Europe steel body asks EU to safeguard imports of metal scrap

Eurofer has asked Commission to watch and act on trade barriers

* Recyclers, scrap traders are worried by increasing protectionism

* About 30 countries including Ukraine, Russia restrict exports

LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Europe's steel industry association Eurofer has asked the EU's executive Commission to monitor and possibly act against nations outside the bloc which restrict exports of raw materials such as scrap, saying such barriers are unfair.

"We have recently sent a letter to the Commission saying that they should monitor those countries that are restricting exports of scrap and other raw materials and then possibly put some measures against this," Eurofer's Axel Eggert told Reuters.

"We want to have a level playing field because this is harming our industry."

Eggert did not name countries which were retaining scrap for their own use but an economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said about 30 countries restrict the scrap exports.

Some of these include Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, Venezuela and Argentina, said Barbara Fliess, senior economist in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate of the OECD.

Eggert said Eurofer, which says it represents 100 % of EU steel production, has not suggested any particular measures and has not asked for any restrictions of scrap exports from the bloc.

"That would be difficult under current EU law and it's not in our policy to ask for this kind of restrictions," he said.

He said that there had been calls from other European organizations to keep the EU's raw materials and scrap metal for its own use.

"There are discussions within the EU institutions, and they are not coming from Eurofer, to attain a close loop in Europe which includes raw materials and scrap."

Fears of Protectionism
Members of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) said last week that European steelmakers, including some top manufacturers, were pressuring the EU Commission to impose export restrictions on steel scrap from the EU to help preserve their domestic raw material stocks.

The head of Italy's steel industry body Federacciai, Antonio Gozzi, also told a news conference earlier this week that the association is considering requesting to put duties on exports of scrap steel from Europe, on which the local industry depends for about 60 % of supplies.

Members of BIR, which groups scrap and recycling businesses around the world, described the issue of export restrictions as alarming, very dangerous and unnecessary.

"There is enough scrap in Europe for domestic steelmakers," Tom Bird of Dutch company Van Dalen Recycling said during a recycling conference last week.

The BIR non-ferrous metals board also expressed concern over the visible growth in protectionist moves. To fight this trend it has commissioned a study, initially focused on aluminum and copper scrap consumption in the various countries and its flows around the world.

New Livonia recycling plant pays cash for metal, electronics

LIVONIA, Mich. (WJBK) -

Every day it's a surprise to see what shows up at Advanced Recycling on Merriman.  The recycling plant that specializes in metal and plastic recycling, opened for business in mid-May.  According to its owner Michael Bassirpour they're the first metal recycling facility in Livonia.

"We buy metal from industrial accounts, manufacturing companies, local residents trying to clean up their garages, basements.  We take electronics, all different types of metal bearing material.  Everything gets recycled at our facility.  We have a zero landfill policy."

We found one person dropping off scrap metal from Orin Jewelry in Garden City.  He got about $10 for some old light fixtures.

People also came by with old electronics and all kinds of other items.  Some walked away with thousands of dollars.  Everything that ends up at Advanced Recycling is shredded, melted down and reused, keeping toxic chemicals out of the environment.

People actually recycle some pretty surprising things like a beat up, old snowmobile.  It's staying out of a landfill and its owner got $50.

"We thumbprint the customers.  We have a photo I. D.  There's a picture of every single transaction.  We're not the police, but we do our best to ensure we don't buy anything stolen."

Advanced Recycling is open 6 days a week.  They say they pay some of the best prices in town.

Boliden Expands WEEE Recycling Capacity in Sweden

Swedish metals company, Boliden (STO:BOL) has officially opened a SEK 1.3 billion ($181 million) new expansion of its electronics recycling facility at the Ronnskar copper smelting plant, with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes per year.

According to company announcement the increased use of electronic products, shorter product lifecycles and stricter legislation governing electronic waste, means that the worldwide availability of electronic scrap is increasing.

Boliden officials said the expansion project was started in 2010 and the smelting of electronic material in the new facilities began in January this year.

If we believe metals specialist, its Ronnskar is one of the world's most efficient copper smelters in the recycling of copper and precious metals from electronic scrap.

The smelter is an integrated metallurgical complex that Boliden said extracts high-purity metals at low cost and with good environmental performance.

The company added that the investment is in line with its view of metals' eco-cycle in a sustainable society, and is helping to ensure that more electronic scrap is recycled, rather than being sent to landfills.

"A growing share of the metal production will originate from recycling. With this project Boliden combines high environmental performance with good business returns," explained Lennart Evrell, president and CEO of Boliden.

Things Looking Good for the New Scrap-Metal Plant in Riverton

RIVERTON – A new scrap-metal recycling plant has started processing test samples and plans to ramp up its production capacity in the coming months.

S.I.C. Recycling Inc., a subsidiary of Assumption-based Sloan Implement Co., started the plant just south of Interstate 72 earlier this year. The project got funding of more than $900,000 in financial incentives from the state.

“Things have been going great,” general manager Brady Bird said. “We haven’t had any significant hiccups.”

The plant will eventually process scrap metals which don’t contain iron, such as copper-aluminum radiators and copper wiring, and may expand to other items including old computers and other electronic waste, Bird said.

“The typical process is to run a couple loads to get an understanding for how the machinery’s working, and then you make some tweaks,” Bird said.

S.I.C. already has hired office workers, manufacturing personnel, a maintenance supervisor and “a handful of operators,” he said.

While S.I.C. isn’t hiring at present, the company always accepts applications and anticipates more openings in the coming few months.

According to officials, they expect the operation to generate 25 new jobs, but Bird said the final number will depend on several economic factors.

“It’s all based on what’s going on in the scrap industry and the commodity market,” Bird said. “If construction picks back up and the market is hot, then we’ve got significantly more volume coming through than we would otherwise.”

As per Village President Bob Todd, the new business will be a boon for Riverton.

“We’re excited and ready to get them going,” Todd said.

Besides generating jobs and property tax revenue, local officials hope S.I.C. will also result in business growth around the I-72 interchange at Overpass Road, he said. That area was annexed as part of the process of bringing S.I.C. to town.

A full-service truck stop or a motel will be good fit for the area, Todd said.

The plant also may lead to lower electricity bills for residents.

The village’s peak demand for energy is currently at night, meaning customers pay more for the power they use when they get home from work, Todd said.

Once the plant reaches its full capacity, the amount of energy it uses should shift peak demand – and the accompanying higher rates – to the daytime hours, he said.

Recycled Foundry Sand – Uses & Applications

Recycled Foundry Sand can be defined as a resultant product of the of the ferrous and nonferrous metal casting industry, where sand has been used for centuries as a molding material because of its superior thermal conductivity. In present day foundries, sand is generally recycled and reused through different production cycles. According to industry experts, approximately 100 million tons of sand is used in production every year. Out of this 100 million tons of sand, 6 to 10 million tons is discarded every year that cane be recycled into other products and industries.

Sand used at foundries is of superior quality, as companies adopt stringent physical and chemical tests to ensure production of defect free castings. Foundries make considerable investments for the quality control of their sand systems with rigorous testing done to ensure consistency.

Though there are several methods of casting, including - die casting, investment casting, and permanent mold casting, sand casting is by far the most preferred casting technique. There are 2 different methods of using sand in metal casting industry -

• As a molding material that forms the external shape of the cast component
• As a core that forms the internal void spaces in products such as engine blocks.

As sand grains do not naturally adhere to each other, binders are used to cause the sand to stick together and retain its shape during the introduction of the molten metal into the mold and the cooling of casting.

Types of Foundry Sand Suitable for Recycling
Generally two types of binders are used in metal casting industry -

• Clay bonded systems (green sand)
• Chemically bonded systems (resin sands)

Both these types of sand are suitable for recycling and beneficial reuse, however they have different physical and environmental properties.

Uses of Recycled Foundry Sand
Sand from ferrous and aluminum foundries comprise more than 90 % of available sand and is usually best suitable for recycling. Ferrous and aluminum foundries are generally big in size in comparison to other nonferrous foundries and because of the nature of their production, they have more uniform sand streams. This type of sand has a history of uses in different types of construction applications.

Some innovative foundries are finding ways to recycle their used sand. Some other type of non-ferrous sand, or mixed sand streams can be recycled if they fulfill the environmental testing requirements of the regulatory agencies and the required performance standards of the industry.

As with other materials, transportation costs are usually the highest cost factor in the recycling of foundry sand. Considering the cost factor, the best option for the recycling of foundry sand will typically match the volume and characteristics of the foundry sand with businesses and construction projects in nearby areas.

Given below are some of the markets that have the potential to absorb recycled foundry sand from different types of foundries -

• Construction Projects
• Cement Kiln Feedstock
• Flowable Fill
• Manufactured Soils

In some other cases, foundry sand can be used to replace a part of the fine aggregate in several other types of applications, most of which exist at a commercial scale in different markets and countries. These applications include -

• Hot Mix Asphalt
• Ready Mix Concrete
• Precast Concrete Products
• Bricks and Pavers
• Grouts and Mortars
• Landill Daily Cover
• Landfill Construction Material

Rising Electronic Waste: Dangers & Solutions

Majority of people don't know what happens to their old electronic gadgets when they throw them out of their homes. Considering the fact that these waste electronic gadgets contain both the toxic chemicals as well as valuable metals you'd think someone would know this? As a matter of fact, however, the fate of millions of tons of e-waste produced each year is mostly unknown.

As the electronic products are becoming cheaper day by day, people generally prefer to replace them instead of fixing them. As a result of this, the amount of old electronics, or e-waste, such as computers, TVs and phones being discarded every year is increasing vastly and in some countries it is the fastest growing type of waste.

With electronic products rapidly becoming a part of throw away culture in several developed countries, the amount of e-waste generated has increased significantly while the solutions have often lagged far behind. Even in the European Union (EU), which has set stricter regulations, about 75% of e-waste is unaccounted for. On an estimate, of the 8.7 million tonnes of e-waste that is generated every year in EU, a vast amount of 6.6 million tonnes of waste is not recycled.

In the United States, there is very little regulation regarding e-waste. Less than 20% of e-waste is collected in the country for recycling. Among these, the recycling percentages for PCs (10 %) and TVs (14 %) are even lower. The impending shift to digital TVs in the US and in other countries will result in a vast increase in the amount of excess analogue TVs.

Even from the 20% of scrap that is collected in the United States, most is exported to the developing nations in Asia and Africa and that is a warning signal.

The vast amount of e-waste that is not recycled can be attributed to -

• Storage: Normally people used to keep their waste electronic products stored in the house for a long time and this leads to the delay these products are ultimately discarded and slims the chances they could be properly recycled.
• Landfill/Incineration: When electronic products are mixed with domestic waste, they are most likely to end up in a landfill or incinerated. Both these methods cause the toxic chemicals present in e-wastes to pollute the environment.
• Reuse and Export: Majority of the old computers and phones are traded to developing nations for reuse and recycling. Most of these are crudely recycled in e-waste scrap yards making widespread pollution.

Technology Divide
Countries like China and India have long been the destinations for dumping of e-waste by unethical traders looking to make quick bucks on e-waste from the western countries. Now even the amount of e-waste generated in these countries is growing fast. In India only 1% of e-waste is recovered for authorized recycling.

Several informal recycling yards have opened up across Asia & Africa that utilize primitive methods to recover valuable metals from scrap. These recycling plants lack in modern technology and use methods that create huge environmental pollution and health risks for the workers.

Even properly ordered and well intent shipments of computers for reprocessing are being ill-treated. According to traders in Ghana, they have to accept junk electronic products in return for a shipping container with a few working computers. The junk products and even the working computers ultimately end up dumped in Ghana, as the country has no infrastructure to recycle toxic e-waste.

Solutions
In my opinion, the problem of e-waste scrap cannot be tackled until the governments, product makers and the consumers all come together to address the issue.

It is the governments' responsibility to make tighter regulations regarding the proper use and disposal of electronic products. It is also the duty of the governments' to prevent the unauthorized export and import of e-waste in their respective countries.

The problem can be significantly reduced if the major electronics companies work to eliminate the harmful toxic chemicals from their products and improve their recycling programs. After generating great demand for their latest mobile phones, sleek laptops and making huge profits from the sale of electronic products, it becomes the moral duty of these electronics companies to take steps to reduce electronic scrap and fight pollution.

To handle the rapidly increasing amounts of e-waste, all manufacturers should offer free and convenient recycling of their goods to all their clients. Where companies are not willing to do this, strict legislation is required to ensure the safe recycling of waste recycling products.

At last, consumers can play their part in e-waste reduction and safe recycling by timely returning their used electronic products to scrap recyclers.

Metal Recycling – Fueling the Global Manufacturing Supply Chain

Metal recycling companies recycle more than 81.4 million tons of iron and steel, 1.8 million tons of copper, 4.5 million tons of aluminum and around 1.4 million tons of stainless steel every year.
Companies involved in metal recycling transform these otherwise wasted resources into the raw materials, which fuel the manufacturing supply chain, supporting the world economy, trade and contribute to resource sustainability.

Part of a $65 billion industry, metal recyclers process ferrous metals, such as steel and iron—the most recycled metals - recovered from scrapped cars, appliances, buildings and bridges; non-ferrous metals, such as copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, zinc, magnesium and lead that are found in various things, including building materials, to beverage containers, and in waste electronic equipment; and precious metals, such as - gold, silver and platinum, also found in electronic equipment and computers.

Metal recycling is a hi-tech industry industry that employs tens of thousands of employees to convert discarded metals into useful economic commodities.

Some of the Most Recycled Metal Products -
Metals can be recycled again and again to produce useful raw materials. Though all types of metals can be recycled, aluminum and steel are most recycled. Some of the most recycled aluminum and steel products are -

Aluminum

• Soda cans
• Appliances
• Auto parts
• Windows
• Doors

Steel

• Tin Cans
• Auto parts
• Bridge parts
• Appliances
• Torn-down buildings

These waste metal products can be used to produce new car parts and building structures, thus helping our economy and sustaining earth's natural resources.

Advantages of Metal Recycling
It makes sense to use recycling to convert discarded metal products into useful raw materials rather than continuously depleting the earth's natural resources. Some of the important advantages of metal recycling are -

• Less energy required to melt down a waste metal and recycle it than it does to produce new metal.
• Use of recycled metals reduces CO2 emissions and air pollution.
• Less land and water pollution.
• Decreases environmental damage caused by mining.
• Metals can be recycled over and over again.
• Metal recyclers pay you for your scrap.