Debate: Shipments of waste
Date: MONDAY, 16 JANUARY 2023
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

The progress you have made so far is very welcome, and we particularly appreciate Parliament’s strong support in keeping the essential elements that form the heart of the Commission proposal. Reducing the EU environmental footprint linked to the export of waste to third countries, building up a robust EU market for waste, going for recycling and addressing waste trafficking, which is one of the most prevalent forms of environmental crime. Stricter controls on our waste exports will make sure that we take responsibility of the waste produced in the EU. The regulation as a whole has great potential to accelerate the transition to a more circular and climate-neutral economy. Facilitating the shipment of waste for recycling within the EU will help with the decarbonisation of EU industry, as waste reuse and recycling are both far less CO2-intensive than the use of primary raw materials. Finally, legal shipments: potentially compromising up to 30% of waste shipments worth 9.5 billion annually. And we need to step up action on waste trafficking. The Commission will support investigations by Member States on transnational crime linked to waste trafficking with the support of the EU Anti-Fraud Office. I also thank the Parliament for highlighting the important links between waste shipments and waste policy in general and climate change mitigation, global sustainable development and labour rights.  And let me briefly mention two elements of your report which we will need to monitor very carefully in the course of further interinstitutional discussions and negotiations. So we take note of your call for a stricter approach on the export of plastic waste. The Commission will look into this very carefully and will have to consider the legal implications of this amendment, especially its compatibility with the EU’s international commitments. We need to fully assess if a blanket ban on the general export of plastic waste would be necessary and provide a better solution than the measures the Commission proposed to achieve our policy objectives. Respecting the EU’s international obligations will be, of course, key in this context. I would also like to add a word of caution on the tasks you expect the Commission to perform once the regulation is adopted. Some of the changes proposed in your report would create a substantial additional workload for the Commission, needing a considerable increase in staff with expenditure for heading seven already close to the ceiling set for the MFF. The resource implications of the proposed amendments needs to be very carefully considered. Honourable Members, our waste is our responsibility. Letting waste pollute the environment and end up in illegal dumpsters or in our oceans is a real loss of resources which are precious for the EU’s transition to a circular economy. And this proposal is a decisive move to create the most advanced waste shipment system in the world and bring this system to the digital era, too. Our goal is to make sure that waste generated in the EU is managed in a sustainable way so that it does not harm nature and health, but opens up new opportunities for green growth and innovation. And I am confident that we can achieve swift progress towards finalising the negotiations on this regulation. The sooner the new harmonised rules start applying, the better.  My team and I are ready to continue providing every support necessary. We look forward to start to the trilogue negotiations as soon as possible and we hope that the Council would also be ready to do so without delay. Thank you. And I, of course, now look forward to hearing your views.