"The price of recycled paper has fallen by 72% in the last year, due to the drop in consumption due to high energy prices and inflation. Then we have the barrier of Italian bureaucracy, with the costs associated with very long authorizations. And now the EU, with the regulation on the shipment of waste that it is about to approve, could also hinder the export of waste paper, which has kept the sector going". This was explained to ANSA by the general manager of Unirima (the association of paper recyclers), FrancescoSicilia, at the Ecomondo fair in Rimini.
"The problem," explains Sicilia, "is that the EU does not want to recognize bales of paper pressed from waste as a secondary raw material (recycled raw material, ed.), as the Italian regulation on the end of waste does. For Europe, what in Italy is a secondary raw material would only be waste, subject to a whole series of export authorisations. The new regulation could reintroduce new export bureaucracy, which would hurt Italian companies."
For Sicily, "we send 5 million tons of waste paper to Italian paper mills per year, 1.5 million abroad.
In the first 6 months of 2023, exports doubled compared to the same period in 2022. This export has avoided a collapse of the market. And now Europe wants to put up new barriers."
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA