In an effort to boost trade and improve access to the tools needed to fight climate change, the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies have published implementation plans to cut tariffs in 2016 to five percent or lower on a list of 54 environmental goods.
Within the
APEC 54 list, there are five unique tariff lines dedicated to scrap recycling equipment:
Shredders (84789),
Granulators (847990),
Crushing and Grinding (847420 and 847982), and
Electrical and Nonelectrical Spectrometers (902730). Recycling equipment exported from the U.S. totaled $435 million in 2011. The global elimination of tariff barriers allows recycling equipment manufacturers’ to sell their equipment more fairly with considerable savings.
APEC is the premier Asia-Pacific economic forum with the primary goal of supporting sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. The use of recycling equipment plays a critical role in the global supply chain recycling used and end-of-life products, such as automobiles, white goods, bottles, and tires in order to make new products, such as solar panels, wind mills, and hybrid and electric automobiles.
To further such tariff reductions, ReMA has been working with 13 World Trade Organization (WTO) members that have pledged to liberalize global trade in a broader Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA). This initiative builds on the momentum created by the APEC process. ISRI advocates to include a broader list of recycling equipment and recyclable commodities, such as recoverable fiber, on the WTO, EGA list.
APEC countries include: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Viet Nam.
For more information about the APEC tariff reductions or ISRI’s efforts within the EGA, please contact ReMA staff Eric Harris at (202) 662-8517 or Joe Pickard at (202) 662-8542.