ESWET welcomes new EU plan : EU steel and metals action plan unlocks new opportunities for WtE
The European Steel and Metals Action Plan, launched by the European Commission on 19 March 2025, aims to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of Europe's steel and metals industries. This initiative is part of the wider Clean Industrial Deal, which aims to steer traditional industries towards net-zero emissions while maintaining their economic viability.
The action plan outlines several key measures:
- Trade measures: Implementing strategies to protect the European steel market from the influx of cheap imports, particularly those diverted through external tariffs. This includes reducing steel import quotas by 15% to prevent market saturation.
- Regulatory revisions: Adjusting public procurement rules to favour European steel products and introducing a "melted and poured" standard to ensure the traceability and origin of imported metals.
- Financial support: Launching a pilot programme with the European Investment Bank to support long-term power contracts for steel and aluminium producers, addressing the challenge of high energy costs.
- Decarbonisation efforts: Promoting the transition to green steel production by investing in clean technologies and supporting the development of a circular economy within the steel sector.
According to ESWET (European Suppliers of Waste to Energy Technology) the new action plan not only sends a strong signal for competitiveness, decarbonisation, and strategic autonomy in material supply but also opens up new opportunities for the WtE sector.
Here are the key points, according to the association.
- The plan strengthens the role of secondary raw materials and creates opportunities to expand metal recovery from sources such as incineration bottom ash (IBA).
- Recovering metals from IBA can reduce dependence on virgin raw materials, strengthen domestic supply chains and reduce the environmental footprint of primary extraction.
- ESWET's report on Integrated Resource Recovery Facilities highlights the potential of innovative WtE facilities to provide secondary raw materials. With improved technologies, the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be increased, but also important minerals, which are critical for Europe's industrial resilience.
- On average, IBA contains 2 to 5% non-ferrous metals, of which around two-thirds is aluminium. With advanced recovery technologies, Europe could recover up to 0.7 million tonnes of aluminium.
- The Action Plan is a positive signal for a sustainable industrial policy that supports a more competitive, low-carbon metals sector, ESWET says. Looking ahead, policies that encourage investment in advanced recovery technologies will be crucial to unlocking the full potential of secondary raw materials.
