Four EU countries – Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia – propose to Brussels to ban the import of waste and scrap ferrous metals, copper and aluminum from Russia.
Such a proposal was presented at a meeting of the European Union Environment Council held on March 25, the Lithuanian Environment Ministry said.
“Lithuania proposes that the European Commission assess all possibilities at EU level and make a proposal to suspend waste imports from Russia to the EU or allow Member States to adopt unilateral restrictive measures. We believe that such imports contribute to financing Russia’s war against Ukraine and should be stopped,” Lithuania’s deputy permanent representative to the EU, Ambassador Jurga Kasputene, said at the council meeting.
According to the Environment Ministry, more than 118 million euros worth of waste and scrap ferrous metals, copper and aluminum were imported from Russia to the EU in 2022-2023. Most of these imports go through Lithuania.
According to the ministry, cross-border transportation of waste is regulated by the Basel Convention and the Waste Transportation Regulation, so individual member states cannot unilaterally ban or restrict such imports.
ALUMINUM, BRUSSELS, COPPER, FERROUS METAL, IMPORTS, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SCRAP
