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EUPublished: 18 September 2026
[Regulatory Update] EU Publishes Draft List of Non-OECD Countries That May Keep Receiving EU Waste — Ahead of the General Ban in May 2027
Source:European Commission (draft list under the Waste Shipment Regulation, 18 September 2026)
On 18 September 2026, the European Commission published, under the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, a draft list of non-OECD countries that may continue to receive non-hazardous waste exports from the EU after 21 May 2027. Under the Regulation, exports to non-OECD countries will in principle be prohibited from that date, but countries that can demonstrate environmentally sound management may, as an exception, continue to receive waste. Thirty-two countries submitted requests, and the draft list was published following the Commission's assessment; it is not yet the final list. Feedback is open until 16 October, and the first official list is expected to be established by the end of 2026. In 2025, the EU exported around 32 million tonnes of waste, about 40% of which went to non-OECD countries. The new framework is attracting attention as a development that could affect the international circulation of secondary resources such as aluminium scrap and the raw material sourcing of the recycling industry.
Editor's View
The draft list shows that, ahead of the general ban in May 2027, EU waste exports are entering a phase in which the question of which types of waste may be sent to which countries is managed case by case. Because authorisation is decided for each waste stream, companies handling secondary resources such as metal scrap need to check not only whether a destination country is on the list, but also whether the specific waste types they handle are covered. As this could also affect recycled raw material supply chains outside the EU, it will be important to follow the feedback period ending on 16 October and the content of the first official list due by the end of the year.
※ This article is based on official public information from an external source (European Commission (draft list under the Waste Shipment Regulation, 18 September 2026)) and has been analyzed and organized for practical use.
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