobs that cannot be offshored, and has an annual turnover of around €95bn.
 

Web Title: Waste Paper Procurement: Be Prepared for Evidence, Documentation, and audit Process