The Basel Convention met in Geneva, Switzerland, to consider a number of proposals that could restrict the trade of scrap commodities. The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI; Washington, DC) released background information on these proposals. In March, at the direction of the Basel Convention of Parties, an expert working group began to review the legally binding annex of the convention that pertains to what are considered hazardous materials as well as the annex that determines what are “disposal and recycling operations,” said ISRI. The European Commission has proposed to redefine certain recycling processes as “treatment” rather than recycling.
In June, the government of Norway submitted a proposal to the Basel Convention secretariat that plastic waste and scrap be moved from Annex IX [wastes not covered in the convention] to Annex II [Categories of Wastes Requiring Special Consideration or “other wastes”], thereby placing plastic waste and scrap within the scope of the Basel Convention. Norway’s intent is to use the Basel Convention to address the marine litter crisis, said ISRI in its release.
Those groups and individuals who are seeking to rid the world of plastic altogether are not content with recycling plastics. While I believe that the energy consumed and cost involved in recycling most plastics make it a less-attractive alternative than waste-to-energy (WTE) methods for dealing with waste and scrap, an official classification of plastic as “hazardous” waste needing to be dealt with via “mechanical treatment,” and not recycling, would be bad for the multi-billion-dollar recycling industry.
In fact, ISRI noted in its release that if these proposals are adopted, “they could reshape our industry and how we trade scrap commodities.” The European definition would consider processes such as dismantling, sorting, crushing, compacting, pelletizing, shredding, blending and mixing as “mechanical treatment,” and, thus, not as recycling.
What this would mean for plastic scrap traders worldwide is “administrative burdens.” For U.S. companies that import or export plastic scrap, “it would place a severe restriction on trade, given that the United States is not party to the Basel Convention and, thus, there are only limited exceptions to prohibition on trade between parties and non-parties.”
Read the full story, visit https://www.plasticstoday.com/sustainability/classifying-plastic-hazardous-material-could-be-hazardous-recycling-industry/67317855359416.