Plastic waste

Decision of the Basel Convention

According to Decision 12 of the 14th COP of the Basel Convention (Decision BC-14/12: “Amendments to Annexes II, VIII and IX to the Basel Convention”), in the future only unmixed waste and virtually contaminant-free mixtures of the plastics polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) that are demonstrably destined for recycling can be traded freely with other countries. Hazardous plastic waste and those that are unlikely to be recycled are subject to the requirements of the Basel Convention and can therefore only be shipped and managed in an environmentally sound manner with the approval of the authorities of the exporting and importing countries. With the new regulation, there is a multiple mirror entry on plastic waste in the Basel Convention. In addition to the new entry B 3011 in Annex IX, which replaces the old entry B3010, there is a new entry A3210 in Annex VIII for hazardous plastic waste, and a new entry Y48 in Annex II for plastic waste that is not hazardous but requires monitoring.

Implementing decisions of OECD and EU

By decision of September 7, 2020, Annexes 3 and 4 of the OECD Council Decision were amended, but there was no consensus among OECD member countries to adopt the base entries

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/2174 of October 19, 2020, adopted adjusted entries in the WSR, each with different entries for intra-EU, OECD, and third country shipments.

For shipments for material and energy recovery within the Community, the new regulation in the EU includes an adjusted entry EU3011 for non-hazardous plastic waste, an entry AC300 for hazardous plastic waste originating from the OECD Decision, and an entry EU48 for non-hazardous plastic waste requiring monitoring.

Since January 1, 2021, the export of plastic waste of entries AC300 and Y48 from the Union to countries to which the OECD Decision applies, as well as the import of such plastic waste from OECD countries into the Union, is subject to the procedure of prior written notification and consent.

According to Article 36(1)(a) and (b) and Annex V of the WSR, the export of plastic waste of entries A3210 and Y48 to third countries to which the OECD Decision does not apply is prohibited. The import of such waste into the EU is subject to notification.

The export of waste listed in Annexes III and IIIA of the WSR to non-OECD countries is regulated by Regulation (EC) 1418/2007.

In addition, the regulations of the importing countries must be observed for exports from the EU and the regulations of the exporting countries for imports into the EU. The following table gives a quick overview of the applicable regulations for the transfrontier shipment of plastic waste.

Table:   Overview on applicable procedures for shipment of plastic waste

Entry on Plastic waste

Intra EU

Export to/Import from
OECD outside EU

Export to/Import from
Non-OECD

EU3011

General information requirements (Art. 18)

not applicable

not applicable

B3011

not applicable

General information requirements (Art. 18)

Export: prohibition, notification procedure*) or general information (Art. 18) as specified in Commission Regula­tion (EC) 1418/2007**)
Import: General information requirements (Art. 18)

Mixtures of plastic waste in paragraph 4 of Annex IIIA WSR

General information requirements (Art. 18)

not applicable

not applicable

EU48

Notification procedure

not applicable

not applicable

Y48

not applicable

Notification procedure

Export: prohibition
Import: notification procedure

AC300

Notification procedure

Notification procedure

not applicable

A3210

not applicable

not applicable

Export: prohibition
Import: notification procedure

 *) Prior notification and consent procedure
**) Prior notification and consent procedure until entry into force of an update of Regulation (EC) 1418/2007
source: correspondents’ guidelines No. 12

Regarding the new entries and their application, the EU has developed a correpondents’ guideline, which  contains statements on permissible impurities. The correpondents’ guideline No. 12 of 12 November 2021 provides limit values for impurities for the first ident of the entry B3011 and the first three idents of the entry EU3011, namely 2% by weight for the entry B3011 and 6% by weight for the entry EU3011, in order to fill out the terms “almost free of impurities and other types of waste” and “almost exclusively consisting of”. Member States may justifiably apply the stricter limit also to EU3011. The same applies to the other idents or mixtures from paragraph 4 of Annex III A of the WSR.

The maximum levels above for the interpretation of the terms “almost free from contamination and other types of wastes“and „almost exclusively consisting of “ should be measured on the gross weight of the waste in question, after emptying moisture, not taking into account residual moisture and easy separable usual secondary components of products that become waste, such as caps and labels.