26 May 2023

The Commission’s proposal for a Waste Shipment regulation (WSR) responds to the call under the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan to revise the WSR with the aim of (1) facilitating shipments of waste for reuse and recycling in the EU, (2) ensuring that the EU does not export its waste challenges to third countries and (3) tackling illegal waste shipments.

On 17 January 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the Commission’s WSR proposal. While certain EP amendment proposals would have positive impacts on recycling, other significant parts would have consequences on plastics circularity and recycling. For the adoption of a WSR that benefits plastics recycling and increased circularity of plastics, the European plastics recycling industry represented by the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) calls on EU decisionmakers to consider two key messages.