On the occasion of their 10th anniversary, EuRIC, the association representing European recycling companies, lately organized the 6th European Recycling Conference (ERC) in Milan, Italy.
The conference, titled "Recycling Today, Resourcing Tomorrow", was divided into two panels, during which the hosts discussed the role of circularity in the European decarbonization process and the future of the EU recycled materials trade.
The event was moderated by Cinzia Vezzosi, president of co-hosting association Assofermet and vice-president of EuRIC. During the first part of the conference, Olivier François, president of EuRIC, explained that the steel industry accounts for a high amount of CO2 emissions. As a consequence, regulating scrap metal recycling would be a great step towards decarbonization. One issue that emerged from the first panel - moderated by Susie Burrage (BIR) - stressed by loannis Bakas of the European Environment Agency was raw material autonomy. According to his presentation, two thirds of the raw materials used in Europe are coming from imports. In this regard, Giovan Battista Landra of AFV Beltrame Group said that "complete independence from other markets is unthinkable".
At the same time, Przemyslaw Kowalski of the OECD underlined that in the past 15 years export restrictions have increased by over 20 percent, especially for iron, steel and copper. Because of these regulations, the raw materials industry is becoming more and more concentrated and "nationalized".
On the other hand, Robin Wiener, president of ReMa (Recycled Materials Association), noted that, thanks to European net zero objectives, scrap is becoming a crucial raw material to be used to achieve these goals. Consequently, demand for recycled material will increase in the next few years, but companies need to better learn how to exploit each quality of material, in order not to waste potential resources.
Many of the attendees agreed that a win-win solution for both steel companies and recyclers needs to be found in order to progress. In its press release regarding the conference, EuRIC stated, "The active participation of EU policymakers, industry representatives, recyclers, manufacturers, and economists at the ERC event demonstrated that progress and increased collaboration are indeed possible."
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