Such a contrast. How difficult it is to transport recyclables within the EU. The company has been waiting for three years for the necessary documents to start these transports and is still waiting. The recycling pioneer from Amstetten is now working on a European solution. Within the North Sea Resources Roundabout New Green Deal project Müller-Guttenbrunn has been actively involved and the first pilot project has just been successfully completed.
It’s all about transporting old display screen equipment for recycling from A to B – specifically from Amstetten to Bavaria. Exactly three years have passed since the Müller-Guttenbrunn Group (MGG) submitted the application on 16 March 2016. The simple notification request became an endless process, which has not yet been completed.
Over the last three years, MGG has held numerous discussions with the authorities concerned – from the Ministries of the Environment in Austria and Germany to the authorities in Bavaria. The result: a lot of bureaucracy, little movement. MGG Director Christian Müller-Guttenbrunn can hardly believe it, „This situation is simply unacceptable. On the one hand, there are attempts to create a circular economy in Europe. On the other hand, the necessary cross-border transport of recycling material is made impossible, as this example is showing.
A solution is in sight, the first Fast Track Notification is granted
Without recycling material, a circular economy is unthinkable. The Müller-Guttenbrunn Group is therefore working feverishly with European partners on a solution: Fast-Track Notifications. The proposal foresees that compliant recycling companies register their facilities with the authorities in advance as „pre-consented facilities“. This makes it possible to have the necessary notification requests for waste shipments to these plants processed much faster and less bureaucratically.
Such a solution with less bureaucracy would be an important step forward to promote both recycling and the use of secondary raw materials in Europe. It will also free up the competent authorities‘ manpower to combat real illegal waste shipments. Christian Müller-Guttenbrunn therefore hopes: „This sad anniversary of waiting for three years to get the approval and necessary documents without success still, is reason enough for all parties to make the necessary efforts to find a solution for faster notification procedures for those companies that do everything right. The concept of circular economy literally screams for Fast-Track Notifications“.
The first Fast Track Notification from HKS Metals in the Netherlands and MGG Metran in Austria has just been granted and was completed slightly over 3 weeks.
This clearly is an enormous improvement, but it was also established that there is still room for improvement and that this processing time can still be reduced considerably.
