Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll talk about waste.

More specifically, about the EU's plans to revise the rules governing shipments of waste

to ensure they allow for a more efficient circular economy and help combat waste trafficking.

Want to know more? Stay with us.

Did you know that in 2020, the EU exported around 33 million tons of waste to non-EU countries?

That's correct. Mostly to Turkey, but also India, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia and Pakistan.

So, what kind of waste do we export?

Well, it's mainly ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap as well as paper, plastic, textile and glass.

And between EU countries, nearly 70 million tonnes of waste are shipped each year.

And you know the saying one man's trash is another man's treasure?

Indeed, and the fact is, waste contains valuable secondary raw materials.

So waste trade has an enormous potential for developing economies of scale, for recycling,

boosting the production of high quality secondary raw materials and increasing circularity.

Let's hear the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginia Sinkovicius.

Today only 12% of raw materials used in the EU industry come from recycling.

This is not a number that satisfies our circular economy ambition.

That's what we want to encourage, so that more materials are kept in the loop and return to the EU economy as secondary raw materials.

On the other hand, when waste is not properly managed, it can have disastrous consequences

for the environment and human health. As we've seen in some developing countries where toxic

waste from Europe has been dumped in the past. This is why the Commission proposed in November

2021 to update the rules governing shipments of waste.

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