Trash or Treasure: How the WTO Can Help Facilitate a Circular Economy for Critical Minerals

WITA hosted a panel at the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland discussing the impending shortage of critical minerals and how international organizations like the WTO can promote recycling and reusing through trade policy reforms and enhanced reverse supply chains.

For more information on the public forum panel on the WTO website, please click here.

To view the entire WTO Public Forum program, please click here.

Demand for critical minerals needed to support a clean energy transition and many other applications will outstrip supply in the coming decade. This will necessitate a pivot to recycling and reusing those critical minerals rather than relying solely on going to the mine for virgin extraction. Traditionally, trade policies focus on first-use products, with rules of origin, and domestic policies on re-use, recycling and re-manufacture actually discouraging trade in previously used products.

Panelists explored how the WTO can help to facilitate reverse supply chains that enhance trade in secondary, used, and reusable goods and materials. Discussants also looked at how the WTO, World Customs Organization, and Basel Agreement can work together on customs nomenclature that supports trade in reusable and recyclable materials rather than simply classifying them as “waste.”

Featured Speakers:  

Jason Bernstein, Director of International Trade and Supply Chain, American Chemistry Council

Aik Hoe Lim, Director, Trade and Environment, World Trade Organization

Ana Laura Lizano, Minister Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the WTO

Kelly Milton, Assistant USTR for Environment and Natural Resources, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Moderator: Maureen Hinman, Co-Founder and Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator

The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) recently published a position paper on Plastics and Trade. To view the paper on the ICCA website, click here. To read the full paper as a PDF, click here.

WITA also hosted the International Trade Reception in Geneva, Switzerland. This prestigious event connected trade professionals from the WITA community with their international peers attending the 2024 WTO Public Forum.