Protectionism on the march across Europe

I see the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference is currently taking place in Barcelona. According to this letsrecycle report the usual complaints about quality are being made. But delegates also heard  increasing references to stricter quality controls being put in place by Chinese and other Asian authorities. This is obviously a good thing and we will see to what degree this helps European reprocessors compete with overseas markets.

At the same time, @Hermanvdmeij reported that the conference heard (yet more) calls for retention of European resources within Europe. Protectionism really does seem to be on the march across the continent at the moment. Restriction of free trade is something which I have argued against before.

There is a logical inconsistency at the heart of these calls. I suspect that the same people who suggest that recyclates should be kept in Europe wouldn't be so supportive of calls for rare earths to be kept in China (or any manufactured product for that matter). Trade is mutually beneficial to both importers and exporters and its gains make us all richer.

Recent years have seen much talk of the waste industry becoming a resource industry. But if recyclate truly is being turned into a commodity then it should be traded as such: freely in open international markets. In this way we will all be made better off.