Monitoring impacts from Council Regulation (EU) No 333/2011 : end-of-waste criteria for Al/Fe scrap : final report

On 9 October 2011, Council Regulation 333/2011 came into force establishing criteria by which scrap from iron and steel, aluminium and aluminium alloys could cease to be regulated as waste. This study examines the impacts of the Regulation on scrap availability, trade flows, prices, administrative requirements and environment or human health incidents. Based on the feedback from industry and authorities surveys, it was shown that more than 1,100 scrap industry companies are already using the end-of-waste criteria across Europe. Uptake is most pronounced in Italy, where over 1,000 scrap companies generate end-of-waste compliant scrap, due in part to a specific legal framework on secondary raw materials that was already in place in Italy before the introduction of the EU end-of-waste criteria. In terms of the quantity of endof- waste compliant scrap available on the market, this study estimates that, as a lower bound, at least 15% of EU scrap steel and 10% of EU scrap aluminium is compliant. Importantly, this study has found almost no evidence that end-ofwaste has caused any negative impacts on the market, whether that be to scrap quality, availability/trade or on the environment. On the contrary, quite a number of the survey participants, both from industry and Competent Authorities highlighted the perceived benefits of the introduction of end-of-waste for metal scrap. These perceived benefits include: creating a simplified regulatory framework and offering companies greater flexibility and legal certainty. Some companies identified improved scrap quality and increased sales prices. Future monitoring efforts could be based on a similar industry and authorities surveys as used in this study, to be carried out ideally within 2-3 years.