European paper recyclers are asking the European Commission to postpone by at least six months the requirement to use the Digital Waste Shipment System (DIWASS) for shipments of non-hazardous waste intended for recycling. This call was made on October 27 during the International Bureau of Recycling (BIR) World Congress, held in Málaga, Spain.
Launched on May 21, 2026, DIWASS digitizes the documents accompanying cross-border waste transfers. For recovered paper and cardboard, its use will become mandatory on January 1, 2027. Until then, companies may continue to use paper documents.
Asian paper mills are still largely unregistered
The main issue concerns buyers located outside the European Union. To receive European recycled paper, the companies in question must be registered on the platform.
However, according to Francisco Donoso, president of the BIR?s Paper Division, only a few dozen Asian paper mills?out of more than a thousand facilities?have taken this step. Several major customers, particularly in India, Thailand, and Malaysia, are reportedly not even aware of this new requirement.
This situation is causing concern among European recyclers, who export between 6 and 8 million metric tons of surplus recovered paper each year, according to the BIR.
Without a buyer registry, some of these volumes might no longer find a market. "We're talking about a catastrophe, a disaster" , Francisco Donoso warned at the conference.
Administrative requirements that are impossible to meet: "We're not magicians"
Industry professionals are also criticizing certain requirements set forth in the new European regulation on waste shipments.
Marc Ehrlich, CEO of the Swiss trading firm Vipa, criticized, in particular, the requirement to report shipments two business days in advance. " "We're not magicians; we can't do that." ", he said, referring to the difficulty of accurately predicting loading operations.
Dominique Maguin, founder of the French company La Compagnie des Matičres Premičres and former president of the BIR, pointed out that exports address an imbalance: "We don't export just for the sake of exporting. We export because the European market is too small to absorb everything we produce."a supply crisis for paper mills across Asia", he explained.
Consequently, a halt to exports could cause the price of recycled paper to plummet and force some collection and sorting companies to close. Local governments could also be affected by the loss in value of these materials, with a risk of increased reliance on landfilling or incineration.
Another maturity date in May 2027 with "a supply crisis for paper mills across Asia" .
Simone Scaramuzzi, director of sales and purchasing at the Italian company LCI, also disputes the need to impose standards equivalent to those in Europe on countries that already have their own environmental controls.
Industry representatives are therefore asking the European Commission to work with professionals to define the criteria for future audits and to postpone the requirement to use DIWASS.
