According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, the European Commission is treating Norway as a third country in terms of waste transport, until the new EU regulation on cross-border waste transport is incorporated into the EEA Agreement.
This means that Norwegian operators must follow the procedures in the new regulations, even though they are not formally part of Norwegian law yet. For green-listed plastic waste, this includes stricter classification and new requirements for notification and consent for export and import.
Nofir, which exports scrap fishing and aquaculture equipment weekly to its recycling facility in Lithuania, is closely monitoring the situation.
‘The change comes suddenly, but it is not surprising given that the new regulations have been in the works for a while. We have good dialogue with our partners, and have the necessary routines to handle the new requirements,’ said Nofir CEO Øistein Aleksandersen, pointing out that these stricter reporting obligations may have a positive effect, making it more difficult for those in the business who currently circumvent waste export regulations.
The company has previously advocated that illegal waste management and lack of traceability are a widespread problem in the industry, describing as systematic waste smuggling that has gained a foothold in parts of the industry over time.
‘If you are going to operate illegally with waste, you are dependent on weak control. We have long pointed out that unscrupulous actors take advantage of the fact that the consequences of breaking the regulations are limited, and that price often becomes the only competitive parameter when control is not good enough. When the requirements for notification and consent are tightened, there will be less room to operate in the grey areas,’ Øistein Aleksandersen said.
‘We are following developments closely. The most important thing for us is that serious players who have the documentation in order do not experience unnecessary obstacles while the EU and Norway put a permanent solution in place.’
