In 2020, Europe collected an average of 54.4 million tonnes of recovered paper and used 47.9 million tonnes internally. However, there is a long-lasting supply-demand gap of around 7 million tonnes in excess supply of recovered paper in Europe, as observed in recent years. With no end markets for around 7 million tonnes of recovered paper in Europe, exports are of vital importance to the European paper recycling industry.

“The future Waste Shipment Regulation should not hamper the smooth functioning of the global recovered paper trade market,” says Hans van de Nes, President of ERPA, the recovered paper arm of EuRIC. ”We understand the need to restrict exports of ‘problematic waste streams’ as identified in the new Circular Economy Action Plan to countries lacking appropriate infrastructure. However, exports of recovered paper meeting the EN 643 standard to countries outside the European Union are absolutely crucial for the paper recycling industry. While the majority of waste paper collected and recovered in the EU stays in the EU to make new paper in circular value chains, recovered paper remains a recycled raw material with global supply and demand can easily be used as a substitute or supplement. of virgin pulp by paper mills to produce new paper.”

The proposed revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) completely ignores the major differences between the different waste streams. The one-size-fits-all approach that subjects all waste streams to similar export restrictions without distinguishing between untreated waste and recovered paper meeting European standard EN643 will have lasting negative effects on the waste recycling industry. EU. By restricting access to global end markets, collection and processing costs will no longer be covered by revenue from recovered paper sales, requiring financial contributions from municipalities to be able to continue proper separate collection.

ERPA unconditionally supports the transition to a more circular economy – the use of recovered paper compared to raw materials for the production of new paper saves more than 60% energy and is inherently resource and climate efficient. However, in the absence of sufficient production capacities in Europe, the global trade in recovered paper remains crucial because recovered paper can only be stored for a very limited time and must be quickly used in a paper mill to produce new paper. ERPA warmly welcomes the additional capacities announced by the European paper industry to increase demand in Europe. “However, building new capacity will take time and will not be enough to bridge the gap between supply and demand,” van de Nes concluded.