Page 61 - Plastics News July 2025
P. 61
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Today, the Commission published an evaluation ing by about 2% annually. There is a lot of poten-
of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equip- tial to better make use of e-waste, for example
ment (WEEE) Directive. The WEEE is critical to by recovering and recycling critical raw materi-
address the growing challenges in e-waste man- als and strengthening the circular economy. The
agement and to better align EU rules with the evaluation moreover highlights the need for a
objectives of a competitive circular economy. new approach to improve collection, treatment,
Key gaps were identified, such as the fact that and market incentives, and will help prepare the
nearly 50% of all e-waste remains uncollected, Commission’s proposal to revise the WEEE Di-
and recycling falls short of collection targets in rective. This revision will be a central component
EU Member States. Electronic waste is one of Eu- of the future Circular Economy Act.
rope’s fastest-growing waste streams, increas-
Source – RECYCLING magazine
Malaysia fully halting US plastic scrap imports
he Malaysian government recently pub- Berhad. The Basel Action Network (BAN), a U.S.
lished regulations indicating the country exports watchdog group, highlighted the regula-
Twill stop all U.S.-sourced imports of scrap tion in an announcement this week.
plastic on July 1, and reports from traders indi-
cate the flow already has slowed. In guidelines published by SIRIM, the organiza-
tion wrote that it will approve imports only from
countries that are party to the Basel Convention,
the global treaty regulating waste shipments, or
that have a separate agreement between the
two countries as allowed under the Basel rules.
That requirement means shipments from U.S.
exporters are not eligible for import into Malay-
sia, because the U.S. is not a Basel party and has
no separate agreement with Malaysia covering
U.S. shipments to the country.
Malaysia remains a large export market for U.S.
Malaysia’s Federal Government Gazette recent- scrap plastic, suggesting the new regulation
ly published notice of new customs rules tak- could create a significant disruption. In 2024,
ing effect July 1, requiring imports of all scrap the U.S. exported 78.5 million pounds of scrap
plastic under the 3915 tariff code, imported from plastic to Malaysia, about 8.6% of all U.S. plastic
any country, to be approved by a government- exports. By resin, last year Malaysia brought in
owned certification organization called SIRIM
July 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 61
