(Washington, DC) – Following two years of advocating on behalf of the recycling industry with the Indonesian Government, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) today applauds the Ministry of Trade in Indonesia on their affirmation that pre-export inspected recycled commodities (metals and paper, particularly) may be imported into Indonesia with an up to 2 percent impurities threshold. ISRI received notice of the decision in a letter on July 16.
“ISRI is grateful to the Government of Indonesia for working with us to establish a technical regulation that addresses their interests to import only specification-grade raw materials,” said ISRI Vice President of Advocacy Adina Renee Adler. “Our members also received tremendous support from the U.S. embassy throughout the process, and we thank them for their hard work and support.”
“The importation of Non-Hazardous and Toxic Waste (hereafter referred as non-B3 waste) for industrial raw materials must be verified in the country of origin prior shipment to Indonesia, as stipulated in the Regulation of Minister of Trade of The Republic of Indonesia Number 83 of 2020,” the letter states. “The Joint Decree which was enter[ed] into force since May 27th, 2020, regulates that the impurity tolerance limit for paper and plastic non-B3 waste is 2 percent maximum. In that relation, the implementation of impurity provisions will be further regulated through the Regulation of the Director General of Foreign Trade Ministry of Trade of the Republic [of] Indonesia, which currently still [is] under discussion with relevant Ministries.”
In 2019, the Indonesian government told ISRI the impurities threshold would be 2 percent at the outset and transition to 0.5 percent in two years. ISRI and members participated in a variety of advocacy efforts to solidify the regulation, including trips to Indonesia to brief the government and conduct training on the ISRI specifications with testing, inspection, and certification provider Cotecna.
The rule is expected to go into effect in September.
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The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the "Voice of the Recycling Industry™." ISRI represents 1,300 companies in 19 chapters in the U.S. and more than 40 countries that process, broker, and consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics, and textiles. With headquarters in Washington, DC, the Institute provides education, advocacy, safety and compliance training, and promotes public awareness of the vital role recycling plays in the U.S. economy, global trade, the environment and sustainable development. Generating nearly $116 billion annually in U.S. economic activity, the scrap recycling industry provides more than 506,000 Americans with good jobs.