Europe, a hub for recycling … … or illegal shipments of

waste?Patrick Van den Bossche, Director Agoria

Antwerp 9th of September 2013

#illegalexports

Importance of metals for society Increasing demand for metals due to:

Strong economic growth of emerging economies and transition to a sustainable economy.

Non-ferrous metals are vital for different industrial sectors such as ICT, renewable energy, energy efficient products, medical products, infrastructure, automotive, aerospace, production of chemicals, …

3

Europe depends on imports of raw materials

Europe has limited primary raw materials and the export of the ‘urban mine’ increased strongly over the last decade

Sustainable access to raw materials and resource efficiency are strategic objectives for the EU !!!

4

Increasing recycling is part of the solution

Source: UNEP (2011) Recycling Rates of Metals – A Status Report, A Report of the Working Group on the Global Flows to the International Resource Panel- Graedel, T.E.: Alwood, J.; Birat, J.-P.; Buchert, M.; Hagelüken, C.; Reck, B.K.; Sibley, S.F.; Sonnemann, G.

Recycling percentage of precious metals in electronic equipment is typical less then 15%

Average over all

applications

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Strong recycling value chain in Europe!! Efficiency depends on all actors in the value chain

Chain depends metal by metal Example PGM

Dismantling &pre-processing

CollectionMetallurgical

metal recovery

Reuse

End-of-lifeproducts

Final wasteSeparated components& fractions

Recycledmetals

Dismantling &pre-processing

CollectionMetallurgical

metal recovery

Reuse

End-of-lifeproducts

Final wasteSeparated components& fractions

Recycledmetals

6

... but routes of leakage/dumping of WEEE

Source: Doucette, Gopal Dayaneni and John. San Jose, CA: Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 2005

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Importance of leakage/dumping ? Impel estimated in 2012 that 21% of transfronterial transports of

waste were illegal between 2008 and 2011 The European Commission estimated the 25% of all transports to

Africa and Azia is illegal … If only 1% of all waste shipments are illegal, the total quantity

amounts up to 2,8 milj. ton / year … etc.

Real magnitude of the problem is difficult to estimate but the impacts are multiple …

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Ghana

Bali

Nigeria

Pakistan

Bangladesh

China

India Vietnam

Thailande

South-Africa

Clear impact of illegal exports of waste and linked ‘sham’-recycling

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Where is the borderline?

?

No clear definitions are available on quality recycling but level playing field is urgently needed !!

Impacts on the environment and human health !

Different recycling and resource efficiency !

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Access to raw materials is strategic for EU

Different ongoing policy frameworks: Raw Material Initiaitive, Resource

efficiency, Waste policy, …

Access to raw material is crucial to maintain and further boost the EU recycling industry

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How to tackle this challenge ? Controls on waste transports is only one

element: How to use the limited resources to control the

high number of transport efficiently? Recycling at destination should take place

taking into account Environmental Sound Management: How to control upfront? (Certification)

Part of WEEE/ELV are being exported illegal: How to identify the real 2nd hand goods (repair)? How to avoid port ‘hopping’ in case of efficient

inspections? … whilst ensuring that the legal trade is not

hindered but stimulated

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Complex issue = need for multiple action

One measure alone will not solve the issue: Need for a series of complementary and coordinated actions

Strong collaboration is needed between different parties: Ports, different authorities, industry, … Within each Member State but also between different Member States

Combating illegal shipments whilst facilitating legal trade remains a challenge to create a

recycling hub in Europe in order to contribute to the resource efficiency policy

#illegalexports

UNICEF PICTURE OF THE YEAR 2011 CLOSE TO ACCRA IN GHANA