Scrap buyers accused over voting policy in CEN committee

He accused the scrap buyers on the pan-European standards organisation of always outvoting the scrap merchants.

Mr Jungersen said: “In order to address these issues, a meeting this month between Eurometrec representatives and selected persons from CEN and its working groups is sought to impress on them the need to produce equitable standards or to cease current activities.”

And, he warned: “Without a clear rethink on the issue of scrap standardisation, the result will be tears for the whole industry.”

The president noted how there is some sympathy now within the European Commission for the industry view that secondary raw materials are not waste, but “we still miss the acceptance of the environment directorate”.

And, Eurometrec now has its own website as part of a modernisation of its operations through the Bureau of International Recycling.

The organisation which carries out regular talks with the European Commission and buyer associations such as Eurometaux, will also have a new president in March following the decision by Mr Jungersen to step down.

The website www.eurometrec.org brings together the national member associations with the aim of electronically linking them for faster communication and to help speed up the flow of information.

Ross Bartley, environmental and technical director of BIR and secretary to Eurometrec, told letsrecycle.com that while the website was still at an early stage, plans will soon see the operation of a multilingual home page and additional information.

Among other key issues for Eurometrec are the waste and non-waste issue. President Jungersen noted how there is some sympathy now within the European Commission for the industry view that secondary raw materials are not waste but “we still miss the acceptance of the environment directorate”.