Paper recyclers seek delay as DIWASS tests Asian exports

By Rebecca Stone

Europe’s paper recyclers export 6 million to 8 million metric tons of surplus recovered paper each year, according to the International Bureau of Recycling, and they are asking the European Commission to delay mandatory Digital Waste Shipment System (DIWASS) use by at least six months.

The appeal covers cross-border shipments of non-hazardous waste intended for recycling. Paper recyclers made the request on October 27 at the BIR World Congress in Málaga, Spain. BIR stands for International Bureau of Recycling.

What does DIWASS require, and when?

DIWASS launched on May 21, 2026, and digitizes the documents accompanying cross-border waste transfers. Its use becomes mandatory for recovered paper and cardboard on January 1, 2027. Until that date, companies may continue to use paper documents.

Why are Asian mills the pressure point?

The dispute centers on buyers outside the European Union. To receive European recycled paper, the receiving mills must register on DIWASS. For overseas traders, the platform functions like a customer list: without an entry, a shipment has no registered destination.

Francisco Donoso, president of BIR’s Paper Division, said only a few dozen Asian paper mills have registered among more than 1,000 facilities. Several major customers, particularly in India, Thailand and Malaysia, reportedly remain unaware of the requirement.

Donoso warned: “We’re talking about a catastrophe, a disaster.” Without broader registration, some of the 6 million to 8 million metric tons exported each year may no longer find a market.

Can exporters meet the reporting timetable?

A second dispute concerns advance reporting. The European waste-shipment rules require companies to report shipments two business days in advance. Marc Ehrlich, CEO of the Swiss trading firm Vipa, said traders cannot reliably predict loading operations far enough in advance to meet that timetable.

“We’re not magicians; we can’t do that,” Ehrlich said.

What could an export slowdown do?

Dominique Maguin, founder of French company La Compagnie des Matières Premières and a former BIR president, framed exports as a response to European market capacity. “We don’t export just for the sake of exporting. We export because the European market is too small to absorb everything we produce,” he said.

Maguin also warned of “a supply crisis for paper mills across Asia,” a risk associated with another maturity date in May 2027.

An export halt could drive recycled-paper prices down sharply and force some collection and sorting companies to close. Local governments could also lose the value of those materials and rely more heavily on landfill or incineration.

What is the industry asking the Commission to change?

Simone Scaramuzzi, director of sales and purchasing at Italian company LCI, disputes applying standards equivalent to Europe’s in countries that already have their own environmental controls. The objection reaches beyond platform paperwork to the equivalence of national safeguards.

Industry representatives have asked the European Commission to:

• Postpone mandatory DIWASS use by at least six months.
• Work with the sector to define criteria for future audits.

A delay would give overseas buyers more time to register before January 1, 2027 and give exporters more time to coordinate loading operations with the two-day reporting rule. Neither issue disappears if the Commission leaves the current timetable unchanged.

The decisive milestone is January 1, 2027, when recovered paper and cardboard transfers must use DIWASS. The Commission’s response on a six-month postponement, future audit criteria and wider registration among Asian mills will determine whether the annual surplus-paper flow keeps its overseas buyers. Without that relief, European sorting capacity could lose value and local disposal routes could absorb more material.