Shanghai Sigma Metals - Recycling International

October 2005, No. 8

Shipbreaking

Two days in Alang Shipbreaking

Two days in Alang

Shanghai Sigma Metals Re-defining

secondary smelting

GranubandNot just any tyre

processor


secondary smelting


processorO

ctober 2

00

5, N

o. 8

SIERRA EUROPE RECYCLING LIMITEDPhone: +39-053-290-0733Fax: +39-053-297-5350

e-mail: [email protected]

Scrap shear TAURUS

600 tons, age 1991

* Type TS 645P-2660.33E, box 6,0 x 2,6 m

can be seen in operation.

* Including prefilling-box 6,0 x 2,1 m and

remote control

* Reasonable price ex Switzerland!

(available soon)

Scrap shear TAURUS 650 tons,

age 1999/2000!

* Type SM 652NP-2560.22E, box 6,0 x 2,5 m

* Excellent condition, can be seen in operation.

* Including prefilling-box 6,0 x 2,1 m,

remote control and Power-Generator 300 kVA!

* Reasonable price ex Germany!

(available soon)

V I E W P O I N T

I have tried all the tricks in the book. Being in

the recycling business, I tried counting end-of-life

vehicles instead of sheep - but that didn’t work

because the damned cars kept refusing to jump over

the fence. Then I tried memorising the symbols for

all the metals in the Periodic Table but, instead of

getting sleepy, I started to find it fascinating. I even

tried learning LME three-month copper prices for

the last 15 years off by heart. But nothing worked -

I was still wide awake for most of the night.

And because I was getting no rest at night, I was

sleepy during the day, irritable, unfocused and

lethargic. Things got so bad that I couldn’t even

sleep on the job any more!

I told my neighbour about my problem and he

suggested that the best trick for curing insomnia

was to not try to fall asleep - in effect, to give up. So

I tried this or, more accurately, I didn’t try this -

and I found that it didn’t work or, rather, it worked

perfectly. How can you not do something you’re try-

ing to do? I just wanted to fall asleep, not ponder a

Zen paradox for three hours!

One evening while I was having a couple of beers

with some friends, I asked them if they were having

sleep problems too. ‘Absolutely not,’ snorted one of

the guys who had just married a ravishing blonde

23 years younger than himself. ‘Every night I’m

exhausted - you can imagine why - and I fall asleep

as soon as my head hits the pillow. By the way, did

you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He

lay awake at night wondering if there was a dog.’

‘I don’t have sleeping problems either,’ said

another, ‘I sleep as soundly and deeply as James

Bond.’ When he saw the puzzled look on my face,

he explained with a big smile: ‘James Bond once

slept right through an earthquake. He was shaken,

not stirred.’

I logged on to the Internet in search of websites

that might help me to get my normal sleep pattern

back. Some sites offered advice in the battle against

insomnia such as: keep your bedroom cool - easy,

I’ll just open the balcony doors; try to establish a

consistent routine - already more difficult; limit

alcohol, caffeine and smoking - wow, that’s a really

tough one; remove distractions - what does that

mean, ban my wife from the bedroom?

The following are just some of the other tips

I found on the Internet for getting a better night’s

sleep. ‘Though it’s tempting to use liquor as a cure

for chronic sleeplessness, be warned: Liquor is quite

expensive’; ‘Use your bed for sleeping only. Conduct

all reading, eating, phone calls, and sexual relations

on the kitchen table’; ‘Try counting sheep, rather

than the number of times you’ve failed as a hus-

band and a father’; ‘If you’re having night after

night of hours-long jungle sex when all you really

want is a decent night’s rest, go cry on someone

else’s shoulder’; ‘Remember: insomnia is only a

problem if you’re employed or have a reason to live’.

I tried every piece of advice going, but still found

myself tossing and turning in my bed every night,

staring at the ceiling and desperately trying to fall

asleep. After a couple of months, I decided to see

my doctor. I told him that I was suffering from a

severe case of insomnia and he gave me a thorough

examination. However, his conclusion was that

there was absolutely nothing physically wrong with

me. He then looked at me and said: ‘Listen, if you

ever expect to cure your insomnia, you just have to

stop taking your trouble to bed with you.’

‘But I can’t,’ I said, ‘My wife refuses to sleep

alone.’

is a monthly business magazine for the international recycling industry and is published 10 times a year.

Address

P.O. Box 20986802 CB ArnhemThe Netherlands

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Phone +31 26 3120 994Fax +31 26 3120 630e-mail: [email protected]: www.recyclinginternational.com

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Helga [email protected]

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Contributing editors

Alfred [email protected] [email protected]

Contributing editor/Consultant technology

Prof. Ir. Wijnand Dalmijn, TechnicalUniversity of Delft, The Netherlands

Contributing to this issue

Prof. Dr-Ing Kerstin Kuchta, Ian Martin, Adam Minter, Tom Mele,Alfred Nijkerk, Thomas G. Oberle,Lucas Schifres (Photography),Voermans van Bree Photographers

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Copyright 2005

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Member of

3

You never appreciate how long the night really is until youstay awake throughout its entirety. Over the last couple ofmonths, I have been suffering from insomnia. Whatever I do,I’m unable to get more than a few hours of sleep a night. I’ve done everything to get a decent rest but nothing seems to work.

Sleepless in Arnhem

BIR

Manfred BeckEditor

The Power toMove More

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TEREX Fuchs Loading Machines

For true recycling experts there is no real alternative. And TEREX Fuchs’ competitive edge in material handling offers

you tremendous benefits: Powerful Deutz Diesel engines with high power-train dynamics and strict exhaust

emission standards (COMII/ TIERII). Flexible boom systems for any application. The tools and attachments

you really need for every job. Speedy, efficient work cycles that help you work faster. Reversing fans protect

against overheating (option on MHL 320/ MHL 331/ MHL 340). The height-adjustable comfort cabin offers excellent

visibility. All components and assemblies are

conveniently located for ease of servicing, minimising

operating costs. TEREX Fuchs’ highly efficient

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Loading machine MHL 320 MHL 331 MHL 340

Engine kW/hp 84/112 99/133 114/153

Weights t/lbs 19.0/41,900 22.5/49,600 25.5/56,218

Reaches m/ft 9.5/31 11.0/36.1 13.5/44

Grabs m3/yd3 0.4/0.53 0.4-0.6/0.53-0.78 0.6/0.78

The President of the Bureau of International Recycling(BIR) is not just a figure-head; he is intimately involvedin all aspects of the world recycling organisation and ofits invaluable work on behalf of the industry. FernandoDuranti has already made his mark since becomingPresident in May 2003 but, as he explains to RecyclingInternational, he still has ambitions to fulfil.

When the world’s largest single-site secondary smelt-ing facility becomes fully operational this autumn,Shanghai Sigma Metals of China will have the capac-ity to produce 25 000 tonnes of aluminium alloy permonth. In this article, the company underlines itscommitment not only to expansion but also to thetechnological advancement of China’s secondarysmelting industry.

Dutch tyre recycler Granuband is not just any tyreprocessor. The company collects some 25 000 tonnesof tyres each year, converts them into granulate and,moreover, is a major producer of a variety of rubbertiles. Recycling International visited the firm’sAmsterdam base to find out about this tyre process-ing pioneer and about the secrets behind its success.

Packing the potential to re-define secondary smelting 26

I N T H I S I S S U E

Fernando Duranti: the life and ambitions of a BIR President 38

Granuband closes the tyre loop 52

Next stop China for ICM’s congress bandwagon 58

Every year, Swiss congress organiser ICM stagesinternational conferences covering the recycling ofbatteries, end-of-life vehicles and electronics. Nextmonth, ICM’s first-ever event in China will combinethe subject matter of its three successful and estab-lished congresses.

Fine-tuning the fines 60

Latest product developments at SGM - the Italiandesigner and manufacturer of advanced equipmentenshrining high-quality magnetic separation tech-nology - include the SRP dynamic ferrous separator,a high-frequency eddy current separator and a metalsensor with an air ejection sensor system based onparticle-for-particle separation technology.

Closing the loop for cathode ray tubes 66

This article assesses the current status of CRT (cath-ode ray tube) glass recycling and offers suggestionsas to how to handle this particular business in thefuture given the emergence of major markets such asChina. The market for electronic goods will becomeever more global and recycling activities will have torise to meet this challenge. Sustainability accepts noborders and the opportunity should be seized todevelop a much more effective and global closed-looprecycling system, it is argued.

Take a US scrap recycler, put him on the

shipbreaking beach in Alang, India, and

the experience is sure to be as moving,

enlightening and perplexing as the place

itself. Last year, Tom Mele of Connecticut

Metal Industries visited the world’s largest

ship-scrapping site in Alang, off the Arabian

Sea, where 72 shipbreaking businesses

employ some 15 000 workers in recycling

around 250 ships per annum. In this article,

Mr Mele describes what happened to him while

visiting the yards in Alang - a visit to the local mar-

ket, a tour of a ghost ship, and the emergence of

some sort of order from within chaos. ‘In the end,

I realised that modern India is neither Third World nor

First, but some crazy hybrid,’ he is forced to conclude.

Two days inAlang

42-49

In this issue

Viewpoint 3

Events Calendar 6

News 10

Product news 19

Magazine Round Up 22

Exhibition review: RWM’05 34

Scrap loading without electricity 50

Market struggles with low-value catalysers 64

In the next issue 91

Markets Analysis

Ferrous scrap 72Stainless steel scrap 78Non-ferrous scrap 82Recovered paper 86Textile 89

E V E N T S C A L E N D A R

2005

27-28 October Orlando (USA)E-Scrap 2005

The North American Electronics

Recycling Conference

Resource RecyclingMagazinePhone: +1 503 233 1305E-mail: sarah@

resource-recycling.com

8-11 November Shanghai (China)World Recycling Shanghai 2005

International conference &exhibition on cars, electronics & battery recyclingICM Phone: +41 62 785 1000Fax: +41 62 785 1005E-mail: [email protected]: www.icm.ch

17-18 November Luxembourg

(Luxembourg)The Future of Residual Waste

Management in Europe

International WasteManagement ConferenceMarylène Martin SITec SecretariatPhone: +352 4259 91 246Fax: +352 4259 91 301E-mail: [email protected]

17-18 November Mexico City

(Mexico)INARE 2005

International Recycling Congress

E-mail: [email protected]: www.inare.org.mx

22-23 November London

Gatwick (UK)Designing and Recycling Electrical

and Electronic Equipment 2005

ERA TechnologyPhone: + 44 1372 367 152Fax: +44 1372 367 009E-mail: [email protected]

24-26 November Brussels

(Belgium)When aluminium technologies

become creative

European AluminiumAssociationChristian LeroyPhone: +32 2 775 63 57 E-mail: [email protected]: www.aluminium.org

29 November-2 December

Paris (France)

Pollutec 2005

Reed Exhibitions FrancePhone: +33 1 47 56 21 12Fax: +33 1 47 56 21 20E-mail: ilse.dapper@

reedexpo.frWebsite: www.pollutec.com

5 December Brussels (Belgium)Reach Conference

Conference on key issuesfacing individuals in thechemical supply chainENDS Environment DailyPhone: +44 20 8267 4533E-mail:[email protected]: www.haymarket

events.com/conferences

7-8 December Bremen (Germany)Waste to energy

International exhibition &conference on energy fromwaste and biomassHVGPhone: +49 421 35050Fax: +49 421 3505 340Website:[email protected]

200618-20 January Hamburg (Germany)5th international electronics

recycling congress

ICM Phone: +41 62 785 1000Fax: +41 62 785 1005E-mail: [email protected]: www.icm.ch

22-24 January Miami Lakes (USA)Platts 2006 Aluminum Symposium

PlattsPhone: +1 781 860 6100E-mail:[email protected]: www.platts.com

24-27 January Milan (Italy)TAU International

The EnvironmentalTechnologies Event Fiera Milano TechPhone: +39 02 3264 285Fax: +39 02 3264 284E-mail: segreteria@

fieramilanotech.itWebsite: www.fieramilanotech.it

14-15 February Orlando (USA)Plastics Recycling 2006

Resource RecyclingMagazinePhone: +1 503 233 1305E-mail: sarah@

resource-recycling.com

15-17 March Amsterdam

(The Netherlands)6th international automobile

recycling congress

ICM Phone: +41 62 785 1000Fax: +41 62 785 1005E-mail: [email protected]: www.icm.ch

28-30 March Moscow (Russia)Focus on aluminium recycling

Third international conferenceand exhibition on aluminiumrecycling AlusilPhone/Fax: +7 095 7847630, 785 2005E-mail: [email protected]: www.alusil.net

2-6 April Las Vegas (USA)ISRI Convention and Expo 2006

Annual convention & scraprecycling industry expositionISRIPhone: +1 202 737 1770Fax: +1 202 626 0900Website: www.isri.org

29-31 May Beijing (China)BIR Spring Convention

Bureau of InternationalRecyclingPhone: +32 2 627 5770Fax: +32 2 627 5773E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.bir.org

14-16 September Brescia (Italy)Metalriciclo

Exhibition & congress ontechnologies for the recoveryand recycling of metal scrapEdimetPhone: +39 030 242 1043Fax: +39 030 22 3802E-mail:[email protected]: www.edimet.com

24-27 October Bilbao (Spain)PROMA 2006

15th International Environment Fair

Bilbao Exhibition CentrePhone: +34 94 428 5400Fax: + 34 94 427 6991E-mail: bec@bilbao

exhibitioncentre.comWebsite: www.bilbao

exhibitioncentre.com

24-27 October Cologne (Germany)Entsorga-Enteco

International Trade Fair forWaste Management andEnvironmental TechnologyKoelnmesse GmbHPhone: +49 221 821 3132Fax: +49 221 821 3098E-mail: g.hentschke@

koelnmesse.deWebsite: www.entsorga.com

30-31 October Brussels (Belgium)BIR Autumn Convention

Bureau of InternationalRecyclingPhone: +32 2 627 5770Fax: +32 2 627 5773E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.bir.org

Recycling International • October 2005 6

Events

By early June, 75% of theavailable space for Pollutec 2005had already been booked. No-tably, there has been growing in-terest in the show’s themed vil-lages of Health and Environment,Recycling and Renewables, aswell as a very promising start forthe new Products and Sustain-able Development area.

Eleven countries have alreadyannounced their intention to havea major national stand presence,namely: Austria, Belgium, Cana-da, China, Germany, Hungary

(Pollutec’s country of the year),Luxemburg, Poland, Switzerland,the UK and the USA. In addition,there will be stands from a dozenregions of France.

As always, Pollutec will pro-vide an opportunity to assess lat-est environmental developments- including new laws and regula-tions, as well as new technolo-gies - via a series of conferencesorganised by sectoral trade or-ganisations.

According to recently-releasedfigures from French recoveryand recycling organisation Fed-erec, 2004 was an exceptionalyear for the country’s recoveryand recycling sectors; comparedto 2003, sales values increased

by 25% to € 7.9 billion while vol-umes grew by 6%. The process ofconsolidation continued in 2004,with the sector recording a fur-ther fall in company numbersfrom 2900 to 2700. Nevertheless,the number of employees rose by3% from 29 800 in 2003 to 30 800the following year.

Companies in the sector col-lected 39 million tonnes of mate-rial during the year - 6% up on2003. Exports grew by 8% to 8.2million tonnes, while the level ofinvestment remained steady at €350 million.

Growth rates varied consider-ably among the various areas ofthe recycling business. The over-all value of the scrap metal and

car sector surged 70% higher onthe back of spiralling ferrousmetal prices; significant growthwas also recorded by non-ferrousmetals (+20%), plastics (+9%)and pallets/ordinary industrialwaste (+7%). Other areas sawrelatively static growth (+1% forglass and -1% for textiles), whilepaper and board took a slightbackward step (3%). Federec an-ticipates more restrained growthin the current year.

For more information contact:Reed Expositions FrancePhone: +33 1 47 56 21 12Fax: +33 1 47 56 21 20E-mail: [email protected]: www.pollutec.com

See you at Ecomondo 05Stand 015 - Hall A3

Pollutec - the internationalexhibition covering environ-mental equipment, technolo-gy and services - is held everytwo years and the venue alter-nates between Paris andLyon. This year, the event isscheduled to be staged in theFrench capital on 29November-2 December.

E V E N T S C A L E N D A R

29 November-2 December Paris (France)Pollutec 2005

N E W S

German on-line plastics industryforum ‘plasticker.de’ has begun pub-lishing real-time prices for plasticsraw materials.

Unlike other reporting methods,prices are not determined through aprocess of enquiries among a select-ed circle of suppliers and buyers;instead, they are taken directly fromcurrent offers and enquiries circulat-ing on the ‘Recybase’ raw materialsexchange. This exchange constantlyfeatures 1000 to 1500 offers andenquiries for surplus quantities,regranulate, regrind and plasticswaste. The real-time effect arises asprices are re-calculated with eachvisit to the price comparison system,such that new entries in the rawmaterials exchange are immediatelytaken into consideration.

The user can choose between fourmaterial groups: surplus quantities;regranulate; regrind; and bales.Corresponding minimum and maxi-mum prices are given for each mate-rial, as well as the average price andnumber of prices quoted. The usercan therefore immediately recognisewhich data have been used as thebasis for the determination of theaverage price and upon which pricerange it has been based. Within the

lists, it is possble to establish theexact quantity of a given materialthat is being subjected to offer andenquiry within Recybase at that par-ticular moment.

Plasticker offers information onplastics and plastics recycling. A cen-tral feature is the ‘Market Place’ withits raw materials exchange for plas-tics, which provides processors withthe chance to offer surplus plasticson-line without charge. Plastickersays it is currently recording morethan 60 000 visits per month.

www.plasticker.de


Real-time prices forplastics raw materials

Report examines Russia’sstainless steel market

According to a recently-releasedreport by Research and Markets ofDublin in the Republic of Ireland,more than 110 companies from 19different countries were engaged inthe trading of stainless steel scrapfrom Russia last year. The reportalso notes that there were 3851transactions officially valued at US$226,448,352.00.

The report, entitled ‘Russia -Export, Stainless Steel ScrapMarket Snapshot Report 2004’, issaid to provide the most detailed andcomprehensive foreign trade cover-age available from the Russian

Federation. According to Researchand Markets, the report summarisesthe raw data from every singleexport transaction that occurredduring the past year and providesexact details rather than estimatesand forecasts.

Included with the report is a 169-page ‘Transaction Supplement’detailing every export transactionduring 2004.

For more information:http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?cat_id=0&report_id=300262&q=stainless%20steel%20russia

During last month’s annual meet-ing of the German steel recyclingassociation BDSV in Düsseldorf,Germany, it was announced thatLynxs Shredder Technology of theUK had been merged on a cross-shareholding basis with a combina-tion of the German companies 2BConsultancy and Schuler Technologyand Machinery (STM). As announcedin Düsseldorf, the deal was the resultof a perceived need to merge the met-als recycling machinery of STM andLynxs, and to expand activities intomore countries.

A new holding company calledLynxs Technology & Machinery hasbeen set up; in addition, a series ofnew Lynxs subsidiaries will be estab-lished in several countries. Existingproduction plants such as the ones inItaly, the UK and The Netherlandswill continue to operate and in thenear future more production plants

in other countries willbe opened. All Lynxs’subsidiary companieswill have a dedicatedstaff of engineers andsales people. In addi-tion to Lynxs’ well-known shredders, allthese subsidiaries willmarket STM recycling

machinery - including mobile andstationary hydraulic scrap shears,mobile and stationary balers, andpre-shredders.

The management of LynxsTechnology & Machinery will consistof: Tim Christian, the former ownerof Lynxs Shredder Technology;Christine Schuler of STM; and BenKebil of 2B Consultancy. WernerOberländer, the former shareholderand Managing Director of ORTOberländer, the German manufactur-er of hydraulic scrap shears and otherrecycling machinery, will be a seniorconsultant to Lynxs and will concen-trate mainly on the development ofnew shears, balers, pre-shredders andheavy media and separation plants.

Lynxs’ management team is con-vinced that the new company will be‘better able to compete in the mar-ket and to be closer to its customersthroughout the world and to respondbetter, faster and more efficiently totheir needs’.

Lynxs moves on to theworld

The city of Cardiff in Wales hassigned a contract with Dutch compa-ny Bollegraaf Recycling and build-ing contractor Stradform for a new£4 million (€ 5.9 million/US$ 7.2 mil-lion) materials reclamation facility(MRF). The facility, scheduled to beoperational by spring next year, willbe the first council-operated plant ofits scale and kind in the UK.

Speed of separation of recyclablewaste is expected to be 10 timesgreater than at the council’s current

facility. State-of-the-art equipmentwill be used for separation, withworkers stationed alongside convey-or belts in each of four sorting hallsto remove any contaminated materi-als. It has been estimated that thenew MRF will be able to process upto 60 000 tonnes of recyclable wasteper year.

Once the plant becomes opera-tional, it is intended that a new inte-grated kerbside recycling schemewill be brought on stream.

Cardiff’s multi-millionMRF investment

Lynxs’ 7000 HP TMR 270x270 scrapshredder in Johannesburg, South Africa.

N E W S


Time for the truthAn elderly Italian man went to his local church for confession. When

the priest slid open the panel in the confessional, the man said: ‘Father,during World War II, a beautiful woman knocked on my door and askedme to hide her from the enemy. So I hid her in my attic.’

The priest replied: ‘That was a wonderful thing you did, my son! Andyou have no need to confess that.’

‘It’s worse than that, Father,’ the man said. ‘She started to repay mewith sexual favours.’

The priest responded: ‘By doing that, you were both in great danger.However, two people under those circumstances can be very tempted toact that way. But if you are truly sorry for your actions, you are indeedforgiven.’

‘Thank you, Father. That’s a great load off my mind. But I do haveone more question.’

‘And what is that?’ asked the priest.‘Should I tell her the war is over?’

Ben Sacco’s Joke of the Month

Sponsored by

• Sierra InternationalMachinery, Inc.

www.sierra.intl.com

• Sierra EuropeRecycling

www.sierraeurope.com

Rexam, the UK-based global con-sumer packaging group and one ofthe world’s leading beverage canmakers, has announced plans toswitch the beverage cans it manu-factures in Germany from steel toaluminium. Key drivers behind themove are the favourable economicsof the aluminium can in a depositsystem combined with its strongenvironmental track record.

The decision reflects the fact thatGermany will be introducing anationwide return system for one-way containers by next May. Rexambelieves aluminium’s high scrapvalue will make the beverage canthe most viable packaging solutionwithin the new return system. Witha scrap value at least € 0.01 higherthan any other packaging material,a used aluminium beverage can isseen as the only packaging mediumthat will generate a good scrapincome under the deposit scheme. In

addition, beverage cans providelower handling costs throughout thesupply chain while returned cansoffer handling efficiencies becausethey can be easily compacted.

Conversion of the Rexam plant inBerlin, Germany, will begin earlynext year and is expected to be com-pleted by the end of the second quar-ter of 2006, after which the companyplans to expand the facility from twoto three lines and thereby create anestimated 40 new jobs. The cost of theconversion is expected to be around € 24 million (US$ 29.2 million).

For more information:www.rexam.co.uk

Rexam switches to alu-minium cans in Germany

Metso Minerals, well-known inthe recycling business for its scrapprocessing equipment subsidiaryMetso Lindemann of Dusseldorf, hasacquired shredder products supplierTexas Shredder, Inc. for approxi-mately € 13 million (US$ 15.9 mil-lion). The sellers are a group of pri-vate investors led by venture capitalinvestment company CapitalSouthwest Corporation.

Based in San Antonio and employ-ing 33 people, Texas Shredder isNorth America’s leading supplier ofmetal shredder plants and relatedafter-market services. The company’sunaudited net sales for the fiscal yearending June 30 2005 were € 46 mil-lion (US$ 56 million). The acquiredcompany will be merged with MetsoMineral’s current metal recyclingoperations in the USA to form newcompany Metso Texas Shredder, Inc.

Through this acquisition, MetsoMinerals considerably strengthensits position in the North Americanmetal recycling market, which is thelargest in the world in that itprocesses approximately 70 milliontonnes of scrap per annum. TexasShredder also complements Metso’sdownstream technology and after-market capabilities.

Metso’s recycling business hasmade significant progress since itbecame part of Metso Mineralsthrough the Svedala acquisition of2001. Net sales almost doubled in twoyears to approximately € 130 million(US$ 158 million) by 2004. Followingthe acquisition of Texas Shredder,net sales are expected to reach € 200million (US$ 244 million) per annum.

With some 22 000 employees inmore than 50 countries, Metso is aglobal technology corporation serv-ing customers in a number of sec-tors, including pulp and paper, rockand minerals processing, and ener-gy. In 2004, Metso Corporation’s netsales approached € 4 billion (US$ 4.9billion).

www.metso.com

Metso acquires TexasShredder

TSR Recycling investsin Leimbach shear

The TSR Recycling scrap yard at Radewell near Halle in eastern Germanyhas invested in a new state-of-the-art, computer-controlled hydraulic scrapshear from Leimbach of Bochum, Germany. Weighing in at around 370tonnes, it has a production capacity of 55 tonnes per hour.

TSR Recycling is a subsidiary of the Dutch SHV Group of companies andoperates more than 70 metal recycling yards. Last year, TSR Recyclingachieved a turnover of € 1.5 billion (US$ 1.85 billion).

For more information: www.leimbach-bochum.de or www.t-s-r.com

Texas Shredder heavy-duty shredder atthe yard of American Iron & Metal inMontreal, Canada.

Batrec Industrie AGCH-3752 WimmisTel. +41 (0)33 657 85 00

Recycling of Lithium Batteries

www.batrec.ch

N E W S


Between 1999 and 2003, the USlead-acid battery industry washelped by consumers and retailers toreach a recycling rate 99.2% for usedbattery lead - equivalent to 11.7 bil-lion pounds or 5.3 million tonnes ofmetal. This finding is contained in areport issued by the US BatteryCouncil International (BCI), a not-for-profit organisation that repre-sents the international lead-acidbattery manufacturing and recy-cling industry.

The US lead-acid battery industryis the country’s largest user of leadand has been recycling/reclaimingthe metal from its used products fornearly 75 years. According to the BCIdata, lead-acid batteries remain thenation’s most recycled consumerproduct. ‘This high recycling rate forbattery lead proves that a workableinfrastructure helps boost consumers’participation in recycling,’ commentsBCI President Randy Hart.

The recycling rate of battery leadhas been consistently higher thanother recyclable commodities. The USEnvironmental Protection Agency

Jefferson Smurfit and Kappa Packagingto merge

Jefferson Smurfit Group andKappa Packaging have announced aproposal to merge their respectiveoperations. The merger is subject toa number of conditions including EUcompetition approval and consulta-tion with the relevant employee rep-resentative organisations.

The merged company would haveoperations in 23 European and nineLatin American countries, with thecapacity to produce 6.1 million tonnesof containerboard and 5.1 milliontonnes of corrugated each year.

Through the proposed link-up,Jefferson Smurfit’s leading marketposition in Latin America and exist-ing market positions in Western and

Southern Europe would be combinedwith Kappa’s strong presence inNorthern and Eastern Europe. Thecombined company would become aworld leader in corrugated and aEuropean leader in containerboard,while retaining leading market posi-tions in both paper grades in LatinAmerica.

Under this proposal, JeffersonSmurfit’s existing shareholderswould own 58.3% of the combinedcompany while Kappa’s existingstakeholders would command 41.7%.

It is envisaged that the mergedentity will be known as the SmurfitKappa Group.

lists the national 2003 recycling ratesof other materials as follows: steelcans 60%; paper and paperboard48.1%; aluminium beer and soft drinkcans (UBCs) 43.9%; tyres 35.6%; plas-tic milk bottles 31.9%; plastic softdrink containers 25.2%; and glasscontainers 22%.

Along with the lead and plasticfrom used batteries, lead-acid batteryrecyclers also reclaim scrap lead fromthe production process. In a continu-ous cycle, the battery industryreclaims lead and plastic for use innew batteries, thereby keeping thesematerials out of the waste stream.

The BCI 1999-2003 NationalRecycling Rate Study and historicallead recycling data are available at:www.batterycouncil.org/news.html

Lead-acid batteries topUS recycling list

High TechRecycling Products

Anton Regner Straße 65-69A-8720 Knittelfeld, AustriaTel.: +43 (0) 3512 / 820 70-0 Fax [email protected]

Scrap Baling Presses

Briquetting Presses

Scrap Shears

Rail Breakers

Special Presses

Conveyors

Used Machines

Latest statistics from theConfederation of European PaperIndustries (CEPI) confirm a solidperformance in 2004.

European paper industry exportsrose substantially for the third yearrunning, mainly due to continuedAsian demand; in addition, exportsto Latin America topped 1 milliontonnes for the first time. CEPI coun-tries once again outperformed othermajor paper-producing regions ofthe world in terms of production,while trade and consumption contin-ued to show year-on-year increases.

Output exceeded 99.5 milliontonnes in 2004 to set another recordfor paper producers in CEPI coun-tries: this figure is equivalent to a4.5% increase over 2003 productionlevels. The average annual increasefor the region over the last 14 yearsstands at 3.2%.

Shipments to Asian markets hadincreased by 58% since 2001 and, in2004, accounted for 36% of allexports (5.3 million tonnes). Imports

of paper into CEPI countries fell forthe fourth consecutive year (by5.1%). Overall, last year saw CEPIcountries boast a positive trade bal-ance in paper (exports exceedingimports) of 10.6 million tonnes.

Overall consumption of paper andboard across CEPI countries rose2.4% last year to mirror the moreencouraging GDP growth figurewhich, according to Eurostat, was up2.2% for the 15 established membersof the EU.

The CEPI statistics reveal a 6.8%increase in the production of graphicgrades, with half of this increasecoming in the coated graphics sector.Production of packaging gradesimproved by 2.4% in 2004, reflectingincreased economic growth in theregion. Hygienic paper manufactur-ers increased their output by 2.1%last year, with industrial and speciality grades increasing by 1.8%.

Pulp output rose in line withpaper and board production, climb-ing 4.2% to 42.7 million tonnes; oper-ating rates therefore increased bytwo percentage points to edgethrough the 90% barrier to 91.2%.

In terms of recovered paper, utili-sation increased by 4% last year whileapparent collection was up by 7.5% to51.5 million tonnes. This means thatpulp made from wood represents 43%of the total used, while recoveredpaper accounts for 41% of total fibredemand in CEPI countries.

www.cepi.org

Great year for theEuropean paper industry

N E W S


According to research funded by the UK’sWaste & Resources Action Programme(WRAP) and carried out by Recoup (Recyclingof Used Plastics), there has been a 100%increase in UK plastic bottle recycling over thepast two years. The UK Plastic BottleRecycling Survey 2005 includes data submit-ted by all 477 of the UK’s local authorities andrepresents the most detailed source of infor-mation on UK household plastic bottle collec-tion performance published to date.

The report reveals annual collectionsamounting to some 48 397 tonnes, equivalentto 10.5% of bottles in the household wastestream and double the quantity collected in2003. About two-thirds are collected throughresidential kerbside programmes and theremainder through other methods.

Key findings of the research include: 73% ofall UK local authorities now offer collectionfacilities for plastic bottles; 348 local authorityrecycling managers confirmed plastic bottlecollection facilities within their council area;the number of plastic bottle collection schemeshas increased by 18%; 53 of the local authori-ties that responded to the survey indicatedthat it costs them little or no more money tocollect plastic bottles for recycling rather thanfor landfill/other disposal routes, demonstrat-

ing that plastic bottle recycling can be cost-effective in well-designed schemes.

Based on current local authority declara-tions, annual plastic bottle collections of 65703 tonnes are anticipated by 2007. Accordingto Recoup, plastic bottle recycling within kerb-side collections will extend to more than 10.9million households during 2006. This means44% of all UK households will be able to recy-cle plastic bottles on their doorsteps; in addi-tion, 5000 bring sites are expected to be opera-tional by the end of 2006.

The full survey is available from the WRAPand Recoup websites: www.wrap.org.uk andwww.recoup.org

Boost to UK plastic bottlerecycling

Cyprus to establish packag-ing managementsystem

Green Dot (Cyprus) Public Co. Ltd is taking steps toestablish a national packaging management system bysigning a consultancy agreement with FOST Plus, theBelgian Green Dot organisation. FOST Plus will helpGreen Dot Cyprus to define its strategy and to set up apackaging management system tailored to Cyprus’needs.

‘Our aim is to have a cost-effective packaging manage-ment system, in co-operation with the authorities and thepublic, by the end of this year,’ explains Michael Spanos,Chairman of the Board of Directors of Green Dot Cyprus.‘With this system, companies in Cyprus will be able tofulfil their legal obligations concerning the recycling andrecovery of used packaging. The packaging and packag-ing waste laws set specific targets which have to beachieved in an individual or collective way.’

* Birim MakinaMetals recycling machinery manufacturer Birim Makina of Turkey has sold two BM5

6060-V balers to the Cronimet Group of Karlsruhe in Germany. This year alone, BirimMakina has sold a total of six balers to Cronimet.

www.birimmakina.com.tr

* Argent Energy Commercial production has begun at the world’s largest plant for converting both used

cooking oil and animal fats into vehicle fuel. The Argent Energy facility at Motherwell inScotland supplied its first load to Petroplus as part of a contract which could see up to 25 000tonnes of biodiesel being sent each year to refineries for blending with mineral diesel. Thefinal product is to be marketed on filling station forecourts under the Bio-plus brand.

www.argentenergy.com

* Metso LindemannMervis Industries Inc. of Danville, Illinois, USA, has purchased an EC-1034-10 scrap

shear from Metso Lindemann’s North American operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. MetsoLindemann’s EC (Eta-Cut) shears feature optimised driver and control systems to reducecycle times by more than 15%; an integrated, infinitely-variable positioning system; andincreased pressure forces for compacting bulky shredder feedstock into logs.

www.metsominerals.com

Sold!

www.elghaniel.com

The ELG Haniel Group offers a spectrum of recyclable stainless steel quality products worthy of

exhibition. Our suppliers put their trust in the experience and integrity of a financially strong partner.

We offer quality assured first class materials to customers all over the world for their stainless steel

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SIMPLY AWARDINGGERMANYEisenlegierungenHandelsgesellschaft mbHDuisburgTel.: +49-203-45 01-0Fax: +49-203-45 01-250

UNITED KINGDOMELG Haniel Metals Ltd.Sheffield Tel.: +44-114-244 33 33Fax: +44-114-256 17 42

FRANCEFerrinox S.A.LimayTel.: +33-1-34 97 90 00Fax: +33-1-34 97 53 17

ITALYMetalacciaiSede Secondaria Italianadi Ferinox S.A.Rogeno / ComoTel.: +39-031-87 65 05Fax: +39-031-86 52 84

NETHERLANDSJewometaal Stainless Processing B.V.RotterdamTel.: +31-181-24 24 24Fax: +31-181-24 24 25

SPAINInoxtrade S.A.MadridTel.: +34-91-413 16 12Fax: +34-91-416 96 08

SWITZERLANDMultimetall AGMuttenzTel.: +41-61-4 63 18 58Fax: +41-61-4 63 18 39

CZECH REPUBLICELG Legima spol. s.r.l.BmoTel.: +420-5-47 21 23 13Fax: +420-5-47 21 23 13

USAELG Metals, Inc.McKeesport, PA Tel.: +1-412-672 92 00Fax: +1-412-672 08 24

ELG Metals, Inc.Los Angeles, CATel.: +1-323-569-35 45Fax: +1-323-569-41 45

ELG Metals, Inc.Houston, TXTel.: +1-281-457 21 00Fax: +1-281-457 25 00

AUSTRALIAELG Recycling Processors Pty LtdCampbellfield, VictoriaTel.: +61-3-93 05 35 35Fax: +61-3-93 05 35 36

N E W S

A second symposium entitled‘Sensor-based sorting’ will be held inAachen, Germany, from March 28 to30 next year.

The first of these symposia washeld in 2004 and attracted 140 par-ticipants, mainly from Germany. Itssuccess has inspired the Departmentof Materials Processing, RWTHAachen University, the TechnicalUniversity of Delft and the GermanSociety of Mining, Metallurgy, Raw

Materials and EnvironmentalTechnology (GDMB) to organise aninternational congress to cover sen-sor-based sorting. The event will fea-ture simultaneous translation inEnglish and German.

Sensor-based sorting developedduring the 1950s and 1960s withapplications in the food, mineral andother processing sectors; at that time,Sortex and Ore Sorters were the mainequipment producers. Over the years,

sensors became more sensitive andhigher resolutions were made avail-able, while generic image processingsoftware became more sophisticatedand data processing speeds increased.These developments created newopportunities for research groups andequipment manufacturers to improvesensor-based sorting. Nowadays,sensing and waste processing meth-ods represent an independent field ofactivity with specialised process tech-nologies devised to handle the specificcharacter of waste.

With sensor developments and fastdata processing, numerous opportu-nities present themselves - notably inthe field of dry separation techniqueswhich utilise new options for sortingmaterials. Adaptation of analyticalmethods such as near infra-red detec-tion or intelligent image recognitionand evaluation have led to remark-able innovations in automatic sortingmachines. Today, many sensor-baseddevices are available in the sphere ofprimary and secondary raw materi-

als, delivering more cost-efficientoperation and higher throughputs incomparison to traditional processingtechniques. As the application rangesof these sorting machines continue toexpand, the relevance of sensor-basedsorting techniques is increasing in allareas of processing.

Symposium presentations will dealwith sorting operations which detectdiverse characteristics of the feedmaterial through use of intelligentsensor technology followed by selec-tive discharge of positive identifiedparticles. There will be discussion ofthe progress made in the sorting of,for example, minerals, scrap metal,plastics, recovered paper, refuse-derived fuel, packaging waste, glasscullet and agricultural products. Theaim of the symposium - which willalso feature poster presentations, anexhibition and company visits - is toenhance the dialogue between plantoperators, producers and developers.

For more information:www.ita.nwth-aachen.de

Symposium to cover sensor-based sorting

Scan & Sort CombiSense at the Technical University of Aachen in Germany.

* British Metals Recycling AssociationThe British Metals Recycling Association has appointed Lindsay

Millington as its new Director General. For the past 15 years, she hasrepresented ferrous and non-ferrous metals companies as ChiefExecutive of Metals Industry Skills and Performance (MetSkill).

www.recyclemetals.org

* Schnitzer Steel Industries Schnitzer Steel Industries of Portland, Oregon, has appointed Don

Hamaker to the newly-created position of President of its metals recyclingbusiness. He has also been appointed Vice-President of Schnitzer SteelIndustries Inc. Mr Hamaker will be responsible for all Schnitzer scrap metalrecycling facilities. Schnitzer has also announced that Pat Christopher willbe joining the company as Vice-President of Schnitzer Steel Industries, withresponsibility for Schnitzer’s newly-acquired East Coast metals recyclingfacilities. Also joining the company as Vice-President of Export Sales isAlter Goldstein. His responsibilities will include the Asian export tradingbusiness relating to Schnitzer’s current metals recycling operations.

www.schnitzersteel.com

* Harris Waste ManagementThe Harris Waste Management Group of Peachtree City, Georgia, USA,

has promoted Douglas Sebastian to Vice-President of Harris. In his newposition, he will continue to oversee all sales and marketing, as well as tomanage the shredder division. His expanded responsibilities include newproduct development, special projects, corporate objectives and operations.

www.harriswaste.com

People

P R O D U C T N E W S

New range MaTech alligator shears

Hydraulic alligator shears areused in scrap yards around theworld to cut a variety of materialssuch as aluminium profile, cable,copper tubes, brass fittings, radia-tors and stainless steel.

‘What sets our new shears apartis the blade lengths of the differentmodels, which are at least 10%longer than those of other machines,’explains MaTech’s Managing Direc-tor Marc van de Wijdeven. ‘The ad-vantage is that cutting capabilitiesare increased. In addition, the cut-ting forces of our alligator shears arevery powerful. The main differencelies in the angle of the cutting cylin-

der, which is more vertical comparedwith other machines.’

While many other machines lookto achieve stability via a huge tankfilled with oil, the MaTech alligatorshear is equipped with a compactand easy-to-release tank with onlythe necessary amount of oil requiredfor the hydraulics. The electric mo-tor is mounted on the tank.

For more information: MaTech, Mierlo, The Netherlands, Phone: +31 492 477488, Fax: +31 492 474858, E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.matech.nl

Genesis Logix Processor

Genesis Attachment’s new LogixProcessor (LXP) ‘can offerpower, versatility and a fast,safe changeover between jaws’,according to the company.

Genesis claims the Logix Proces-sor provides: the same level of powerfor which its XP line of shears has be-come known; the versatility of bothpulveriser and shear jaw sets; and achangeover between jaws that can bedone in a fraction of the time takenby other multi-jaw attachments.

The LXPs are available in foursizes to fit excavators in the 20, 30,40 and 50-tonne classes.

Key Genesis objectives during theLXP design phase included increas-ing the power available with each jawset and dramatically streamliningthe changeover process. ‘We had longbeen hearing from demolition and re-

cycling professionals that, whilethey like the concept of a multi-

ple jaw tool, they often dreadchanging jaws because

of the ordeal

it can become - sometimes monopolis-ing workers for as long as four hours,’notes Genesis’ Director of ProductDevelopment Mark Ramun.

In a new approach, each LXP jawretains its own pivot group. Chang-ing between jaw sets simply involveshydraulically releasing one jaw and,in quick-coupler fashion, hydrauli-cally adding the other. Only thelightened cylinder pins need be man-ually removed. And because eachjaw set retains its own pivot group,this gives a tremendous boost to thepower available, according to Gene-sis. When configured with the shearjaws, the LXP provides a cuttingforce that will remind users of thepower of Genesis’ XP Series MobileShears, the company concludes.

Genesis Attachments, Superior,Wisconsin, USA, Phone: +1 715 395-5252, Fax: +1 715 395-5255, E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.paladinbrands.com


Dutch company MaTech - European distributor of the MiniSort metalsanalyser, Taurus scrap shears and Rigby cable strippers - has recent-ly started marketing a complete new range of alligator shears whichwill be distributed exclusively in the European recycling market.

Personal radiation detectors

Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation(BNC) has added two new instru-ments to its comprehensiverange of advanced personal radi-ation detectors.

These highly-sensitive radiationmonitors discreetly detect and mea-sure gamma radiation and then alertthe operator via vibration or an audi-ble alarm. The so-called nukeALERTII 1703M Personal Radiation Detec-tor (PRD) and the palmRAD 1621MDosimeter are said to be simple tounderstand and operate, as well asimpact resistant and watertight,with a sensitivity that outperformsother popular radiation systems.

Whether the user is experienced inradiation safety, or operating in gen-eral security, these instruments pro-vide an intuitive interface.

All BNC radiation detectors offertwo critical operation modes: the

first incorporates a 1-9 strength in-dicator scale for simple analysis ofthe sources present; and the secondprovides exposure rate readings andaccumulated dose information com-monly found in dosimeters. The in-

strument employsan algorithm whichenables the user toadjust the settingsto minimise falsealarms in highbackground levelenvironments with-out compromisingthe probability ofdetecting a source.

These units have been designed tomeet ANSI N42.32 specificationswhich are standards for radiationand nuclear detection equipmentadopted by the US Department ofHomeland Security’s Science andTechnology Division in Februarylast year.

Berkeley Nucleonics Corp., San Rafael, California, USA,Phone: +1 415 453-9955,Fax: +1 415 453-9956, E-mail:[email protected], Website:www.berkeleynucleonics.com

g i v i n g e a r t h i t s s e c o n d n a t u r e

320 Wervikstraat • B 8930 Menen • Belgium • Tel. 0032 (0)56 52 13 00 • Fax 0032 (0)56 52 13 10 Email: [email protected] • Website: www.galloo.com

O U R G O A L : 1 0 0 % R E C Y C L I N G

Group Galloo Recycling is one of the foremost recycling

companies of ferrous and non-ferrous metals in Europe. Group

Galloo Recycling annually treats 1 000 000 tons of ferrous scrap,

60 000 tons of non-ferrous metals, 20 000 tons of plastics and

100 000 tons of shredder residues. By continually investing in

new technologies, the group’s aim is to achieve 100 % recycling.

Known more specifically as EU2002/95/EC, the RoHS Directiverestricts the quantities of certainhazardous elements in electrical andelectronic materials. This legisla-tion, which becomes effective on July1 next year, requires manufacturersand distributors of electrical andelectronic materials to provide strictdocumentation of compliance withthese directives.

In response, Niton has released anew version of software for its popu-lar Niton XLt 797 portable XRFanalyser: so-called version 4.4 en-ables users to establish thresholds forrapid screening of solder bars, circuitboards and their components, andthen displays pass or fail symbols foreach regulated element. Whethermanufacturers are segregating leadand lead-free stock, performing duediligence testing to verify supplier

certifications, or controlling solderchemistry as part of process qualitycontrol, the Niton XLt 797 with ver-sion 4.4 software allows companies toemploy non-technical personnel forthese mission-critical tasks, accord-ing to the company. This new feature- along with the Niton analyser’seasy-to-use data entry which includesa virtual keyboard and integratedbarcode scanner - simplifies thetracking and interpretation of criticalcompliance data, it goes on to say.

Thermo’s Niton XRF analysers arecapable of storing more than 3000legally-defensible measurements forlater download to the user’s PC. Allreadings are encrypted to prevent ac-cidental or intentional tamperingwith the analytical result, yet may beeasily incorporated into database orspreadsheet packages for reference tocompanies’ manufacturing and/or

quality control systems.

* Niton LLC, Billerica, Massachussetts, USA, Phone: +1 978-670-7460, E-mail: [email protected]* Niton Europe, Munich,Germany, Phone: +49 89 3681380, E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.niton.com orwww.thermo.com

Kühltec AG of Rothrist inSwitzerland is now operating acooling unit recycling plantwhich complies with Swiss pollu-tion control regulations.

Installed by Untha Recylingtech-nik of Germany, the plant has thecapacity to handle approximately120 cooling units per hour. After theremoval of the compressors, theunits are automatically conveyed tolifting sluices along two separatelines. This gas-tight introduction isfollowed by the shredding of the cool-ing unit housings during which valu-able substances and noxious matter

are separated and automaticallyfilled into containers. A nitrogen-op-erated, low-temperature condensa-tion system liquefies the blowingagent released by the expanded in-sulating material.

A process visualisation system al-lows for material input registration,emission value monitoring and au-tomatic weighing of the output frac-tions. A check on plant efficiency hasconfirmed a high CFC recuperationrate. Measured emission values arewell below legal limits.

Currently, Untha Recyclingtech-nik is supplying a combined recy-

cling plant for household appliancesand cooling units to Palma de Mal-lorca. This will allow all householdappliances collected on the Spanishisland to be recycled to professionalstandards.

Untha Recyclingtechnik, Karlstadt, Germany, Phone: +49 9353 9068-0, Fax: +49 9353 9068-68, E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.untha.de


Hammel Recyclingtechnik ofGermany has unveiled its firstHammel Fine Shredder, a high-speed unit designed specificallyto handle fresh wood, greenwaste, branches and bushes (upto a diameter of 300 mm), for-est residues, bark and wastewood.

Its development reflects the manyenquiries from waste disposal com-panies with smaller throughputs fora machine capable of processing allaccumulated materials.

According to the company, one ofthe advantages of the KompbiStar isthat raw material is loaded directlyinto the automatically-operated feedhopper and goes through the feedroller into the shredding rotor,thereby guaranteeing continuousand permanent material feeding. Inaddition, a load-dependent feed con-

trol is built into the machine. If ma-terial is too dense, the feed belt revo-lution speed is automatically regu-lated and adjusted to prevent block-ages in the rotor, which is equippedwith bolt-on hammers. The ma-chines produce an end productsmaller than 50 mm at throughputsof up to 20 tonnes per hour depend-ing on the material. After process-ing, the material can be used forcomposting or incineration.

The shredder is fitted with a 350hp Caterpillar diesel engine andmeasures 2500 mm (W) x 3000 mm(H) x 8300 mm (L).

Hammel Recyclingtechnik, Bad Salzingen, Germany, Phone: +49 3695 69910, Fax: +49 3695 699-193, E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.hammel.de

New Niton software to aid compliance

Thermo Electron Corporation’s Niton analyser business unit, a worldleader in portable X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) technology, has intro-duced a new version of instrument software to assist electronicsmanufacturers in complying with the European Union’s Restrictionon Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations.

Hammel KompbiStar fine shredder

Untha cooling unit recycling plant .

P R O D U C T N E W S

Novelis claimsUBC recyclingcrown

Novelis Inc. of Toronto, Canada,claims to have recycled 30 billionused beverage cans (UBCs) last yearto make it the world leader in recy-cling aluminium cans. The company,which produces aluminium rolledproducts, was formerly part of AlcanInc. of Montréal.

Novelis operates three recyclingplants in North America which ac-counted for more than 24 billion of theUBC total for 2004. The company alsooperates recycling facilities in Italy,the UK, South Korea and Brazil(where it accounts for 68% of the 9 bil-lion UBCs recovered annually).

Recycler devel-ops scrap-load-ing technique

When Nathan Frankel, Presidentof Advanced Steel Recovery Inc. ofFontana, California, started to shipcontainer loads of steel scrap to Chi-

na and other overseas markets a fewyears ago, he was not keen on thetime-consuming, labour-intensiveprocess of actually loading the con-tainers. Three workers often neededup to four hours to fill a shippingcontainer with ferrous scrap usingfront-end loaders, with the addedproblem that these containers some-times became damaged during theloading process. Therefore, MrFrankel decided to develop his owncontainer-loading technology thatreportedly enables a single operatorto load a container in just 15 min-utes, with no manual labour insidethe container and no damage to thecontainer itself.

Working with Mechtronic Solu-tions Inc., an Albuquerque-based en-gineering and manufacturing firm,Frankel developed the so-calledFrankel Advanced Shipping Tech-nologies (FASTek) machine, compris-ing a metal box on a track poweredby a small engine. Once a crane hasloaded scrap into the box, the engineslides the box into the shipping con-tainer, where the scrap is dumped;the box then slides back out of thecontainer ready for another load.

As of late June, Mr Frankel hadsent some 400 containers of ferrousscrap to China and South Korea us-ing the FASTek machine, and heplans to add a second machine thisyear. Frankel believes that theFASTek machines, which he hopesto patent, could also be used to shipother bulk commodities such as re-covered paper.

Every one arecycling winner

Recycling old lottery tickets hasturned into a winner for E. L. Har-vey & Sons Inc. of Westborough,Massachusetts, USA, as well as forthe Massachusetts State Lottery.The recycling programme, called In-stant Re-Play, began in August lastyear and has already been responsi-ble for converting 50 tonnes of tick-ets into tissue-grade products.

E. L. Harvey helps co-ordinate therecovery and recycling of the oldtickets through various collectionevents, such as an Earth Day onBoston’s Esplanade that yielded 8tonnes of tickets in five hours andanother collection at lottery head-quarters in Braintree, Massachu-setts, that collected 16 tonnes in thesame period. The Instant Re-Playprogramme rewards individualswho collect discarded tickets byhanding them a new US$ 1 instantlottery ticket for every 25 old ticketsthey return.

Battery leadscores 99%recycling rate

Chicago-based Battery CouncilInternational (BCI) reports that99.2% of all used battery lead in theUSA was recycled between 1999 and2003. Some 11.692 billion pounds oflead out of a potential 11.789 billionpounds was recovered thanks to ‘asuccessful collaboration amongmembers of the battery industry, re-tailers and consumers’, according toBCI.

In addition to the lead, recyclersof used lead-acid batteries also re-cover plastics and scrap lead fromthe production process. Currently,43 US states have laws requiringlead-acid battery recycling, with re-tailers and auto parts stores in those

states generally collecting used bat-teries from consumers.

The BCI National Recycling RateStudy 1999-2003 is available at:www.batterycouncil.org/news.html

China to top aluminium consumptionleague?

Thanks to its rapidly-growingeconomy, China is expected to over-take the USA as the world largestconsumer of aluminium in 2005. Thecountry’s consumption is thoughtlikely to amount to 6.8 milliontonnes this year compared to 5.9million tonnes in 2004.

China’s aluminium consumptionis expected to reach 12.5 milliontonnes by the year 2015 and to con-tinue to grow in the years beyond.However, the country has announcedthat it has no desire to become theworld’s largest supplier of alumini-um: central government is to focusmore on domestic demand than onexports and has duly announcedmeasures to restrict exports of alu-minium and other base metals.

Daunting WEEEcosts

The computer industry fears itscosts will increase considerably as aresult of the EU Directive on Wastefrom Electrical and ElectronicEquipment (WEEE) which came

A magazine for the recycling industry is published inmany countries. Although these publications mainlycover news of the domestic markets, many of them alsosignal international trends. Recycling Internationalrounds-up items from these magazines which are ofinterest to the international recycling industry.

The magazines we co-operate with in publishing extracts from their editorial pages are:• Scrap (USA)• Recycling Today (USA)• Recycling magazin (Germany)• Magazine Recycling Benelux (The Netherlands/Belgium)

R O U N D U P

Magazine Round Up

www.mrb-uitgevers.nl

www.recyclingmagazin.de


http://www.scrap.org

into force in August. According to aspokesman for computer manufac-turer Fujitsu Siemens, his companyexpects directive compliance costs toamount to some € 9 million, or US$10.8 million. Fujitsu Siemens al-ready operates its own recycling cen-tre but is also having to invest heavi-ly in environmentally-friendly com-puter parts.

China’s steelindustry set forchange

Unprecedented consolidationwithin China’s fragmented steel sec-tor is in the pipeline following thelaunch of the country’s new industrypolicy in July. This consolidationprocess will be led by the nation’s topsteelmakers - Shanghai BaoshanIron and Steel Corp (Baosteel), An-shan Iron and Steel Corp, WuhanIron and Steel Corp and ShougangGroup, according to Luo Bingsheng,Vice-Chairman of the China Iron andSteel Association. The Anshan steelfirm and Benxi Iron and Steel Corp,both located in north-east China’sLiaoning Province, will soon be com-bined into a single entity, he added.

China’s top steelmaker Baosteel isconsidering building a steel plant inZhanjiang, a port city in southernGuangdong Province, in a joint pro-ject with local steel companiesGuangzhou Iron and Steel Corp andShaoguan Iron and Steel Corp, ac-cording to Mr Luo, while Wuhan Ironand Steel in Central China’s HubeiProvince is considering working withLiuzhou Iron and Steel Corp inGuangxi Zhuang Autonomous Re-gion to build a plant in Fangcheng-gang, a port city in Guangxi. In addi-tion, Shougang of Beijing is con-structing a steel plant in Caofeidian,

a port on Bohan Bay, in concert withTangshan Iron and Steel Corp.

According to Mr Luo, ‘fragmenta-tion is one of the biggest obstacles tothe steel industry’s future healthydevelopment, and consolidations aswell as mergers and acquisitions arebadly needed’. Currently, there aresome 830 steelmakers in China, themajority of which are deemed toosmall to be internationally competi-tive. Baosteel is China’s only steel-maker capable of producing over 20million tonnes a year but ranks onlysixth in the world producer league.

China’s steel policy aims to cut thenumber of steelmakers and to enablelarge players to control a greater pro-portion of production through merg-ers and acquisitions. The country’sleading 10 steelmakers are expectedto control more than 50% of domesticoutput by 2010 and over 70% by2020. Also by 2010, two Chinese steelgiants will have an annual output ofmore than 30 million tonnes and sev-eral others will have yearly outputsexceeding 10 million tonnes, the poli-cy suggests.

The policy also bans foreign in-vestors from holding controllingstakes in China’s steelmaking ven-tures. As a result, the world’s secondlargest steel group Arcelor isthought likely to abandon plans tomerge with Laiwu Iron and Steel Co.

Australia’s CMAcompletes twoacquisitions

Australian company CMA Corp.Ltd has announced the acquisitionof two scrap metal companies, in-cluding Scrap Metal Recyclers(SMR) - the largest privately-ownedscrap metal company in NewZealand which focuses on scrap pro-cessing while also operating a signif-icant bin distribution and collectionprogramme.

CMA has also acquired NY MetalRecyclers of Darwin, the second

largest scrap recycler in Australia’sNorthern Territory. CMA will payaround US$ 15.8 million for the twobusinesses and hopes to complete thedeals within a month. The acquisi-tions reflect CMA’s strategy of buyingmetal processing businesses that arecompatible with its own activities.

CMA was established by themerger of scrap metals recycler T&TGroup and contracting groupMoltoni Adams. The company oper-ates two business groups: one focus-es on the metals recycling business,including collection and processing;the other centres on contracting op-erations in resource sector plant de-commissioning, industrial demoli-tion, and dredging, site clearanceand remediation.

Wal-Martlaunches plasticbag collectionprogramme

Wal-Mart, the USA’s largest su-permarket chain, has unveiled thesecond Wal-Mart Kids RecyclingChallenge - a partnership with K-6elementary schools in California andUtah that helps students become re-sponsible stewards of their environ-ment while earning money for theirschools at the same time.

Participating schools will receive acollection bin and a supply of 60-gal-lon collection bags. Wal-Mart willthen give schools US$ 5 in cash foreach collection bag they fill with plas-tic bags and take to participatingstores for recycling by December 19this year. The three schools in eachregion that recycle the most plasticbags will receive additional cashgrants from Wal-Mart of US$ 1500,US$ 1000 and US$ 500 respectively.During the first of these recyclingchallenges, K-6 students in PalmDesert and Sacramento, California,and in Salt Lake City, Utah, filled atotal of 1947 collection bags.

R O U N D U P


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Awide new boulevard crossesthe old single lane farm roads

of Shanghai’s outlying Baoshandistrict. Tony Huang, President ofShanghai Sigma Metals, Inc.,China’s leading aluminium scrapimporter and aluminium alloyexporter, leans into the back-seatof a Mercedes that navigates theroad, paralleling a set of manufac-tured hills being landscaped byworkers in straw hats. Mr Huang’sattention, however, is on the busstop. ‘That’s called the Sigma stop,’he says, pointing at a sign as thecar pauses at a security gate. ‘Thecity gave it to us. We have 1500employees so it was logical.’Past the gate, the car stops in front

of an office building. Mr Huang opens the door andstrides into a foyer where workers hang crystals froma 10 metre-long chandelier alongside a spiral stair-case and a specially-commissioned painting madefrom ‘scraps’. Upstairs, he slips past workers carry-ing a coffee table into his office and stops in front of a

window that looks out on the 360 000 square metreproperty that contains the world’s largest single-sitesecondary smelting facility. When this becomes fullyoperational in autumn 2005, Shanghai SigmaMetals, Inc. will have the capacity to produce 25 000tonnes of aluminium alloy per month.

On a large flat screen across from the just-deliv-ered coffee table, Mr Huang pulls up the facts: 119595 tonnes of aluminium scrap imported in 2004,equalling 10.1% of China’s total; 101 250 tonnes ofaluminium alloy ingot exported, representing 36% ofChina’s total. As an export business, Sigma relies oncheap production costs - based upon low-cost labour -to be competitive on the world markets. But as MrHuang turns to look out on Sigma’s new facility, muchof the land is empty, awaiting future expansion thathe is determined will be based upon technology andnot just cheap labour. It is an ambitious vision, and ifit succeeds, Shanghai Sigma has the potential to re-define secondary smelting for the 21st century.

The scrap

Gaping, multi-storey loading doors reveal a 40000 square metre warehouse in which 250 womenhand-sort shredded metals imported from North


By Adam Minter

Shanghai Sigma metals

Packing the potential to re-define second a

Shanghai Sigma metals

Packing the potential to re-define second a

When the world’s largest single-site sec-

ondary smelting facility becomes fully

operational this autumn, Shanghai Sigma

Metals, Inc. of China will have the capaci-

ty to produce 25 000 tonnes of alumini-

um alloy per month. This article under-

lines the company’s commitment not

only to expansion but also to the techno-

logical advancement of China’s sec-

ondary smelting industry.

Tony Huang, President of Shanghai SigmaMetals.

America, South America and Europe. ‘My goal wasto get a Nobel Prize,’ Mr Huang recounts with asmile. ‘I was very interested in life science.’ Born inTaiwan in 1951, he graduated with a BA in botanyfrom Taiwan’s National University in 1973. Aftercompleting his compulsory military service, he trav-elled to the USA and completed a Masters in FoodScience at Cornell University. ‘It was the closestthing to botany and it could help me get into busi-ness,’ he explains. ‘You don’t just go from botany tosmelting.’

Instead, you need some help. For Mr Huang, thiscame in the form of relatives in Taiwan who wereactive in the shipbreaking business. In 1978, he anda friend established Sigma International in a NewJersey basement apartment and began procuringscrap for Taiwan. ‘I would drive from one yard toanother like a lot of the Chinese guys are doingtoday,’ Mr Huang recalls. ‘I would look at material,negotiate price, pay cash, and arrange for shipment.’

Next to the Zorba sorting rooms are darker, butequally cavernous rooms piled with large, brokenhunks of Tense and Taint Tabor. The material issignificantly heavier than the hand-sized chunks ofZorba next door, but it too is sorted by masked


d ary smeltingd ary smelting

C O M P A N Y P R O F I L E

In the 40 000 square metre warehouse, 250women hand-sort shredded metals importedfrom North America, South America andEurope.

In 2004, Shanghai Sigma Metals imported119 595 tonnes of aluminium scrap,equalling 10.1% of China’s total.

In addition to scrap, Sigma imports significant amounts of base metaland primary ingot, as well as 1000 to 2000 tonnes per month of Honeyfor re-sale.

A bicycle makes it easier and faster to move from one place to anotherat the 90 000 square metre site.

women. ‘They are more patient and precise,’ saysMr Huang as he stands beside a squat figure ingreen scrubs hurling transmission casings into abin. Mr Huang pays Sigma’s 800 hand-sortersbetween US$ 100 and US$ 120 per tonne, account-ing for approximately 1% of Sigma’s total costs.Sigma’s leading cost by far is raw materials whicheasily accounts for 90% of total outlay, according toMr Huang.

In addition to scrap, Sigma imports significantamounts of base metal and primary ingot, as well as1000 to 2000 tonnes per month of Honey for re-sale;but mixed loads of aluminium are still Sigma’s rawmaterial of choice. In 2004, Tense and Taint/Taboraccounted for 53% of Sigma’s total raw materialimports, while Zorba accounted for 24%. Though MrHuang prefers Zorba, disparities in how duties areassessed in Southern China can render Sigmauncompetitive when sourcing the material. Theproblem is well-known to importers and exportersalike: in southern Guangdong province, customsauthorities are widely known to assess lower thanactual values on mixed loads. Material that mightbe assessed at, say, 90% metal content in Shanghaican be expected to be assessed as low as 30% inGuangdong.

‘Our Zorba consumption has been droppingsteadily over the past few years because of the dutysituation,’ Mr Huang says with frustration. ‘Lowerduties in the south leave us uncompetitive much ofthe time.’ As a result, Sigma utilises more Tenseand Taint Tabor than it would if the duties wereenforced uniformly. ‘It’s cleaner and it looks morelike aluminium,’ says Mr Huang. ‘So you can’t getaway with declaring a lower value.’

Partly out of self-interest and partly out of a gen-uine belief that China’s scrap industry will never

develop properly without uniform regulation, MrHuang joined several influential players in theChinese scrap industry to work with the country’scustoms officials on establishing a more detailedand uniform duty assessment system for scrap.This was implemented on January 1. ‘Before thenew duty system, the assessments on Zorba inGuangdong were maybe 40% right,’ Mr Huang con-cedes. ‘Now they’re 70% right. That’s not perfect,but it’s progress.’ As a result, Mr Huang expectsthat Zorba will account for a larger amount ofSigma’s scrap imports in 2005.

The ingot

In 1981, Tony Huang and his brother Peterestablished Sigma Brothers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan,as a scrap trading company. In 1987, they added asmelting plant that was utilising low-cost labourand mixed imported scrap to produce 2000 to 3000tonnes per month of aluminium alloy ingot (today,it produces approximately 5000 tonnes per month).However, by the early 1990s, the rising price ofTaiwanese labour made hand-sorting of importedscrap an increasingly difficult proposition. ‘Werealised that if we were going to continue utilisingcheap raw material, we would have to move toChina,’ Mr Huang explains. Construction onShanghai Sigma Metals began in 1993 and, not longafter, Peter passed away unexpectedly. ‘Shanghaiwas my brother’s dream,’ he says. ‘So I felt I neededto fulfill his dream.’

Mr Huang drives a golf cart across a concreteexpanse, where an average of 700 containers permonth are offloaded by overhead cranes, and into theheat and noise of Sigma’s impeccably clean smeltingplant. Ahead, steel doors slowly rise to reveal thefiery roar of a 20-tonne capacity furnace set. Raisinghis voice over the din, Mr Huang announces: ‘We alsohave six sets of 50-tonne capacity furnaces.’

A front-end loader outfitted with a 10-metre rakeapproaches the open furnace and begins to scrape redhot dross into a heavy steel container. The container



A front-end loader outfitted with a 10-metrerake approaches the open furnace.

On average, 700 containers per month are offloaded by overheadcranes at Sigma Shanghai.

Sigma pays its 800 hand-sorters between US$ 100 and US$ 120 per tonne, accountingfor approximately 1% of the company’s totalcosts.

‘When it comes to sorting metals, women aremore patient and precise,’ says Mr Huang.

is then moved across the smelting plant and emptiedinto one of several rotating furnaces. What remains,in the end, is useless black dross. In other secondarysmelting plants, that dross is landfilled or used in low-grade applications like water filters (after which it isthen landfilled). But at the direction of Mr Huang,Sigma’s team of 130 engineers has designed a drossseparating plant capable of processing 5000 tonnesper month of the troublesome material into alumini-um concentrate and aluminium oxide. ‘We charge thematerial and then filter, filter, filter,’ Mr Huangexplains. China’s State Environmental ProtectionAdministration (SEPA) has not only approvedSigma’s dross recycling system, it has designated it asa model for China’s secondary aluminium industry.‘The industry is usually so dirty and has a terribleimage,’ Mr Huang explains. ‘So they are looking forways to show that it can be different.’

Though it now seems visionary, the decision toenter China in the early 1990s was a risky one.China had only recently opened to foreign invest-ment, and there was a general feeling that itsnascent free markets were an experiment and notnecessarily the future. Sigma, however, did nothedge. It opened with 500 employees, most of whomhand-sorted North American Zorba that would haveotherwise gone to Kaohsiung.

Shanghai Sigma initially shipped its ingot toTaiwan, but as the 1990s progressed, low-cost pro-duction allowed Sigma to maintain its price belowthose charged by Japanese domestic smelters, allthe while upholding quality standards that resultedin Sigma becoming the first Chinese secondarysmelter registered on the LME. Today, Sigma is theleading Chinese provider of aluminium to Japan’sautomotive industry, with 72 593 tonnes of alloyshipped in 2004, representing 59% of all Chinesealuminium exports to Japan. As a result, Sigma’sselling price has become the benchmark by whichJapanese consumers and Chinese suppliers settheir prices. ‘The Japanese create formula pricingsystems using our price as the benchmark,’ Mr



Mixed loads of aluminium are still Sigma’s raw material of choice.

The new facility is one of the most technologically-advanced secondary smelters in the world.

Last year, Shanghai Sigma Metals exported 101 250 tonnes of alumini-um alloy ingot, representing 36% of China’s total.

Huang explains. ‘But of course, that means we arecompeting against ourselves if we discount.’

Mr Huang views the Japanese market as the eas-iest place for Sigma to grow in the near term, and sothe new plant was designed for export. But longterm, he expects that China’s automotive industrywill be the best opportunity; Sigma’s shipments intothis sector are increasing rapidly, reaching 66 000tonnes of aluminium alloy in 2004.

The future

When Sigma first located in Shanghai’s outlyingBaoshan district, local authorities promised MrHuang that the area would remain industrial. Butnobody could have predicted the extraordinarygrowth of Shanghai over the last decade. Today, theold plant is a short walk from a new stop on

Shanghai’s Metro, and its once industrial neighbour-hood is sprouting apartment blocks. Fortuitously, asthe neighborhood grew, so did Sigma, and after adecade it had outgrown its original 90 000 squaremetre site. ‘Relocation was not a disappointment atall,’ says Mr Huang. ‘We needed more space, and themove gave us the opportunity to really think aboutwhat our future would be.’

The new facility is not only the most technologi-cally-advanced secondary smelting facility inChina, it is also on the verge of being one of themost technologically-advanced secondary smeltersin the world. In the smelting room, for example, theSigma designed and built furnaces are outfittedwith the world’s first permanent magnetic stirrers.These Japanese-designed machines require lowerinstallation and maintenance costs, and requireonly 10% of the power used by the electromagneticstirrers used in other secondary smelting opera-tions. ‘They give us a real competitive advantage,’enthuses Mr Huang.

The new facility was planned to diversify thetypes of scrap that Sigma purchases with a long-view towards China’s rapidly-evolving - albeit, stillsmall - domestic scrap markets. Thus, Sigma isinstalling a technologically-advanced turnings drierand melting furnace designed to raise metal recov-ery rates beyond those obtained by North Americanand European smelters. ‘Actually, turnings arecheaper than other scrap Sigma buys if the recoveryis right,’ Mr Huang explains. Already, Shanghai

Sigma is China’s leading turnings importer, andwith the new drier and furnace that market domi-nance will be extended. In the short term, if MrHuang’s market and technology predictions are cor-rect, Sigma will have the ability to compete effec-tively and efficiently with turnings consumers inthe USA and Europe. Long term, Mr Huang is con-vinced that China’s burgeoning manufacturers willprovide a steady source of turnings for his furnaces,thus diversifying Sigma away from labour-inten-sive scrap such as Zorba.

Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, Sigma isinstalling a traditional flotation plant for the sort-ing of mixed scrap ‘fines’ too small for Sigma’s hand-sorters. Just as Sigma’s cheap labour has renderedmany European flotation plants uncompetitive, MrHuang believes that his water-powered Shanghaiflotation plant will establish his facility - and possi-bly, China - as a leader in the processing of scrapfines.

Back in his office, Mr Huang considers the future.‘We have plans for a phase two expansion thatwould bring the plant up to 40 000 tonnes permonth of output,’ he says with a smile. ‘But thereare no immediate plans to do that.’ Instead, hecounts on his large technical staff to continue inno-vating in ways that leverage China’s cheap labour,but don’t entirely depend upon it. In the process,Mr Huang hopes to transform the poor image ofChina’s secondary smelting industry into some-thing modern and developed. ‘When my son is here,he doesn’t have to be embarrassed to bring hisfriends to see what his father does for a living,’ hesays. ‘That’s important to me.’

It is a challenge both professional and personal,and the results will likely reverberate on the inter-national markets for years to come.



Liquid aluminium is poured.

Fresh load of aluminium scrap is thrown on a sorting table.

Sigma has six sets of 50-tonne capacityfurnaces and one furnace with a 20-tonne

capacity.

Shanghai Sigma Metals has a capacity to pro-duce 25 000 tonnes of aluminium alloy permonth.

Sigma is the leading Chinese provider of alu-minium to Japan’s automotive industry.

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The final figures have yet to be confirmedbut unaudited statistics indicate that 6554

visitors attended this year’s RWM’05 - the UK’slong-established recycling show. If verified, thistotal would represent an increase of some 16%over 2004. Furthermore, RWM’05 attracted arecord-breaking 376 stand-holders, many ofwhom were based in the popular outdoor exhi-bition area which featured a number of livemachinery and equipment demonstrations.

As always, a number of companies used theshow to promote new products designed forthe recycling industry or to publicise their lat-est news. Some of the highlights of the showare reviewed below.

Akros

Also featured in the RWM’05 outsidedemonstration area was a press-wing shearfrom French firm Akros. The CIV 508/608shears - available in stationary, moveable andmobile versions - boast five or six-metre box-es, automatic cycles, and an electric or sound-proofed diesel engine. Particularly recom-mended for processing end-of-life vehiclescrap, light scrap and mixed scrap, the shearsalso offer remote control driving, front or backbale ejection, and ease of maintenance.

www.akros.fr

Eriez Magnetics Europe

Eriez’s wide range of equipment nowincludes two new metal detectors. The E-Z Tec9000 Metal Detector detects all metals - includ-ing stainless - in recyclable materials and isdesigned in part to prevent damage to shred-ders/granulators. Particularly suited to the pro-cessing of plastics, tyres, wood and textiles, thedetector has three types of search head avail-able: standard rectangular aperture; divisiblehead to obviate the need to cut and rejoin con-veyor belts; and circular head (drop-throughsystem). Key features include high sensitivityas well as tamper-proof settings and controls.

Meanwhile, the E-Z Tec 9100 MetalSeparator detects all types of metal - againincluding stainless - to purify recycled materi-al with minimum product wastage. Positionedin free-fall, gravity-fed systems, the detector iscompact and can be easily retrofitted. Suitablefor a range of tasks but for plastics and textilerecycling in particular, the detector can beincorporated at the tail end of an eddy currentmetal separation module for final qualitychecks.

Eriez Magnetics Europe is particularly wellknown in recycling circles for its range of eddycurrent separators: the Standard Model ECSwith its high-intensity magnetic rotor designfor separating smaller metal particles downto 3 mm; the LC Model ECS for arduous envi-ronments; and the SR Model ECS for verysmall particle separation (2 to 3 mm), whichhas been installed in many plastics recyclingfacilities for enhanced separation of non-fer-rous elements from granulated material.

www.eriez.com

Game Engineering

Based at Lincoln in the UK, GameEngineering Ltd has completed a MaterialsRecovery Facility (MRF) design-and-build con-tract for recycling and waste management spe-cialist Materials Recovery Ltd. Boasting pur-pose-built infeed, sorting and baler feed sys-tems complete with magnetic separators,sieves and hand-sorting facilities, GameEngineering’s MRF can be tailored to incorpo-rate other mechanical sorting and handlingoptions such as a lightweight paper and plasticfraction pre-processing and pelletising facilityfor the production of refuse-derived fuel.

www.game-engineering.com

T R A D E S H O W

Recycling & Waste Provisional figures suggest that the UK’s latest Recycling and

Waste Management show (RWM’05), held on September 13-15,

attracted more visitors than ever before. Recycling International

joined the crowds converging on the National Exhibition Centre

in Birmingham and learned about a host of new equipment

releases. By Ian Martin

Alan Donaldson of A.D. Recycling solutions, Akros’ UK agentAkros in front of the new CIV 508/608 press-wing shear.

In Europe, Eriez Magnetics is particularly well known for its rangeof eddy current separators such as the SB 500 shown here.

Game Engineering’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for recy-cling and waste management specialist Materials Recovery.

This year’s Recycling & Waste Management show in Birminghamattracted 6554 visitors.


Harris Waste Management

A horizontal auto-tie baler for medium tohigh levels of throughput has been unveiledby Harris Waste Management, the US-basedmanufacturer of balers for the recycling andwaste management industries.

The Harris HLO-8210AR150 comprises ahopper opening measuring 1029 mm by 2032mm and a compression force of 178 tonnes.‘With a bale cross-section of 1100 mm by 1100mm, the machine produces export size balesof up to approximately 1150 kg (cardboard)fully automatically,’ according to Harris.‘Depending on incoming material and othervariables associated with baling, the HLO-8210 can process some 27 tonnes per hour ofcardboard, whereas an optional ruffler isavailable for baling news, office paper andhigh grades.’

All machine functions are controlled andmonitored via touch-screen technology to theextent that the HLO-8210 can be pre-pro-grammed to handle up to 15 different gradesof material. Harris adds: ‘Bale tensioning isnow adjusted via a single hydraulic cylinderacting simultaneously on the top and sides ofthe channel. Wire inserter and twister drivesare both hydraulically driven, increasingspeed and efficiency of operation.’

A dry cycle time of around 14 seconds isachieved by use of state-of-the-art high pres-sure, regenerative hydraulics, the companyadds.

www.harriswaste.com

JMC Recycling Systems

Leading UK machinery innovator JMCRecycling Systems Ltd of Nottinghamunveiled its Minibale 500 RDI System at

RWM’05. Aimed at low-volume can collectorssuch as local authorities, charities and super-market chains, the fully-automatic machinecrushes and locks together cans to yield densecubes that need no tying or strapping.Offering a capacity of up to 110 kg per hour,the Minibale can be operated with an RDIsorting system to give complete separation ofaluminium from steel cans.

RWM’05 proved to be a successful show forJMC Recycling Systems. For example, theMidlands machine specialist took an order fromStinchcombe Furnaces of Wolverhampton, UK,for an aluminium granule production plant:scheduled for delivery this month to the CzechRepublic, the plant produces ‘drops’ of alumini-um, normally from scrap, for use as a deoxidantin the production of steel.

Also at the Birmingham show, JMCRecycling Systems promoted its fastest shearbuilt to date. The 500 Shear has a bladelength of 20 inches and features a fully-auto-matic hold-down system; the unit featured onthe stand at the NEC was snapped up byRosefield Salvage of Dumfries in Scotland.

Also on the Nottingham company’s standwas a representative from Spanish equip-ment manufacturer Imabe Iberica, reflectingan agreement clinched earlier this year underwhich JMC Recycling Systems has becomeexclusive agent for the Imabe range of mobileand static can balers, press shears and three-compression metal balers. JMC RecyclingSystems’ Managing Director Phillip Pownallcomments: ‘We are really excited to be work-ing with Imabe and hope to have a demon-stration unit on site at next year’s RWM.’

www.jmcrecycling.com

Master Magnets

Master Magnets Ltd of Redditch inWorcestershire confirmed at RWM’05 that ithad acquired Metal Detection Ltd, therebyextending its product portfolio ‘to include afull range of metal detectors for the recyclingindustry’. The Master Magnets organisationalready incorporates Integrated RecyclingSystems Ltd.

www.mastermagnets.co.uk or www.metaldetection.co.uk

MeWa/Wincanton

A leading European provider of supplychain solutions, Wincanton is investing £4million (US$ 7.2 million) in a plant capable ofrecycling 75 000 tonnes per annum of wasteelectrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).Based at Billingham in north-east England,the new WEEE recycling plant is scheduled tobegin receiving infeed from early next year.

Centrepiece of the new facility will be aMeWa Querstromzerspaner QZ 2500 HD sep-arator which is designed to release originalcomponent parts in the scrap without damag-ing their integrity. According to MeWa, whichis based at Gechingen in Germany, the facili-ty will have a high throughput capacity ofover 10 tonnes per hour. The German manu-facturer claims the plant will be the largestof its type in Europe.

Three years ago, Wincanton chose MeWato supply a refrigerator recycling plant for theBillingham site as part of its on-going bid toprovide customers with ‘an efficient and total

T R A D E S H O W

Management pulls in the crowds

Harris Waste Management’s HLO-8210AR150horizontal auto-tie baler for medium to high levels of throughput.

In Birmingham, Pedro Sergio Distefano of Imabe Iberica (left)and Phillip Pownall of JMC Recycling Systems. JMC is the UK’sexclusive agent for Imabe’s recycling machines.

Joe Cetti, Business Development Manager of Master Magnet Ltd.


John R. Adam& Sons Limited

Buyers of all Ferrous,

Non-Ferrous Metals &

End of Life I.T. Equipment

Tel: +44 141 440 0424Fax: +44 141 440 0874

E-mail: [email protected]: www.jradam.co.uk

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WEEE solution’. Up to 300 000 fridges areprocessed each year in strict compliance withEU requirements.

www.wincanton.co.uk orwww.mewa-recycling.de

S+S Inspection

With more than 600 sorting systemsinstalled worldwide, S+S Inspection Ltd ofFareham, UK, extended its product portfolio atRWM’05 with the launch of the Spektrum glasssorter. According to the company, the opticalcolour sorter can separate up to 90% of glassfrom ceramic, stone and porcelain (CSP) waste.

‘New high-resolution optics combined withnew sorting algorithms correctly identify alltypes of glass - including thick, dark, light-absorbing and UV glass - even when mixedwith CSP waste,’ the company explains. ‘Theaddition of a re-designed, air-activated valveassembly with a reaction time of a few mil-liseconds makes a significant contribution tothe achievement of better than 97% yield evenwith an initial colour contamination of 50%.’

Said to be particularly suited to sortingmixed glass from bottle banks, the Spektrumboasts an ‘auto learn’ function which enablesan operator to program specific sorting tasksby feeding through either the good materialor the material to be rejected.

www.splussinspection.co.uk

Sierra Europe Recycling/Wright Engineers Machinery

New to the demonstration area at thisyear’s RWM show was the T505SLK automat-ic shear/baler/logger from Sierra EuropeRecycling Ltd/Wright Engineers Machinery.The 500-tonne shear force unit with 70-tonnehold-down force boasts a highly-efficienthydraulic and power unit that affords cus-tomers ‘a very low cost per ton ratio’, accordingto the manufacturer. Features include: a 185HP turbo diesel engine; Rexroth pumps, com-ponents and PLC-controlled distributor block;self diagnostics; and a 5000 mm-long charg-ing box design which enables material to besized quickly and the box to be closed ‘withoutlosing precious time’. Sierra adds: ‘Due to thecurved lid design, the volume of the open boxis bigger than any other competing product.’

The cutting capacity of the T505SLK is 8-12 tonnes per hour depending on type ofmaterial and cutting length. Baling and log-ging capacities are, respectively, 7-11 and 6-13 tonnes per hour.

www.sierraeuropeuk.co.uk andwww.wrightengineers.info

Sims Mirec

Estimating that upwards of 14 000 tonnes oftoner cartridges are landfilled in the UK everyyear, Sims Mirec pointed out that it has estab-lished a process capable of recycling approxi-mately 30 000 cartridges (weighing some 15tonnes) per shift in a sealed inert atmosphere toeliminate the risk of fire. The company, whichrepresents the e-waste arm of leading recyclerSims Group UK Ltd, envisages the creation ofadditional capacity. ‘The current process isbased in Eindhoven, Holland, but is alreadybeing used by blue chip manufacturers in theUK, whose cartridges are bulked up by Simsand then trans-shipped,’ it explains. ‘As demandfor the service increases, Sims Mirec plans toinvestigate a second plant within the UK.’

In the Sims Mirec process, materials passthrough a cyclone cleaning stage to removethe toner powder for energy recovery. Theremainder is then subjected to standard mag-netic and eddy current sorting technologies toyield ferrous and non-ferrous metal streams,while liberated plastic is refined through thecompany’s plastics recycling plant at LongMarston near Stratford-upon-Avon.

www.sims-mirec.com

Weima/Fercell

Fercell Engineering Ltd has opened a newwaste shredding and briquetting demonstra-tion and test facility at its factory inAylesford, Kent.

Fercell was appointed UK and NorthernIreland distributor for the German-builtWeima range of shredders and briquetters inApril this year; this new facility, costing morethan £75 000 (US$ 135 000) has been jointlyfunded by the two companies. It includesWeima WL6S and ZM30 shredders and aTH200S briquetter.

Fercell’s Sales Director Mark Fletcherobserves: ‘We know many organisations haveconsidered using shredders to reduce theirwaste but they don’t know what type of shred-der is best suited to their particular applica-tion. By setting up this test facility, we are nowable to invite these companies to bring a sam-ple of their waste to us so we can demonstratewhat the Weima range is capable of doing.’

Any operations producing wood, paper oraluminium waste ‘can benefit by using aWeima briquetting press to turn their wasteinto briquets’, the companies explain. ‘Theoutput takes up less room in skips, thus reduc-ing disposal costs, and wood waste can be usedas fuel for heating the factory premises.’

There are currently over 400 Weima instal-lations throughout Great Britain and NorthernIreland.

www.weima.com or www.fercell.com

T R A D E S H O W

Sorting lines of the MeWa recycling plant for electronic wasteat Electrocycling in Barcelona.

Chris Perkins of S+S Inspection shows the company’s newSpektrum glass sorter.

Russel Wright of Wright Engineers Machinery, UK agent ofSierra Europe Recycling, introduced the T505SLK automaticshear/baler/logger.


Fercell Engineering of Aylesford, Kent, has opened a newwaste shredding and briquetting demonstration and test facilityof German manufacturer Weima.

When I meet BIR President Fernando Durantiin the lobby of the Hotel Warwick Barsey in the

Belgian capital Brussels, he looks as fresh as a daisy.That in itself is something of a miracle given that, inthe three days prior to our chat, he had been involvedin round-the-clock meetings with BIR’s ExecutiveCommittee. After having ordered a cappuccino - ‘myusual breakfast,’ he quips - Mr Duranti is ready toanswer any questions I might want to pose him.

Fernando Duranti is owner and President ofMilan-based non-ferrous metals trading companyLeghe & Metalli International, which specialises inthe import of copper, brass and aluminium, as wellas ferro-alloys, ferro-titanium and titanium scrap.In addition, the company also conducts businesswith the UK to which it mainly exports of titaniumscrap and it also imports material from Russia.

Now aged 58, Mr Duranti started his recyclingcareer in 1981 after a two-year spell as a trader inthe USA. In May 2003, he was elected President ofthe Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), theBrussels-based world recycling organisation. Hiselection has had a significant impact on his working

life. ‘Of course, I needed back-up at the office and,furthermore, I had to learn how to operate a com-puter,’ he says with a smile. ‘That was a big advan-tage for my work.’

Time-consuming

Being a BIR President is pleasant but time-con-suming. Mr Duranti estimates that he spends about30% of his working hours on BIR-related affairs.‘That includes evenings and weekends as well,’ hesmiles. It also involves a lot of travelling - twice ayear to BIR conventions, to meetings in Brussels and,on many occasions, to make guest presentations atcongresses.

To the BIR President, the most satisfying part ofhis work is maintaining relationships with theorganisation’s members and meeting new people. ‘Ilike to bring BIR to the members instead of waitingfor them to come to us,’ he says. ‘I try to meet withour members as much as possible.’ On the down-side, being president of a worldwide organisation isa very time-consuming and often quite tiring butsatisfying job. ‘Especially the two BIR Conventions,’

I N T E R V I E W


By Manfred Beck

BIR President Fernando Duranti.

‘… I had to learn how to operate a computer.’

The President of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) is not

just a figure-head; he is intimately involved in all aspects of the

world recycling organisation and of its invaluable work on behalf

of the industry. Fernando Duranti has already made his mark

since becoming President in May 2003 but, as he explains to

Recycling International, he still has ambitions to fulfil.

BIR is an advocate of free and fair trade.’

Fernando Duranti: the life and

he notes. ‘Then I work for about 16 hours a day, asdo all the other BIR staff and officials.’

When asked about the changes that have takenplace within BIR since he became its President, MrDuranti says that, above all, it has become a muchmore dynamic organisation. ‘Members have becomemore enthusiastic,’ he declares. This is partly due tothe excellent business conditions of the past twoyears, but also to Mr Duranti’s personal dedication tothe BIR cause. ‘I try to devote my time as much aspossible on a one-to-one basis,’ he says. ‘If there is aproblem, I try to solve it in a friendly way which sat-isfies both parties. Furthermore, I’m a fighter: I willnot abandon a problem unless I am completelydefeated. And I have very good people supporting me- first of all the staff at the BIR office in Brussels, butalso other people within the organisation.’

Young Traders Group

Mr Duranti is especially pleased with the progressof BIR’s booming Young Traders Group. ‘It now hasmore than 70 members and I’m convinced that, intime, the group can grow to about one hundred youngmen and women,’ he enthuses. ‘They’re wonderful asa group and they are obviously enjoying themselves.During each BIR, we organise a visit for them to, forinstance, an aluminium plant or a steel mill. What’salso very important is that members of the grouphave now become Board Members in almost all ourdivisions. That gives us new blood and fresh ideas.’

The BIR Board always has dinner with the youngtraders during BIR conventions. ‘Afterwards, theyusually go and hit the town for drinks and dancing -at least, that’s what I assume, because I’m too old togo with them,’ Mr Duranti says with a smile.

At its Autumn Round-Table meetings in Milanthis month, BIR plans to introduce its so-called‘toolkit’. Mr Duranti explains: ‘You could say it willbe the Bible of BIR. All existing members as well asnew companies and organisations joining BIR willreceive a kit which contains, among other things,the BIR philosophy, the organisation’s statues, itsrules and regulations, and also a directory of all BIRmembers. In short, all there is to tell about BIR.’

Currently, BIR has close to 600 members and iscontinuing to experience steady growth.

Waste or product

Over recent years, the main problem for the

world recycling industries has been the waste/non-waste issue. BIR has been tireless in its efforts toconvince the European Commission and othernational/supranational authorities that materialsmarketed by recycling companies are not waste butvaluable secondary raw materials. The industry’sarguments appear to be achieving some kind ofrecognition: for example, rumours suggest that DGIX - the EU Department for Economy - is leaningtowards the view that, once steel scrap has left arecycling yard, it has become a raw material andshould no longer be regarded as waste.

‘Personally, I consider scrap as a raw materialand not as a “secondary” raw material,’ observes MrDuranti. ‘Ferrous and non-ferrous scrap can be feddirectly into a steel, aluminium or copper mill’s fur-nace. It has the same qualities and properties asprimary metal. The one and a half million peoplewho work in the recycling industries around theworld know perfectly well that what they are pro-ducing is not a waste but a product.’

Currently, Italy is the only European country tohave stated officially that it considers processedscrap to be a secondary raw material rather than awaste. This has created the strange situationwhereby material exported from, say, Germany orFrance to Italy leaves the country of origin labelledas waste but becomes a secondary raw material assoon as it enters Italy. Since the Italian authoritiesdo not accept waste imports, large shipments ofscrap have been refused entry into the country inthe past because accompanying documentationdescribed the consignments as ‘waste’ - a realCatch-22 situation which the Italian courts havenow resolved.

Another major issue with which the BIR has hadto deal over the last year and a half is the mandatoryregistration scheme introduced by China’s GeneralAdministration for Quality, Supervision, Inspectionand Quarantine (AQSIQ) for overseas companieswanting to export to the country. ‘In co-operationwith US recycling organisation ISRI, BIR negotiatedthe terms of the contracts,’ explains Mr Duranti. ‘Weacted together in this matter and succeeded in find-ing a solution with which most companies can live. Itnow seems that the Chinese authorities have suc-ceeded in organising their domestic buyers and con-sumers and, as a result, trade with China hasbecome easier and more reliable.’

I N T E R V I E W


‘I considerscrap

as a rawmaterial’

‘… a very time-consuming but satisfying job.’

ambitions of a BIR President

Free and fair trade

Over the last five years, China has rapidly becomethe dominant factor in the world scrap markets. Thecountry buys so much of the world’s scrap at suchhigh prices that, for example, smelters in Europe intheory often have insufficient input material to allowthem to operate at full capacity. How does the BIRPresident view these developments?

‘I don’t want to get involved in LME pricing,hedging and intervention by speculative funds -that’s not my business,’ responds Mr Duranti.‘However, on the scrap supply side, our industryhas been faced with demands for export restrictionsor export taxes in an attempt to prevent too muchscrap flowing from Europe to Asia, notably toChina. Similar demands were made in the USA lastyear with regard to copper and brass scrap, butthese were ultimately rejected by the US govern-ment, partly because ISRI made it very clear that itwas against any kind of export restriction.’

Mr Duranti makes it abundantly clear that limit-ing exports is not the way to proceed. ‘I will cry out inall the languages I master that BIR is an advocate offree and fair trade,’ he states. ‘Whoever offers the bestprice for scrap should get the material. If Europeanscrap consumers cannot match the Chinese prices,then they will have to review their purchasing policy.’

However, BIR’s President recognises that

China’s appetite for scrap is having an undoubtedimpact on the recycling industries of Europe andNorth America. ‘I don’t think it will reach a pointwhere scrap consumers in the Western World willbe forced to shut down because of a lack of material,’he comments. ‘If material shortages become acute,they will have to look for other solutions to survive -move their plants to low-wage countries, or use oth-er raw materials such as primary cathodes and pri-mary zinc to make brass. That would, of course,raise the price of finished products and that willlead to grumbling among the end consumers.’

Future plans

Asked about his plans for the remainder of histenure as BIR President, Mr Duranti aims toincrease BIR membership to around the 700 markand also wants to boost the provision of services tothe organisation’s members. He says: ‘We are look-ing to add several people to our staff. Furthermore,we have started working with a consultant who willcarry out lobbying work for BIR at the EUCommission and among other institutions. This is avery important area for BIR.’

Another pressing question relates to the develop-ment of the Young Traders Group. ‘Young people aregetting older too, so we must start looking for freshblood at a very early stage,’ Mr Duranti points out

I N T E R V I E W

BIR’s President is also eyeing uppossibilities for expanding theorganisation’s membership andinfluence in the South Americanmarket. ‘Recently, we went toCuba where I met members of theMexican and Venezuelan recy-cling associations,’ he points out.‘There is much work for BIR to doon that continent. There is a lot ofscrap and many active recyclingcompanies, and I would like to getthem involved in our organisation.Obviously, we will also work ondeveloping in the Asian market -especially in China, althoughIndia is another very important,potential growth market for us.’

‘… BIR has become much more dynamic.

Recycling International • October 2005

By Tom Mele

S H I P B R E A K I N G

Two days inAlangTake a US scrap recycler, put him on the

shipbreaking beach in Alang, India, and the

experience is sure to be as moving, enlight-

ening and perplexing as the place itself.

A fleet of ships is run aground along the shore-line, looking like a pod of beached steel whales.

From the pilot house of a 60 000-tonne oil tanker, Ihave an excellent view of this six-mile stretch ofsand that is unquestionably the world’s largestscrap yard. This is Alang in north-western India,and it is here where thousands of obsolete shipshave been brought over the years for recycling.

The Alang shipbreaking yards are located off theArabian Sea on the west coast of the Gulf ofCambay. The beach there has some natural fea-tures that make it well-suited for cutting up ships.Twice a month - at the full and new moons - thehigh tide rises 30 feet above normal. Combined witha sandy shelf that extends a quarter mile into thebay, these attributes allow ships to be run aground,leaving them high and dry when the tide ebbs.

Once beached, each vessel is recycled by one ofthe 72 shipbreaking businesses that operate side byside along the beach. These enterprises, whichemploy an estimated 15 000 workers, form a verita-ble city dedicated to scrapping ships. It is quite asight - and to this scrap veteran, it was my idea of adream vacation.

Getting there

Alang - located about an hour’s drive south eastfrom the city of Bhavnagar in the state of Gujarat -is not an easy place to reach. After travelling 30hours from New York, I grabbed a few hours ofsleep in Mumbai and then went to the airport at 5am for the flight to Bhavnagar. Leaving Mumbaiairport, the plane cut through the smog and arcedover the Arabian Sea, heading north west for asmooth one-hour flight.

Descending toward our destination, we bankedover shallow, muddy salt flats before landing at thescrubby Bhavnagar airport. Upon deplaning into100 degree heat, I immediately searched for mysunglasses and bought a bottle of water. Ignoringthe indecipherable Gujarati signs and tuggingtouts, I went out to find a taxi.

Since I was the sole cab fare on this Sundaymorning, a fight broke out between two taxi driversto see who would drive me into town. I chose theone with the lowest fare - only 10 times the goingrate - which prompted the loser to whack our vehi-cle with a tyre iron as we pulled away.

My destination was the Nilambag Palace Hotel -the main hotel in Bhavnagar - which is just that,an old Maharajah’s palace. This regal domicile wasbuilt in the 1850s by English architect Sir WilliamEmmerson and has not been repaired since. Dusty,stuffed tigers and royal portraits remain in the foy-

er as reminders of the former royal occupants. Thecurrent Maharajah Singh lives on the grounds andappears more like a suburban soccer dad than amember of faded royalty. All in all, the place hadsome character, even if people kept walking into myroom at odd hours.

Not for the faint-hearted

Although the shipbreaking operations were closedon Sunday, it was still early and so I decided to gohave a look at the place. For half the cost of my 10-minute ride from the airport, I found a driver to makethe one-hour trip to the coast. It was not a drive forthe faint of heart. The tarmac road had two narrowlanes with no shoulders and a sandy drop-off on eachside. The roadway was shared by pedestrians, dogs,motor scooters, tuk-tuks (motorised rickshaws), bul-lock carts, cars, buses, overloaded trucks, and theubiquitous Brahma cows. The experience was likebeing inside some kind of real-world video drivinggame. Within that mix is an inviolable pecking orderof size and speed that dictates who overtakes whomon the next blind corner. When you add in the heat,dust, diesel exhaust, incessant honking, and unfamil-iar (to me) left-side driving, I found it best to ride withmy head in the glove compartment.

The first indication that we were approachingAlang was a gigantic diesel engine, looking a bit outof place in the middle of a cornfield. Soon, othermarine artifacts appeared along the roadside, includ-ing a dozen orange lifeboats, mountains of fluores-cent life vests, and stacks of cabin doors. For the nexttwo miles, the road was lined on both sides with largeyards specialising in materials and objects found onlarge ships - sinks, kitchen equipment, china, cur-tains, glass, wood, mattresses, engines, generators,cleaning supplies, hydraulic oil and paint.

As we approached the beach, I spotted the top of afreighter on the horizon. Unfortunately, the mainroad was blocked by a guard house. The guardinformed us that entry was restricted. He told me toreturn on Monday when I could apply for permis-sion to enter thebeach area. Theguard then


While working conditions at Alang certainly fallshort of Western standards, it is not the indus-trial nightmare portrayed in many articles andphotos. Workers wear heavy shoes and thetorch-cutters have eye protection and mostwear bandanas across their faces to shieldthemselves from fumes.

In 2004, 226 ships with a combined light-weight tonnage of more than one milliontonnes were scrapped in India.


handed me a document that outlined in English thefees and permissions needed for ‘tourists’ to visit theshipbreaking yards. These included a US$ 25 admis-sion fee and a US$ 100-a-day licence for a videocamera. All levies were payable in US funds to theharbourmaster, who still reserved the right ofrefusal. An offer to pay the admission fee directly tothe guard, in cash, did not produce the desiredresult. Resigned to come back in the morning - whenI did, in fact, have a proper invitation - I decided tospend the afternoon exploring the nearby market.

Exploring the market

In addition to the maritime items on offer, themarket had a sizeable food bazaar on Sunday, whenthe workers have their day off. Approximately 15000 men work in Alang, with the majority living inthe workers’ colony that surrounds the beach. As Iwalked around in the scorching sun, I attracted asizeable crowd. Everyone was curious to knowwhere I was from and what was I doing in Alang.Despite the humble surroundings, there was nolack of hospitality. People offered me numerouscups of tea, soft drinks, pan (a mouth-reddeningmixture of betel leaf and areca nut), and stronglocal cigarettes called ‘bidis’. Since I was a bit of acuriosity, I answered far more questions than Iasked, yet I still managed to discern some informa-tion about working in Alang.

Many of the workers, I learned, were from theIndian states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra andGujarat. They had all come to Alang for the relativelylucrative jobs, which pay double that of most indus-trial jobs in India and triple the national average ofUS$ 45 a month. Labourers commonly work six daysa week, 10 hours a day, earning 200 to 250 Indianrupees a day (about US$ 4-5), with occasional bonus-es for dismantling a vessel ahead of schedule. Thesix-day working week seemed popular since theworkers are paid by the day and since most are farfrom home, with little else to do but work. Many of

the workers supported sizeable families on theirearnings. When I mentioned the 40-hour workingweek and time-and-a-half overtime pay in the USA,the Alang workers thought those sounded like greatconcepts, and I quickly had many volunteers to workat my firm’s plant in New Jersey.

During my time in the market, I also learned thatwithin the work camp most of the labourers share ashack with other men who speak their languageand who are often from the same home town. In thescrap yards, a form of Hindi has developed as anindustrial Esperanto - a necessity given that Indiahas about 18 recognised national languages anduncounted local dialects.

My driver eventually tracked me down andinsisted that we get on the road before nightfall.Considering the trip down, that seemed prudent.So I called it a day and went back to soak in themaharajah’s swimming pool.

On the beach

My second day at Alang was an entirely differentexperience. My Indian host picked me up in a newKorean sedan, and we rode to the beach in about ahalf-hour. There, we swept past the guard housewith a wave and paused at the 10-foot tall irongates of a large shipbreaking yard.

As the gates opened, I caught my first glimpse ofthe beach and saw a container ship - or, more accu-rately, half a container ship - blocking the horizon.Now a ship in the water is an impressive enoughsight, but a ship out of water is overwhelming. Onlythen do you get to see the ship’s additional 30 to 80feet of height that is usually submerged. As weentered the yard, I got a better view and could seedozens of vessels on both sides of the container ship.I caught a familiar whiff of torch-cut steel and burntpaint. Cable cranes loaded large sections of steelplate into beefy straight trucks. Sparks sprayedfrom torches cutting the boats out on the sand.

According to my host, there were 62 vessels in vari-ous states of disassembly up and down the beach. Ashe explained, the six-mile beach is divided into about150 plots, each measuring about 250 feet wide.Currently, there are 72 independent shipbreakingcompanies - primarily family-owned and -operatedbusinesses - working side by side along this stretch.

Though the Alang operators have their personaland competitive differences, they are all united inthe Gujarat Ship-Breakers Association. This associ-ation is well aware of the negative public perceptionof shipbreaking activities at Alang - mostly based onalleged worker abuses and environmental degrada-tion - and the group has worked hard to counter the



heavy criticism. Owners also usethis forum to address collectiveworker safety and health issues.

Not an industrial nightmare

While working conditions atAlang certainly fall short ofWestern standards, I found thatthey were not the industrial night-mare portrayed in many articlesand photos. The beach - which Iexpected to be flooded with oil andlittered with asbestos - was rela-tively clean. The workers I saw allwore heavy shoes. The torch-cut-ters had eye protection and mostwore bandanas across their facesto shield themselves from fumes.There were plenty of safety signs(though I was a little scepticalsince most were in English).Despite these safeguards, there isno denying that shipbreakingremains a dangerous business,with both owners and workersagreeing that there are about 50

Despite improved working conditions, shipbreaking remains a danger-ous business, with owners and workers agreeing that there are aboutfifty fatalities a year at Alang.

The road skirting Alang’s beach is lines withspecialised yards that handle specific itemsculled from dismantled ships, such as thesinks pictured here.

Ships are usually dissected from bow tostern, being wiched forward as the work pro-gresses.

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fatalities a year at Alang.As my surprise and awe over the scale of these

recycling operations wore off, I began to notice theorder within the apparent chaos. Large diesel-dri-ven winches - undoubtedly scavenged from thedecks of ships - stood at opposite corners of the plotand did all the heavy work. The cable from onewinch was amplified by a four-pulley block-and-tackle. The end pulley was attached to an oldUkrainian passenger ship lodged in the sand a fewhundred feet offshore. Because of its deep-keeledbottom, this was as close as the ship could get underits own power. When the next high tide arrived, this10 000-tonne boat would be dragged the last fewhundred feet to the beach. Once a boat is beached, itis usually dissected from the bow to the stern, beingwinched forward as work progresses.

Locally-manufactured cable cranes, positionedsafely back from the tide, hauled pieces of cut steelup the beach from the waterline. While I watched,the hull was being cut into six- by eight-foot sheets,each of which had a hole cut in it so it could be las-soed with a crane and loaded onto a truck. All thecranes appeared to be cable-operated rather thanhydraulic, and there were no lifting magnets in sight.

Competing instead of supplying

Back towards the rear of the yard, recovered met-al was in carefully sorted piles of plate and beam.Non-ferrous scrap was piled under a shed whereworkers cut and sorted copper, brass and stainlessinto distinct piles. Sorted non-ferrous grades arestored in a locked warehouse to prevent theft.Despite their staggering metal content, an averageship yields only 1-2% non-ferrous scrap, includingthe bronze screws (propellers to you landlubbers).The real business here is steel.

At the time of my visit in April 2004, a 10 000-tonne ship cost about 90 million rupees (more thanUS$ 2 million), which translated into US$ 235 toUS$ 250 per light displacement ton (LDT), withprices kept competitive by shipbreaking yards innearby Pakistan and Bangladesh. Given these highper-tonne prices, you can bet that most of Alang’sferrous scrap ends up being re-rolled rather thanmelted - and re-rolling mills are indeed clusteredaround the beach. A few of the more successful ship-breakers, in fact, have vertically integrated into there-rolling business and now feed their own mills.

In these operations, steel plate is cut into manage-able sizes and used as billet to make rebar and flatproducts. Some of the re-rolling operations are largeenough to use the beams and even the anchors asraw material. Thus, instead of supplying scrap to

India’s steel mills, the Alang yards compete withthem for low-end steel products. Large Indian inte-grated mills are politically powerful, however, whichcan create problems for the Alang operators. Also,US Section 201 measures prompted the largerIndian steel producers to turn to the domestic mar-ket and compete for the low-end business. Also, thehigh price of ship scrap and competitive prices forsponge iron have cut into the re-rolled products mar-ket, forcing a number of local operations to close.

View from a ghost ship

Surveying the ships on the beach, I noticed thatthey were from all over the globe. A few more wereanchored out on the horizon, awaiting the next hightide. When the tide arrives, buyers go out to inspecttheir purchases and finalise the deal. After inspec-tion and final agreement on the price, the buyertelephones his bank and releases the funds. Whenthe seller receives confirmation of payment, theboat is given a heading by the harbourmaster. At 5km from shore, the vessel is officially in Indianwaters and title changes hands. Often flying theIndian flag, the ship is then steered at top speed forits assigned patch of beach. The harbourmasterguides the boat in by radio. Once the ship is runaground, its engines are turned off for the last time.Members of the crew wait for the tide to recede,then climb down a rope ladder and walk ashore.This process is repeated some 200 times a year.

During my visit, a 60 000-tonne oil tanker -reportedly the largest boat to be scrapped at Alang -had just arrived and was run right up onto thesand. This vessel, which measured about 1000 feetlong and 80 feet wide, rose at least 10 stories fromsand to deck. Standing next to the hull, I felt like anant next to a water melon.



On average, it takes about twelve months tocut up a huge ship.

Alang’s shipbreaking operations rely as much on machine power as on human labour. Torchcutters are considered skilledworkers who can earn more than the average salary of about US$ 5 a day.

Many of the workers in Alang supported size-able families on their earnings.

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My host offered me a tour of the ship, and he did-n’t have to ask twice. After donning gloves, weclimbed up a short ladder and entered through ahole cut in the bow. From there we climbed anotherladder that was lashed to a crossbeam 20 feet aboveus. I remarked that there was no smell of oil andwas told that we were passing through a hold usu-ally filled with water as ballast. Further up, wecrossed a beam and began climbing a series of stepswelded to the inside of the hold. The huge, darkopen space had the size and feel of a steel cathedral.Holes cut in the hull admitted shafts of sunlight aswell as a welcome breeze in the warm enclosure.

After scaling about twenty ladders, we passedthrough a watertight door and emerged, squinting,onto the 800-foot long main deck, which was coveredwith a maze of pipes and valves. At the aft end wasan additional five-storey structure that containedthe bridge and crew’s quarters. As we walkedtoward that structure, I looked off the starboard sideand noticed an old cruise ship down the beach. Muchof its hull had been removed, exposing a few hun-dred state rooms to the noon-day sun. It looked likeone of those cross-section diagrams you see in cruisebrochures. At the back of the cruise ship, a hugediesel engine was being lowered slowly onto a sled soit could be winched up the beach. Beyond that, a pro-peller was being cut down to transportable chunks.

Millions of dollars of ferrous scrap

When we reached the back of our ship, we had toclimb a few more flights of stairs to reach thebridge. It was exactly as the crew had left it. A half-filled cup of coffee sat on the chart table, and theengine telegraph was pulled back to its finalengines-off position. It was eerie, like a ghost shipwith all the charts, flags and logs still in place.

Out on the catwalk, the view was incredible. I couldsee dozens of vessels in both directions - freighters,ferries, tankers, cargo ships, military patrol boats andcruise ships in various states of demolition. Together,

these beached ships represented at least US$ 120 mil-lion in ferrous scrap, I figured.

Our trip back down the many stairs and ladderswas uneventful but a little slower than the climbup. En route, my host estimated that it would take12 months to cut up this huge ship. The purchase ofa vessel, he noted, is usually financed by a short-term note from a bank. The revenue from scrapsales is then paid directly to the bank until the prin-cipal is paid off. The owner usually has to financethe expenses and labour up to that point. The sale ofsalvageable items like lifeboats, non-ferrous met-als, generator sets and accessories helps with cashflow. The bonus of a few thousand gallons of bunkerfuel pumped from the hold of this tanker might cov-er the first month’s expenses.

Curious how one would attack such a massiverecycling project, I asked about the normal ship-breaking sequence. Time, I was told, was the ene-my. The first task would be to strip all the interiorfittings and non-ferrous items so workers couldbegin salvaging the steel. Specialists are usuallybrought in to remove the kitchens, furnishings, win-dows and wood flooring. On a smaller vessel, thiscan sometimes be accomplished in under a week,with time being more important than price. Next,the generators, engines, shafts and propeller areremoved. Then, with the back of the boat substan-tially lighter, it is floated and winched higher upthe beach with the next high tide. The cutting of thesteel varies depending on the type and structure ofthe ship, though it usually starts in the bow, allow-ing workers to cut on dry land within the cranes’reach. As the steel is removed, the boat is winchedin and basically cut up in sections like a giant loaf ofbread. When the last of the keel is processed, anoth-er boat is usually waiting offshore to take its place -and the shipbreaking cycle continues.

Reflecting on misconceptions

As I headed to the airport before dawn the nextmorning, I reflected on my misconceptions aboutIndia’s scrap metal business. I have been to enoughThird World scrap operations to know that workerhealth as well as environmental and safety concernsare entirely at the discretion of the management.Yet in Alang I found sophisticated multi-million dol-lar operations that relied as much on machine poweras human labour. There are just so many contradic-tions and imponderables in this complex culture.

Staring out the taxi window, I saw rows of peoplesleeping on the sidewalk. As we waited for the lightto change, I was enjoying the pre-dawn breezethrough the open cab window when a cell phone

rang. I instinctively reached formy pocket before rememberingthat my phone was back home,12 000 miles away. Then I saw ahomeless man roll over and prophimself up. He reached into hisdhoti, pulled out a chirping cellphone, and flipped it open. He saton his blanket, merrily chattingaway, as the cab lurched forward.Then and there, I realised thatmodern India is neither ThirdWorld nor First, but some crazyhybrid - and I was just too tiredto figure it out.



Tom Mele, the author of thisarticle, is a co-owner of

Connecticut Metal IndustriesInc., Monroe, Connecticut,

USA. He can be contacted at:[email protected]

This article first appeared inthe May/June 2004 issue

of ‘Scrap’ magazine.

Ships are recycled in sections like giantloaves of bread. When the last section isprocessed, another boat is usually waiting off-shore to take its place and the shipbreakingcycle continuous.

Many of the workers are from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra and Gujarat. They come to Alang for the relatively lucra-tive jobs, which pay double that of most industrial jobs in India andtriple the national average of US$ 45 a month.

L oading a ship is difficult if not impossible when,for whatever reason, no suitable crane in avail-

able. Since 2003, however, there has been a solutionto this problem. Bateman, a leading Canadian man-ufacturer of heavy equipment attachments, hasdesigned a motorised grapple - the B6TD - whichsimply hooks on to a ship’s crane and operates with-out external electricity thanks to its built-in dieselmotor. The air-cooled Deutz F5L912 in-line, five-cylinder engine offers 70kW of power and has anintegrated hydraulic oil cooler. Fuel tank capacityis 189 litres.

The grapple is operated via remote control eitherby the crane operator or by a man on the deck of theship who gives loading signals to the operator. So-called ‘Hetronic’ radio remote control serves to con-trol the grapple’s ‘open’ and ‘close’ functions as wellas the emergency engine shut-down system.

Adjusting logistics

Van Dalen Metals Recycling & Trading ofMoerdijk in The Netherlands has become the firstEuropean scrap company to purchase one of these

Bateman ship grabs. The device has been in opera-tion since May 2005.

A 100% privately-owned company, Van Dalenhas been active in the recycling industry for over 50years. The group comprises 16 industrial locationsin The Netherlands (9), the UK (5), Belgium (1) andTurkey (1); it operates five shredders, eight shearsand two balers. All yards are strategically located,with direct access to main roads and waterways,including export terminals for loading coasters andlarge export vessels. The company is a direct sup-plier of ferrous and non-ferrous metals to Europeansteel mills and foundries, and is very active in deep-sea exports to Turkey, South East Asia and the FarEast. Annual production and trade currentlyamounts to some 1 million tonnes.

Van Dalen’s International Sales Manager Robvan der Palm is ‘very content’ with the grab’s perfor-mance to date. But he emphasises: ‘Operating thegrab needs some adjustment to a yard’s logistics,especially when it comes to feeding the grab. In addi-tion, the ship’s cranes used for loading and unloa-ding with this grab must comply with all stevedorelegislation.’

Mr Van der Palm has found that the 11.3-tonnegrab can lift around 10 tonnes of shredded scrap orsome 6 tonnes of HMS 1 scrap at one time. ‘In ourexperience, the grab can load about 250 to 300 ton-nes per hour, depending on the material and thespeed of the ship’s crane,’ he observes. ‘However,the ship’s crane must have at least 25 tonnes of lif-ting power and, preferably, be fast.’

High production

According to the manufacturer’s specifications,the B6TD Bateman grapple weighs in at approxi-mately 11 363 kg (25 000 lb). The grab can handle a9545 kg (21 000 lb) load of shredded scrap at onetime. Open height is 2.56 metres (8’ 4”) while closedheight is 4.3 metres (14’ 10”). The outside width is5.7 metres (18’ 7”). The six-tine dangling grapplehas a volume of 7.6 m3 (10 yd3), a grapple fill of 95%and a cycle time of 28 seconds. Used with a ship’sgear crane, grapple production is said to be around350 tonnes per hour.

‘Last month, one of Bateman’s US East Coastcustomers was loading a 35 000-tonne vessel withHMS I/II and shredded scrap, and he achieved aloading rate of 15 000 tonnes in a 12-hour shift


By Manfred Beck

Loading a ship without the use of electricity - fairy tale or practical

reality? The answer, according to Canadian manufacturer Bateman,

is the latter given the development of its B6TD motorised ship’s

gear grapple. The grab boasts a production capacity of up to 350

tonnes per hour, it adds.

Scrap loading without

S H I P L O A D I N G

Loading the motor vessel Sea Rainbow at Van Dalen’s scrap yard in Moerdijk, The Netherlands.

The grab can be operated via remote control,either by the crane operator or by a man onthe deck of the ship.

Van Dalen’s International Sales Manager Robvan der Palm in front of the Bateman grapple.

using, in tandem, four grapples in fourhatches,’ comments Phillip H. Rubin,Bateman MFG’s world sales represen-tative.

The centre tower of the grab is con-structed from T1 torque-resistant alloysteel for maximum strength and weightreduction. All hose connections are high-pressure straight ends SAE code 61, split-flange fittings, which are designed to eli-minate leaks. A special manifold designefficiently channels hydraulic oil to eachcylinder on the centre tower, providingeasy access to hose connections andpreventing hoses from being exposed toexternal damage. For night-time operation,the grab is fitted with grapple operation lights.

The grapple is fitted with a ‘tine quick connectsystem’ to ensure quick removal for transportation.It is also possible to convert to four-tine operationwhen loading HMS I/II. The grab has mechanicalstops for when the tines are in the open or closedposition in order to maximise cylinder protection.

electricity

For more information:Bateman, Orillia, Ontario, Canada, Phone: +1 705 362 4020,

Fax: +1 705 326 4727, E-mail: [email protected], www.bateman.on.ca

Phillip H. Rubin, Paris, France, Phone: +33 1 67 4 35 79 86, Fax: +33 1 47 47 63 51, E-mail: [email protected]

The motorisedBateman grap-ple can handlea 9545 kg (21 000 lb) load of shred-ded scrap atone time.

I n 1991, Maarten van Randeraat establishedGranuband in a development area of Amsterdam

set aside for new businesses. In September thisyear, the ISO 9000/2002 certified company moved tonew premises in the port area of the city.

In the company’s early days, tyre recycling in TheNetherlands was virtually non-existent - with theexception of a company called Rumal in Weertwhose activities were limited to processing trucktyres made of natural rubber. In those days, pas-senger car tyres were either shipped to the cementindustry where they were used as a fuel supple-ment, or they were landfilled.

‘In 1991, I revealed my plans for a tyre recyclingcompany to the authorities of the Dutch region of Noord-Holland,’ Mr van Randeraat recalls. ‘I requested that, if they granted me permission tostart Granuband, they would also ban the landfill-ing of end-of-life tyres. The authorities were posi-tive about this in principle. However, they stipulat-ed that we should take in and process not only pas-senger car tyres but also bicycle tyres, large tyresand tractor tyres.’

Mr van Randeraat agreed to these conditionsand, shortly after starting up his company, theauthorities indeed issued a general ban on the land-

filling of tyres. ‘Thus, we were assured of a continu-ous flow of material,’ he notes.

Illegitimate competition

In the early 1990s, other companies also startedup tyre recycling businesses in The Netherlands.However, not all of these were acting good faith.Often, they would take in scrap tyres at below offi-cially-arranged prices and, once the yard waspacked to the roof, the owners would suddenly do amoonlight flit. ‘Only a few entrepreneurs knewexactly the cost price of processing the tyres into asecondary raw material - that’s why many tyrerecyclers went bankrupt after a short time duringthat period,’ explains Mr van Randeraat.

In addition, the authorities often failed to enforceall the rules and regulations surrounding usedtyres. Granuband’s founder notes by way of exam-ple: ‘Companies which had a permit for storing 500or 1000 tonnes of tyres on their premises were oftenstocking 2000 or even up to 4000 tonnes withoutbeing controlled by the authorities.’

In the mid-1990s, when huge piles of tyres beganto build across The Netherlands, the authoritiesbecame stricter in issuing permits. They started toenforce tighter controls because they now knew thatthey would have to foot the bill for cleaning upabandoned tyre mountains.

T Y R E R E C Y C L I N G

Granuband closes the tyre loop

By Manfred Beck


Granuband processes some 25 000 tonnes ofscrap tyres per annum.

Granuband’s owner Maarten van Randeraat:‘We want to secure our position as a trendset-ter in the tyre recycling business.’

Dutch tyre recycler Granuband is not just any tyre processor. The

company collects some 25 000 tonnes of tyres each year, converts

them into granulate and, moreover, is a major producer of a variety

of rubber tiles. Recycling International visited the firm’s Amsterdam

base to find out about this tyre processing pioneer and about the

secrets behind its success.

Granuflex’s recycled rubber tiles come in a range of colours.

During those years, Granuband was often calledon to deal with these huge piles of tyres. In the townof Nederweert in the south of The Netherlands, thecompany cleaned up massive volumes and, once thetask had been completed, bought the premiseswhich it has used as a subsidiary ever since.

Start-up problems

In the early 1990s, there was hardly any plant ormachinery on the market for processing used tyres.‘When we started looking for such machines, it wasa process of once bitten, twice shy,’ Mr vanRanderaat recalls with a wry smile. ‘At one point,we bought an Italian shredder for 136 000 Dutchguilders, today’s equivalent of almost € 62 000 orUS$ 76 000. The manufacturer swore to us that hismachine was extremely well suited to tyre recy-cling. In the end, it gave us nothing but misery. Themachine was out of action more often than itworked. We spent almost the same amount of mon-ey getting it running as it had cost us in the firstinstance, but it still didn’t function properly. In theend, I had it scrapped and we started designing andbuilding our own machines.’

At first, Granuband started producing rubberchips but, shortly after buying a granulator, thecompany switched to producing granulate. In addi-tion, steel and textiles were removed from the tyres.

Once the process had been perfected, Mr vanRanderaat started looking for customers for thegranulate. ‘I found out that, in the mid-1990s, notmany people were familiar with the many possibili-ties for using rubber granulate,’ he says. ‘Throughmarket research, we found more uses for our mate-rials and so we were able to offer our customerspotential new outlets. That took up a lot of our time- especially as, during that period, we were alsobusy developing our processing equipment.Basically, we were simultaneously a developer ofmachines and a seller of granulate. Let me tell you -that cost us a lot of blood, sweat, tears and time.’

However, Mr van Randeraat has never regrettedthe decision to start up his own tyre recycling busi-ness. ‘I think pioneering is the most rewardingthing in a businessman’s life,’ he reflects.

Granuflex - rubber tiles

One of the first buyers of Granuband’s rubbergranules was a German producer of rubber tiles whoguaranteed that he would purchase the firm’s entireannual production. All went well for about sixmonths until Granuband was asked to lower its salesprice, at which point Mr van Randeraat quickly saidgoodbye to his German customer. However, the expe-rience had taught him that there was plenty of mon-ey to be made in the tile business and so he decided to



The rubber granulate ‘dances’ around in a machinewhich blows air through the material to clean out impu-rities.

Stones and other impurities are removed from thegranulate in a series of cleaning processes.

Granuband’s new office building in Amsterdam.

Venti Oelde Process technology – new solutions for the shredder industry

Ventilatorenfabrik Oelde GmbHP.O. Box 37 09D-59286 OeldePhone: + 49 25 22 75-0Fax: + 49 25 22 75-2 [email protected]

Example:

The heavy fraction produced bylarge shredder plants is a mix-ture of different metals and non-metals. Through careful sortingof these valuable materials agood profit can be obtainedwhen selling the recoveredsecondary materials.

Result:

Turn waste into profit. We havedeveloped a process to concen-trate metals and to generate avery pure metal fraction. Evenstainless steel is sorted out.Take advantage of our know-how and ask us for informationabout new systems and tech-nology for the recovery of re-useable raw materials.

Just fax or e-mail us!

specialise and to develop his own machines for man-ufacturing rubber tiles from recycled granulate.

The company’s so-called Granuflex products weredeveloped by Mr van Randeraat himself. He com-ments: ‘In order to make the right products for themarket, we listen very carefully to our customers’needs and closely monitor legislation. As a result,we have been able to develop fluid-proof tiles forgarages when these became mandatory in severalEuropean countries.’

While exploring new outlets for his products, hefound out that rubber tiles made from secondarymaterial were not being sold directly to the public.‘When I found that out, I knew that I had discovereda whole new market with huge potential,’ he recalls.‘We started successfully to market our tiles at do-it-yourself and home builders’ stores. Today,Granuflex tiles are sold through many big chainstores in The Netherlands and in other Europeancountries. Other major customers include construc-tion companies which are particularly interested inour roof tiles, stable tiles and fluid-proof tiles, andlocal authorities which buy our tiles for play-grounds and for marking purposes.’

During the last ten years, Granuflex has devel-oped an impressive list of products: SBR and EPDMrubber granulate; the coloured rubber granulateGranuFill, an infill for artificial grass sports fields;a variety of rubber tiles; and rubber by the roll. Thecompany even has its own brand of glue - Granuflexrubber glue - which was specifically developed to gowith Granuflex rubber tiles. Rubber granulate forartificial sports surfaces is available in threecolours: green, olive green and brown. If requestedby a customer, sports fields can even be provided tosmell like grass.

Granuflex, the tile company founded by Mr vanRanderaat, currently produces around 600 000 tilesper annum. Sales of these products are worldwide -as well as Western Europe, buyers have also comefrom South America, Eastern Europe and Asia.‘Some months ago, we sold truck-loads of rubber

tiles to a candy manufacturer in the Ukraine whosells them as flooring for children’s playgrounds,’notes Mr van Randeraat.

Overseas expansion

‘Worldwide demand for pure rubber granulate isstill increasing, and growing demand for syntheticsports surfaces is particularly in our favour,’ Mr vanRanderaat goes on to say. ‘Our product has a purityof 99.9%. Our granulate finds its way to customersworldwide - we ship mainly in containers, but alsoby truck in Europe.’

In The Netherlands, Granuband represents thelast of the Mohicans - the only company left to recy-cle all types of tyres (with the exception of naturalrubber truck tyres which are handled by Rumal, asmentioned above). Processing some 25 000 tonnes oftyres and rubber waste each year, Granuband isone of the largest rubber recyclers in Europe.

Granuband’s suppliers include municipal collec-tion schemes, scrap tyre traders, garages, wastemanagement companies and the Dutch car recy-cling organisation ARN. Granuband also collectstyres, for which purpose it operates two trucksequipped with on-board weighing systems. In addi-tion, the company has its own containers located atcustomers’ premises.


Tyre recycling in The NetherlandsEvery year, 6 million or 60 000 tonnes of tyres reach the end of their life and are sent

for scrapping in The Netherlands. Under Dutch law, tyre producers and importersare responsible for the environmentally-friendly processing of these end-of-life tyres.They have to take in these tyres at zero cost from consumers, tyre service centres,garages and car dealers. In addition, they have been obliged to set up a collection andrecycling system, which was formed in 1995. Currently, some 90% of all used tyres inThe Netherlands are collected though this system.

Since April 1 last year, The Netherlands has put into force a directive on the man-agement of end-of-life tyres. As of that date, consumers and companies have been pay-ing a levy of € 2 (US$ 2.43) for each tyre they buy. The money is put into a fund knownas RecyBEM, a subsidiary of the Vereniging Band en Milieu (BEM), the association fortyres and the environment which counts 21 tyre manufacturers and importers amongits membership. RecyBEM takes care of all aspects of the collection of used passengercar tyres in The Netherlands; meanwhile, collectors and recyclers have to be BEM-cer-tified to obtain a tyre recycling licence.

RecyBem issues collection companies with a fixed fee per tyre. In return, they areobliged to offer at least a quarter of the end-of-life tyres they take in to a RecyBem-cer-tified processor. The price paid by tyre processors to collectors is negotiable.

For more information about Granuband: Granuband, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,Phone +31 20 4978-201, Fax +31 20 4978-216, E-mail: [email protected]


Big bags filled with granulate are waiting to be exported.

From the tyres it processes, Granuband annu-ally reclaims some 3000 tonnes of steel.

From the tyres it processes, Granuband annuallyreclaims some 3000 tonnes of steel for sale to a num-ber of domestic metal recyclers. The approximately3000 tonnes of textiles recovered from the tyres goesto incineration plants where its high calorific valueproves useful. The Granuband recycling processyields hardly any waste, with almost all harmfulsubstances filtered out and collected in large bags.

Future plans

When asked about the secret of Granuband’s suc-cess, Mr van Randeraat replies: ‘The most impor-tant thing is that we have never given in to the


Granuband has developed its own machines for manufacturing rubbertiles from recycled granulate.

temptation to recycle tyres below cost price.Another of our strengths is that we have alwaysdeveloped our own machinery - not only tyre recy-cling machines but also tile production lines forGranuflex. As a result, we have acquired a thoroughknowledge of the recycling and production process-es relating to scrap tyres. And, of course, you haveto continue to invest and innovate.’

According to Mr van Randeraat, Granuband’sgoal is to remain a market leader in tyre recyclingand in the manufacture of products from recycledrubber. ‘In the future,’ he says, ‘we will remainactive in all fields of tyre recycling - collection, pro-cessing and production. In that respect, I think weare globally unique.’

In response to rising freight costs, Granuband iscurrently studying the possibility of starting up tyrerecycling and tile production plants in other coun-tries. Particular interest in the company’s approachhas come from Eastern Europe, although Mr vanRanderaat also recently visited Uganda at therequest of several companies.

‘Overseas expansion also gives us the chance tosell the machines and equipment that we havedesigned,’ he explains. ‘However, if we get involvedin plants in other countries, we will look for only aminority share and will never ever take on the day-to-day running of such a company.’

Granuband not only processes passenger cartyres, but also bicycles tyres, large tyres andtractor tyres.

J eanette Duttlinger, Managing Director ofSwiss recycling congress organiser ICM

(International Congress & Marketing), workedfor French hazardous waste processor Citron in

the early 1990s. She was responsible for organisingthe global transportation of waste by ship, train and

truck, and for obtaining the necessary exportand import permits.

In 1994, she was also given the task oforganising an annual international con-gress on battery recycling. Finding theright speakers, attracting as many dele-gates as possible, choosing the venueand the hotels, arranging the network-ing dinners and the entertainment -this soon became the part of her jobthat Mrs Duttlinger loved the most.

And after seven years with Citron, she came torealise that she needed a new challenge.

‘I decided that I wanted to organise more con-gresses on recycling topics,’ she explains. ‘I went tomy bosses and told them that I wanted to start myown congress organising business. Putting her mon-ey where her mouth was, Mrs Duttlinger quit herjob and returned to her native country Switzerlandwhere she set up ICM.

Disappointment and success

Mrs Duttlinger soon realised that the new com-pany could not survive simply on the back of a sin-gle congress and so she began thinking of other sub-ject areas in the recycling sector which would lendthemselves to major international meetings. In theend, she decided on end-of-life vehicles and elec-tronics, and checked with leading recycling expertswhether such events might be of interest.

‘At that time, the EU Directive on End-of-LifeVehicles (the ELV Directive) and the Directive onWaste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment(the WEEE Directive) were beginning to take shape

and I had a gut feeling that this would become bigbusiness in the future,’ Mrs Duttlinger recalls. ‘Itwas a disappointment to me that most of the peopleI talked to had no faith in the idea of an interna-tional congress on vehicle recycling. But I carriedon and eventually found people who were as enthu-siastic about the idea as I was. Most of them arestill members of our congress Steering Committees.’

In 2001, ICM staged its first InternationalAutomobile Recycling Congress (IARC) in Geneva,Switzerland, and it became an instant success. ‘Nextyear, we will hold the sixth of these congresses inAmsterdam, The Netherlands,’ notes Mrs Duttlinger.

The success of the IARC inspired her to initiate athird event: the International Electronics RecyclingCongress (IERC). The first of these events was heldin Davos, Switzerland, some three years ago andthe IERC has since become the world’s leading elec-tronics recycling congress. The fifth IERC will beheld next year in Hamburg, Germany.

China adventure

ICM’s latest project is the World RecyclingShanghai 2005 congress, which will take place onNovember 8-11 at the Hotel Shangri-La in Pudong,Shanghai, China. The event will combine the topicsof ICM’s three established congresses on automobilerecycling, electronics recycling and battery recycling.

When asked the reason for taking on this newproject, Mrs Duttlinger responds: ‘After five years oforganising our three congresses in Europe, I wasready for a new challenge. We have seen over recentyears how China’s recycling industry has beenbooming, but we have also noticed that knowledgeof recycling plant and technology, of collection andtake-back systems, and of new laws and legislationis still in its infancy. The Chinese are eager to learnfrom the successes - but also from the setbacks -experienced in Europe and the USA.’

Last year, Mrs Duttlinger decided to investigate

I N T E R V I E W


Next stop China for ICM’s congr eEvery year, Swiss congress organiser ICM stages international conferences cov-

ering the recycling of batteries, end-of-life vehicles and electronics. These attract

large numbers of delegates from the recycling industry and from a broad range of

institutions with a vested interest in these complex topics. Next month, ICM’s

first-ever event in China will combine the subject matter of its three successful

and established congresses.

By Manfred Beck

Jeanette Duttlinger set up InternationalCongress & Marketing in the year 2000.

Live entertainment is always laid on for thenetworking dinners at ICM’s congresses, suchas this group of Brazilian dancers at the IARCin Amsterdam earlier this year.

the possibility of staging a congress in China. Sheflew to Shanghai and talked to a whole host of lead-ing players within China’s recycling industry andrecycling organisations. She was impressed by theenthusiasm with which her idea was greeted by herhosts. And so, back in Switzerland, she decided toproceed with the proposal.

‘What I have in mind is basically a knowledge-sharing “East meets West” congress,’ she explains.‘I want to keep our Western delegates informedabout the latest trends in recycling and, at the sametime, offer them a platform to meet leading Chineseexperts and potential new customers in an efficientbut relaxed way.’

During the event, leading recycling experts fromaround the world - including manufacturers, collec-tors, processors, steelmakers, legislators and policy-makers - will meet to discuss: car, electronics and bat-tery manufacturers’ recycling activities; latest devel-opments in the recycling industry; best availabletechnologies, plant and processes; collection and take-back programmes; international market prospects;and key legal and regulatory developments.

In addition to the congress, ICM has managed toarrange visits to leading recycling companies basednear Shanghai. Destinations will include Baosteel’scar recycling plant, General Motors’ car manufac-turing plant, Lenovo’s electronics manufacturingfacility, the plastics recycling plant of Pro-GreenPlastic Resource Regeneration, and Powerzinc’sbattery-making plant.

By early October, well over a hundred delegateshad already registered for World RecyclingShanghai 2005.

Ocean cruiser congress

For the moment, organising four internationalrecycling congresses a year is a strenuous task forMrs Duttlinger and her small team of co-workers.

However, she still has ambitions to fulfil. ‘Mydream is to organise a two-week conference on anocean cruiser in the Caribbean,’ she says with a bigsmile. ‘Think about it: three speakers in the morn-ing on a sunny upper deck, followed by a round-table discussion at the pool-side. Exhibition boothsin the disco and Steering Committee meetings inthe outdoor jacuzzi! I bet it would be a huge hit!’

I N T E R V I E W


For more information aboutICM and its congresses contact:

ICM, Birrwil, Switzerland,Jeanette Duttlinger,

Phone: +41 62 785-1000, Fax +41 62 785-1005, E-mail: [email protected]: www.icm.ch

r ess bandwagon The ICM team (from left to right): Sandra Ammann,Yvonne Steiner, Jeanette Duttlinger, Veronica Ying Liuand Susann Schmid.

F ounded in 1954, SGM is based at Manerbionear Milan in the industrial heart of Northern

Italy where many steel mills are located. SGM hascontinuously developed its magnetic equipmenttechnology by listening to - and working closelywith - steel mills all over the world. This approachhas enabled SGM to become a leader in lifting mag-nets and magnetic separation equipment.

The company offers an impressive array of prod-ucts - many of which are used by the metal recy-cling industry. To name just a few: lifting magnets;electro-permanent lifting magnets; electro and per-manent magnet belt, magnet plate, magnet drumand magnet pulley separators; eddy current sepa-

rators; stainless steel separators; and demagnitis-ers for special alloy steels.

Application areas for SGM’s lifting and separa-tion products are manifold and include: steel mills,ship yards, ferrous and non-ferrous scrap separa-tion operations, the automotive sector, and the oilindustry. SGM’s customer base is as diverse as itsproduct roster: the steel industry; ferrous and non-ferrous scrap processors; waste management com-panies; glass recyclers; wood and plastics proces-sors; the mining industry; metal dross processorssuch as foundries and refiners; electronic scraprecyclers; and the food industry.

In 1993, SGM was acquired by the BelgianGantry Group, a world leader in developing andmanufacturing elastic rail-fastening systems forcranes - clips, pads and rails - used by, among oth-ers, steel and aluminium mills, container terminals,cement factories and automated warehouses. Thisyear, the SGM magnet business of the GantryGroup will achieve a turnover of € 15 million/US$ 18 million.

Developing new technologies

Some five years ago, SGM set up a subsidiarycompany in the USA, namely Sarasota, Florida-


Fine-tuning the fines

By Manfred Beck

Over the last 51 years, SGM has established a reputation as a

designer and manufacturer of advanced equipment enshrining high-

quality magnetic separation technology, notably the separation of

ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Its latest developments include the

SRP dynamic ferrous separator, a high-frequency eddy current sep-

arator and a metal sensor with an air ejection sensor system based

on particle-for-particle separation technology.

For the recovery of stainless steel fromthe fines, SGM has developed a new metalsensor with an air ejection sensor system.

based SGM Magnetics Corporation. ‘We realisedthere was a growing market for shredder down-stream systems,’ explains Frank Gevelle,Development and Sales Manager for SGM’s sepa-ration technology. ‘In addition, we noticed a changein the mentality of scrap processors who started torealise that their existing separation equipmentwas leaving behind a lot of valuable metals in theirwaste.’ This was the kick-off for the introduction ofSGM’s latest separation technology, aimed atrecovering more ferrous and non-ferrous metalswith higher concentration.

Although a newcomer to the American market,SGM soon won the confidence of major customerssuch as Hugo Neu and Newell Recycling of Atlanta.From then on, SGM’s sales of ferrous and non-ferrousseparation systems in the USA developed rapidly.’

Targeting the shredder plants that operateddownstream systems to recover ferrous and non-fer-rous metals, SGM offered its customers a new rangeof equipment.

For the ferrous, it offered a new generation ofMega drum magnets - axial poles - with a muchstronger attraction force. For the fine fraction of theauto shredder residue (ASR), the company intro-duced high frequency eddy current systems (ECS)with high frequency and high magnetism, as well asa new dynamic ferrous separator for the recovery of

the ferrous from the magnetic fraction of ASR.Especially for the recovery of stainless steel from theASR, SGM developed an air rejection separator.

SGM discovered that many shredder operatorshad problems with recovering ferrous and non-fer-rous from the fines fraction and therefore designedequipment to do just that. ‘‘With fines that can rep-resent around 40% of the weight of the shredderresidue, each extra percent of metals you canextract from the fines means a lot of extra money,’says Mr Gevelle. ‘Resulting from their low mass andsmall shape of the metals in the fines fraction, forinstance from copper wire or round cast metals, it isdifficult to recover all of these with an ECS and, as aresult, much is lost.’

Dynamic ferrous separator

A recent SGM development is the DSRP dynamicferrous separator, which stands for ‘dynamic sepa-ration with a rare-earth pulley’. This can be usedin the downstream system of car shredders.

Standard separators use a pulley with rare-earthpermanent magnets to generate a strong magneticfield for the separation process, with the magnetic pul-ley rotating at the same speed as the belt pulley. WithSGM’s dynamic pulley, the magnetic pulley can rotateat a different speed to the belt to create a dynamiceffect on the product being carried on the belt.

‘We found that, when we reduced the relativespeed of the pulley compared to the belt speed, wecould create a mechanical, dynamic effect on thematerial which made it possible to free the non-fer-rous metals from the inert material,’ explains MrGevelle. ‘The problem with fine fractions is thatthere is a lot of mixed product in which the non-fer-rous becomes a “prisoner” of the magnetic dirt.

‘With our DSRP, we can mechanically free themetals, for instance, from the ferrous metals, whichimproves eddy current separation later in theprocess.’

Separation of the shredder fines using the DSRPyields three fractions: clean, saleable ferrous metal;

S U P P L I E R


The infeed material of SGM’s dynamic ferrousseparator.

The SGM production plant in Manerbio nearMilan.

The three fractions separated by the DSRP.From left: clean ferrous, a magnetic dust/fer-rous fraction and non-magnetic metals whichcan be further separated by an eddy currentseparator.

Didier Hagelsteen (right), General Manager of SGM and owner and CEOof the Gantry Group and Frank Gevelle, Development and SalesManager for SGM’s separation technology.

a magnetic dust/ferrous fraction; and a non-mag-netic fraction which can be sorted using an eddycurrent system.

In co-operation with steel giant Arcelor, SGM iscurrently conducting a study into the possibility ofreconditioning and concentrating the residual mag-netic waste fraction in such a way that it can beused in blast furnace ovens. ‘We are confident thatwe can concentrate this fraction to a level where itcan be pelletised and used directly,’ says Mr Gevelle.‘This could also be very interesting for shredderplants, which also generate large volumes of thisferrous/dust fraction as part of their shredder fluff.As a result, it might be an asset in reaching the tar-get of 95% car recycling, as stipulated in the EUEnd-of-Life Vehicle Directive.’

High-frequency eddy current separator

Another SGM development is the high-frequencyeddy current separator. Mr Gevelle explains: ‘Whatmakes this machine so special is, first of all, thatwe spin the magnetic pulley at a high frequency of4000 RPM which considerably improves the sepa-ration effect. It is a concentric system, so the mag-netic pulley can be bigger and therefore can containbigger magnets. Secondly, we use an inclined belt tofeed the eddy current separator. Thus, we avoid the

so-called “popcorn effect”, which occurs when thefines fraction on the belt feels the magnetic field atan early stage. This results in the non-ferrous met-als popping up in the air too early and, as a result,they fall back on the belt before they have reachedthe splitter,’ notes Mr Gevelle.

Stainless steel recovery

For the recovery of stainless steel from ECSwaste, SGM has developed a new metal sensor withan air ejection sensor system based on particle-for-particle separation technology. The system is ableto win back metal missed by the eddy current sepa-rator or by the sink/float (heavy media) plant, suchas metal with rubber attached to it.

SGM recommends the use of two air sensors in acascade effect: the first, blowing from top to bottom,is used to recover as much material as possible fromthe ECS waste, and the second, blowing from thebottom, to concentrate the product. Thus, a typicalresidual 2-4% metal in the waste of an ECS can beconcentrated to a metal fraction with a concentra-tion of more than 90%.

‘Using only one machine, you either recover a lotof low-concentration metal, or you have a high con-centration - but to the detriment of recovery,’explains Mr Gevelle.

S U P P L I E R

For more information:SGM/Gantry, Nivelles, Belgium, Frank Gevelle, Phone: +32 6788-8018, Fax: +32 6721-9914,

E-mail: [email protected],Website:

www.sgm-magnetics.com

Only a specialist can determine the value of our waste material....Collecting,

processing and

recycling of:

- all kinds of batteries

- non-ferrous scrap

- non-ferrous residues

P.O. Box 45, NL-3850 AA ErmeloTolweg 22, NL-3851 SK ErmeloThe NetherlandsTel. +31 341 562 430, Fax +31 341 553 560e-mail: [email protected]: www.peperzeel.nl

One of SGM’s latest developments is thedynamic ferrous separator DSRP which can beused in the downstream system of car shred-ders.

T he collection and recycling of obsolete catalyticconverters is a lucrative business, with each

having a value to the car breaker or collector ofbetween € 15 and 53 depending on type. So-called‘cat’ collectors drive around car workshops or dis-mantlers’ yards to buy these precious metal-con-taining catalysers which are recycled in large batch-es by specialist companies.

There are two ways for an old catalyser to enterthe recycling process - when the device has becomedefective or when the vehicle itself has reached theend of its useful life. In the first instance, the catal-yser is removed from the vehicle by the workshop; ifthe workshop operates a dealership agreement, thecatalyser is usually sent back to the manufacturerunder a deposit system and then to a recycling com-pany. Independent workshops sell catalysers to col-lectors.

When a vehicle becomes obsolete, the catalyseris removed by a car breaker and sold on to collec-tors. Since millions of vehicles are scrapped everyyear, it can be assumed that a similar number ofcatalysers enter the recycling chain. Many scrappedvehicles are exported to eastern Europe and Africa,but the vast majority remain with Germany’s 1500-plus car breakers. Additionally, a large number ofold catalysers come into the country via interna-tional collectors.

Four categories of catalyser

In general, catalysers can be divided into four dis-tinct groups, including large, medium and smallceramic types. The fourth group comprises metalcatalysers. Some years ago, collectors would oftenoffer different prices according to the manufacturerbut this proved to be impractical because almost allproducers were putting vehicles - and therefore var-ious types of catalyser - into all segments of themarket.

Large catalysers have a monolith weight (ie, theceramic core protected by a steel casing) of morethan 1200 grams. These are generally used byBMW and Mercedes and identifying markings are

clearly visible on the case. At present, collectors arepaying between € 50 and 53 for these catalysers asthey generally contain high levels of platinum, pal-ladium and rhodium. As the majority of these largecatalysers come from BMW and Mercedes, total vol-umes are not very large.

Medium-sized catalysers have a monolith weightof around 1000 grams. Once again, the name of thecar manufacturer is clearly visible on the outer steelcasing: Ford, Opel, VW, Mazda and Toyota are justa few examples. The purchase price of these modelsis currently between € 30 to 35: despite the high val-ue of the precious metals coating, the lower surfacearea of the monolith means a lower price is obtainedthan for larger catalysers. Considerably more than50% of all catalysers fall into this category.

The proportion of small catalysers is not verygreat but has increased considerably during recentyears. These monoliths weigh around 500 grams onaverage and, once again, the manufacturers’ namesare clearly visible on the steel casing. In line withthe precious metal content, these catalysers fetcharound € 15 to 17.

Should the ceramic monolith become broken, itis assumed that a certain proportion of the preciousmetals has been lost, thus attracting in general only50% of the normal price. In the trade, these areknown as ‘half catalysers’.

Metal catalysers have no ceramic core but rathera ribbed metal foil contained within the steel cas-ing; the name of the vehicle manufacturer is againclearly visible. These attract prices of around € 5 to10 depending on size and make up only around 2 to3% of the market, although the proportion is likelyto increase over the coming years.

After-market catalysers

For some time, increasing numbers of catalysersentering the recycling chain have fallen outside theabove-mentioned categories. These ‘after-market’catalysers, or exchange catalysers, were not builtin by the original manufacturer but were retrofittedby unnamed parties. Most are of poorer quality and

C A R C A T A L Y S E R S


Market struggles with low-value In Germany and some neighbouring countries, low-value catalytic converters with a

lower precious metals content have been entering circulation in increasing num-

bers. These have a market value below € 5 and can be spotted only by a trained

eye, leading to problems for the recycling chain.

By Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kerstin Kuchta

Hamburg University of Applied

Sciences, Germany

Large catalysers Recognisable features: steel case marked with eitherBMW or Mercedes, in general bigger than other cataly-sers; monolith weighing more than 1,2 Kg.

Medium-size catalysersRecognisable features: steel case marked with carmanufacturers’ names; monolith weighing approxi-mately 1Kg.

Small catalysersRecognisable features: steel case marked with car man-ufacturers’ names; in general smaller than other cataly-sers; monolith weighing approximately 500 grams.

can be recognised by poor welding of the seams onthe steel casings. The ceramic monolith weighsaround 500 grams and contains considerably lowervolumes of precious metals than the OEM models;thus, market value is only around € 4 to 5.

After-market catalysers used to represent onlyaround 1% of devices entering the recycling process.Collectors and car breakers often agreed a price orthe collector paid the normal amount to a favouredsupplier as a mark of goodwill. Over the last year,however, after-market catalysers have come to claim5% of the market, only partly because of a trendtowards car owners having cheaper catalysers fitted.It is not clear whether after-market catalysers arebeing deliberately imported for sale to car breakersor collectors at inflated prices. In Germany, dealersgenerally receive the price of a small catalyst for anafter-market model - between € 15 and 17 - becauseits intrinsically low value is not sufficiently appreci-ated by some collectors and car breakers.

The number of after-market catalysers offered inAustria is also increasing. Well-trained collectorsimmediately recognise the model type and accord-ingly offer prices outside normal parameters. ‘Bigdisappointments often happen because, more oftenthan not, the car breakers have not dismantled theitems themselves but have purchased them in con-siderable volumes from dubious dealers,’ accordingto Robert Poelzleitner, Managing Director of ÖrecÖsterreichische Edelmetall Recycling GmbH ofHenndorf, Austria. He adds: ‘It would be better ifthe detachment points were warned about suchpurchases and informed about how to recognise thecharacteristics of this type of catalyser.’

The collector process

Catalyser collectors represent the interfacebetween these ‘detachment’ points and the recyclers.Many collectors operate well-defined and sophisti-cated logistics: they collect catalysers from numer-ous points, store them and then ship them in largebatches to precious metals recyclers. Some collectorsare in regular contact with these detachment pointsand arrange dates for collection. ‘We have developedour own telephone and logistics software for ourbusiness processes which allows us to liaise with ourassociates in an appropriate manner,’ explains AnjaMaier, Managing Director of Maier Recycling. ‘Ihave several vehicles in use in Baden Wuertembergand Bavaria which service up to 15 suppliers punc-

tually every day.’ Other collectors have no fixedroute and drive from one detachment point to anoth-er and purchase catalysers on the spot. Registereddisposal and collection companies must issue anacceptance note recognising the new owner andplacing liability on the collector to handle thesewaste-designated devices in line with appropriateregulations and to ensure theiy are recycled by asuitably registered company.

The collector’s skill lies in recognising the valueof the catalyser: if he purchases, for example, low-value after-market catalysers at the price prevail-ing for a smaller or medium-sized device, then helays himself open to potentially severe financial dis-appointment. However, the skilled collectors canquickly recognise these low-value catalysers.

Closer attention

Car breakers should pay closer attention to whatis offered them and should perhaps favour registeredcollection and disposal companies which issue cer-tificates. Only in this way can guarantees be giventhat recycling will be carried out in an environmen-tally-friendly way. To prevent discussions aboutquality and the possibility of financial losses, the col-lector should perhaps introduce another price cate-gory for ‘low-value’ or ‘after-market’ catalysers.

C A R C A T A L Y S E R S


For more information:Kuchta group Umwelt &

Management GmbHDarmstadt, Germany

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kerstin KuchtaPhone +49 6151 999 747

Fax +49 6151 999 746E-mail:

[email protected]

e catalysers

After-market catalysersRecognisable features: often bad welding of the seam (steel casing); no car manufacturer’smarking; marking of a known after-market catal-yser manufacturer, e.g. Catco, Walker etc.

Metal catalysersRecognisable features: ribbed metal foilinstead of a ceramic central core; outer steelcase marked with car manufacturers’ names.

Schott AG of Mainz in Germany estab-lished a closed-loop recycling system for

end-of-life cathode ray tube (CRT) glassmore than six years ago. In the early stagesof those recycling activities, the main prob-lem was obtaining significant volumes ofthis end-of-life picture tube glass from themarket. Since then, CRT recycling hasbecome established as an every-day businessin many European countries and many elec-tronic recycling companies are adopting thisroute as best possible practice.

However, all the activities set in motionover recent years represent only initial stepsalong this path. A large sense of responsi-bility has built up around this issue not onlyin Europe but also in parts of Asia: Japan,for example, is going down similar lines andwe have been able to exchange informationabout useful experiences. There are stillareas even in Europe where closed-looprecycling of CRT glass remains a distantgoal but we are convinced that existing solu-tions and techniques will enable tailor-madesolutions to be created for any market orany country in the world.

Basically very simple

Recycling of CRT is basically very simple.The recycler collects end-of-life TV units andcomputer monitors, opens them up, removesthe ventilated picture tubes and puts theminto a special container. These are thenshipped to a CRT glass upgrader who sepa-rates the picture tubes into panel and fun-nel glass, cleans both fractions, and ships

the cleaned, accurately separated culletfractions to TV glass manufacturers. Inturn, these companies produce new panelsand funnels out of the cullet. Quite simple,isn’t it? Well, perhaps one or two difficultiesshould be acknowledged.

The obstacles begin in the European mar-ket with collection. Based on data for theestablished 15 members of the EuropeanUnion, annually available volumes of end-of-life CRT glass amount to an estimated500 000 to 700 000 tonnes. A substantialproportion of this volume enters non-recy-cling channels and, in truth, this situation isunlikely to change even after EU WasteElectrical and Electronic Equipment(WEEE) regulations become part of nationallaw within the member states.

As a maximum within Europe, an esti-mated 300 000 tonnes of picture tube glasswill be collected and offered for closed-looprecycling each year by private companiesand/or municipalities and official organisa-tions. This volume is more than three timesgreater than Schott can commercially andpractically absorb, even at full CRT glassproduction periods: to service the entire vol-ume, other CRT glass producers in Europeand further afield will also have to adopt theclosed-loop route.

Differing volumes

Unsurprisingly, volumes of available end-of-life CRT glass differ from country to coun-try within the European Union. Finland,France, Austria, Portugal and the UK have

C R T G L A S S


Closing the loop for cathodeThis article assesses the current status of CRT (cathode ray tube)

glass recycling and offers suggestions as to how to handle this partic-

ular business in the future given the emergence of major markets such

as China. The market for electronic goods will become ever more glob-

al and recycling activities will have to rise to meet this challenge.

Sustainability accepts no borders and the opportunity should be seized

to develop a much more effective and global closed-loop recycling

system.

End-of-life PC monitors ready for processing in an electronicwaste recycling factory.

The glass gob falls into a mould.

Pressing of a flat CRT screen panel glass screen which containsabout 20% of recycled glass.

Cleaned and upgraded funnel glass cullets is stored at SchottAG. The new funnel contains up to 50% of recycled funnel glass.

already completed their first deliveries toSchott and STV Glass, Schott’s subsidiary inthe Czech Republic. It is still the case thatthe majority of CRT-containing units bothinside and outside the European Unioneither go to landfill or to household waste dis-posal areas of widely varying quality. Wholeunits often travel east where a reasonablepercentage can be reused but the larger pro-portion still follow questionable disposalroutes.

A critical factor in this business is the useof CRT glass in road construction, as a slagformer in the metal industry, and as a sidematerial in flat glass production. Lead-con-taining picture tube glass fits only withclosed-loop solutions: use of lead-containingglass as a slag former in lead productionoffers no closed-loop solution - it is more orless a short intermediate working phase forthe glass along its route towards specialwaste disposal.

Use as a supplement material in roadconstruction is often mentioned as a possi-ble means of bringing lead-free CRT glassinto the recycling structure. But we have tokeep in mind that CRT glass is mechanical-ly much more unstable than other types ofglass and that, under normal circumstanceswithin the road structure, vibration cracksthe cullet again and again to form constant-ly new surfaces such that the lead is washedout and contaminates groundwater overmany years.

Undoubtedly, human greed has developedadditional ways of side-stepping the CRTglass problem and of earning some easymoney along the way. However, in effect, theonly closed-loop solution for CRT glass is toreturn it to producers’ melting tanks - anarea in which Schott has emerged as aEuropean pioneer over recent years.

Generating closed loops

Closed loops generate themselves veryrarely. Structures normally form by follow-ing the path of least resistance and lowestperformance necessary at, simultaneously,the highest possible level of effort and cost.

Implementation of a closed-loop system is

complicated by the fact that picture tubeglass manufacturers are not interested intaking back end-of-life CRT glass - maybebecause they want to eliminate any riskassociated with poor quality glass offered bythe recycling market at the outset, orbecause they want to avoid the remarkablyhigh cost of investing in the new techniquesrequired to brush up internal systems with-in the CRT glass industry. In effect, old pic-ture tubes disappear into a ‘black hole’ andare no longer available to the CRT glass pro-ducing industry.

As a producer of CRT glass, Schott hasidentified clear quality and material defini-tions for the different kinds of end-of-life CRTcullet. In addition, Schott has developedstructures via which end-of-life picture tubes can be col-lected, accepted, upgradedand cleaned by the companywhich it then feeds into paneland funnel glass meltingtanks. This recycling processcan be verified at any stagetime by the authorities.Schott’s process is an ecologi-cally and economically advan-tageous alternative to estab-lished waste disposal prac-tices.

For this to happen, theprocess structures for CRTrecycling have had to bedefined and built up anew: forthe electronics recycler, forexample, Schott has beenoffering a special servicewhich ensures conformitywith latest regulations,including verifiable reuse inmelting tanks via indepen-dent CRT glass upgraders likeGRIAG in Germany, orCoolrec in The Netherlands.These are upgrading thewaste glass into a secondaryraw material in accordancewith instructions given tothem by Schott AG.

C R T G L A S S


ray tubes By Thomas G. Oberle

Schott AG, Germany

Separation unit for panel and funnel separation with heating beltand vacuum cleaning system for the fluorescent layer on theinner side of the panel glass.

The demands of the WEEE can only be fulfilled if an

adequate way of recycling is available for the CRT glass!

Capacitators1%

Electron guns0%

Wood13%

Aluminium1%

Copper1%

Ferrous10%

Transformers5%

Electric motors0%

Cable2%

Circuit boards6%

Plastics8%

Picture tube glass53%

CompleteTV-sets and

monitors

Plastics

Cable, wire,metal Electron gun Rubber,

silicon

Circuitboards,

electroniccomponents

Wood,plastic

Metal(Degauss

cable)

Remove back side ofcase, ventilate CRT,removal of cables,

speakers, circuit boards,dismantle deflectionunit, remove electron

gun

Loosen CRT,remove CRTand removalof attachedsilicon and

rubber

CRT withrimband,inside

coatingsand metal

parts

Clean separation of

panel andfunnel

Panel glass withoutfunnel glass, frit, pins

and inside coating

Fluorescentlayer

Processing unit for

CRT-mix glassand funnel

glass

Rimband,mask,anode,getter

Funnel glasswith iron oxide/graphite

coating, anode,parts of panel glass

and frit

Separation Processes of I. CRT and Housing,

I. II.

II. Panel and Funnel

CRT-mix glasswith metals

Average composition of an end-of-life television unit

Recycling of special glasses

As part of setting up the necessary logis-tics processes, a very important task is toensure the commercial viability of the sys-tem for all the parties involved. A truly sat-isfying solution could not be establisheduntil now; that said, perhaps the producerresponsibility regulations within the EU’sWEEE directive will bring the necessaryadditional income for recyclers andupgraders.

High WEEE standards

The targets set by the above-mentionedEU directive for reuse of electronic devicescontaining picture tubes are quite stringent.Even a brief look at the average compositionof an end-of-life television unit shows thatthese demands can be met only if the pic-ture tube glass - which accounts for 53% ofthe total weight of a television unit - can bebrought into a truly closed-loop system.

The technology for separating panel andfunnel glass - from the delivery of wholetelevision units and computer monitors upto the separated picture tube - is well knownand requires a high level of manual skill andstrength. Also very important is the instal-lation of the correct safety equipment withineach workplace.

Once the tube is dismantled, an importantdecision has to be reached: thrown into thecontainer with the metal fraction as well asstickers etc, it represents nothing more thandirty mixed glass. At the upgrader’s plant,the worst outcome is that low-value but cleanmixed glass will be produced for use as a sidemixture in the funnel glass melting tank.

However, the decisive step towards pro-ducing a secondary raw material involvesadequate separation of the material intopanel and funnel glass, with panel glassbeing cleaned of its fluorescent layer and thepins removed. In this way, separated andcleaned panel glass is no longer a waste - theCRT glass producer buys it as a raw materi-al and, following homogenisation, feeds theglass into his panel glass melting tank.

Quality assurance

With end-of-life CRT glass accounting foran ever-growing proportion of total rawmaterial fed into melting tanks to producenew panel and funnel glass, there is aheightened risk of impurities endangering

production quality in the new glass melt.This underlines very clearly the need forhigher safety demands and stronger qualityassurance procedures throughout the glassrecycling process.

It has been a source of great help that,from the very outset, Schott has workedwith recyclers and upgraders to define clearand strict quality specifications and han-dling instructions. Conforming with thesespecifications and instructions representsan absolute priority for all those involved inthe various stages of the recycling system.Production of high-quality CRT glass com-ponents which meet cathode ray tube manu-facturers’ requirements can be achievedonly through the implementation of thisvery strict quality system.

Two main fractions are made from end-of-life CRTs via this closed-loop system. Panelglass makes up the front part of the picturetube; free from any other lead-containingglass, it is prepared in the panel glass melt-ing tank. Meanwhile, funnel glass representsthe rear part of the picture tube; this lead-containing glass, which contains a residualamount of panel glass as a result of the sepa-ration process, is fed into the funnel glassmelting tank.

Mixed glass - a mixture of panel and fun-nel glass - is the result of reducing a picturetube to cullet without an initial separationstage. During the separation process, howev-er, some pre-damaged tubes form mixedglass. When CRT recycling first got started,mixed glass was the only fraction availableon the European recycling market but Schottand STVGlass has now reached its capacitylimit for mixed glass and accepts only thosesmall volumes resulting from the panel andfunnel separation process.

The question remains as to what repre-sents the best way to produce high-qualityseparated panel and funnel glass that con-forms to Schott Glas’ stringent require-ments and therefore to the demands of theCRT glass producing industry in general. Apicture tube will not divide off into therequired fractions simply by taking a ham-mer to it; however, with the right know-how, the suitable separation techniquewhich is available to the market in differenttypes, effective separation and upgradingare perfectly feasible.

C R T G L A S S


Thomas G. Oberle, the author of this article,

is Manager Strategic Projectsof the division Recycling of

Special Glasses of Schott AG,Mainz, Germany

He can be reached at:Phone +49 6131 66-3834,Fax +49 6131 66-1965,

E-mail:[email protected]

www.schott.com

Storage for the different fractions of CRT glass – panel and fun-nel glass.

The use of a diamond saw for the separation of panel and funnelglasses ensures a higher throughput.

In some European countries, the workers at the separation unithave to wear full-size masks and respirators, even when the unitsare equipped with a laminar air flow system.

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move by Turkey was not applaudedby US and European scrap ex-porters. The most recent export ofscrap to Turkey was a Belgian cargoof 60/40 scrap sold in mid-Septemberat a price of US$ 220 fob; later offersof US$ 200 were not accepted.

CIS countries have also loweredtheir offers from US$ 260 in earlySeptember to US$ 225 for 80/20 mate-rial, delivered Turkish harbours. USexports of shredded scrap to the FarEast also fell sharply in the thirdquarter. South Korea and Malaysiawere completely absent from the mar-ket in July and August while exportsto Thailand plunged 85% in July.

But there have also been somepositive developments, especially forEuropean exporters who saw the USdollar strengthen in relation to theEuro. Furthermore, freight rates toTurkey from ports in the UK,Netherlands, Northern Germanyand Belgium dropped to US$ 22-24per tonne. Normally, Black Sea ship-pers enjoy lower freight rates butlevels of US$ 30-35 per tonne toTurkey have arisen due to: the onsetof the grain season; congestion inUkrainian ports; and the fact thatcoasters often have to go up riverslike the Dnepr to find their cargoes.

Lower Ukrainian exports

Another factor for US and EU ex-porters is that the Ukraine cut its

M A R K E T A N A L Y S I S

Ferrous

Scrap markets in a tail-spin

Closed: October 3 2005

By Alfred Nijkerk

Steelmakers are once again tryingto push down the ferrous scrap mar-ket by refusing to buy large volumes,with Turkish mills pointing to falter-ing exports of steel over recent weeks.Analysts have expressed fears that

steel prices will decline rather thanrise - echoing the opinions voiced lastmonth by a number of mills, especial-ly in Europe and Asia.

Last month’s scrap price increaseof up to US$ 30 per tonne has beenall but lost over the last fortnight bya decline of, on average, US$ 40 pertonne. The US Composite price hadgained US$ 52 per tonne betweenmid-August and mid-September to

reach US$ 239.50, before fallingback to US$ 225.83 by the end of lastmonth.

US automobile bundle sales lev-els for the big three manufacturers -Ford, GM and Chrysler - fell by US$ 68 per gross ton to US$ 230 pertonne for October. A spectacular riseof US$ 87 per tonne in August andanother US$ 95 per tonne improve-ment for September saw the saleslevel rise to US$ 295 last month. Al-though this may appear high, it isstill well below the November 2004level of US$ 442.50 per tonne. Thisfigure fell to US$ 155 per tonne inJune this year, thereby underliningthe volatility of the scrap market in2005.

The scrap market is attracting anequal share of bad and good news. Onthe downside, of course, is the com-plete absence from the market of keyFar East importers (including China,South Korea, Malaysia and Thai-land), as well as buyers in Turkey,Spain and, to some extent, Italy. Allof them consider that prices went toohigh early September.

Unexpected news

On top of this came the unexpect-ed news that Turkey had purchasedno less than 260 000 tonnes of HBIand pig iron from Russia at a price ofUS$ 220-230 per tonne cfr Turkishharbours. Understandably, this new


By mid-September, al l the main importing countries had

withdrawn from the ferrous scrap market. Turkey, Spain and

the Far East are currently refraining from buying scrap, obvi-

ously in the expectation of another price drop to add to the

US$ 20 per tonne decline of early September. However,

scrap exporters should derive some comfort from forecasts

of higher iron ore prices in the year to come, a move which

will drag scrap’s competitor commodities to higher levels.

Ocean freights for Panamax- and Handymax-size ships went

down in September while European traders benefitted from

a stronger US dollar in relation to the Euro. By early

October, fob Rotterdam asking prices stood at US$ 205 per

tonne for 80/20 HMS I/I I, US$ 215 for shredded and

US$ 195 for the 60/40 mix.


scrap exports by nearly 50% in Jan-uary-August this year to just 0.9million tonnes. Domestic scrap sup-ply to Ukrainian mills fell by 9%over the same period to just under 4million tonnes. Scrap collection inthe first eight months of this yeardeclined to 4.875 million tonnescompared to 5.897 million tonnes inthe same period of 2004. Normally,some 20% of the Ukraine’s scrapharvest goes for export, with logicaldestinations including Turkey withits Black Sea ports, or harbours inthe south west of the country.

An interesting take on scrap mar-ket prospects was presented at lastmonth’s US Institute of Scrap Recy-cling Industries gathering in Rose-mont, Illinois. John Harris, NorthAmerican director of raw materialsfor the world’s largest steel produc-er, Mittal Steel, noted that Chinesescrap imports fell to around 6 mil-lion tonnes in the first seven monthsof this year from 6.4 million tonnesin 2004. Mr Harris foresaw a fur-ther gradual decline in these im-ports over the next few years, espe-cially as virtually all of China’s newcapacity is shared among integrat-ed mills with their comparativelylow scrap intake percentages. Chi-na’s relative disinterest in electricarc furnace (EAF) production stemsfrom concerns over the availabilityof electricity and over low collectionvolumes of obsolete scrap. India,meanwhile, will have to boost its in-take of scrap over the coming yearsas the country’s new production

capacity is focused on the EAF route.Mr Harris also predicted that the

cost of dry bulk shipping would in-crease sharply over the next fewyears. However, it should be notedthat, while there will be a lack ofvery large Capesize tankers as newsupertankers will require a doublehull within a few years from now,scrap is not carried in these largevessels. For the most part, transat-lantic transportation of scrap is inHandymax- and Panamax-sizedships with their deadweights of, respectively, 10 000-55 000 tonnesand 55 000-80 000 tonnes. Cargoesfrom Northern European ports inthe UK, Germany, The Netherlandsand Belgium to Southern Europeandestinations in Turkey, Spain andItaly are often carried by coasterswith loading capacities of, typically,between 2000 and 10 000 tonnes.

Competing commodities

Huge integrated mills consumeonly 10-20% scrap whereas an EAF-based mini-mill is mostly dependenton scrap, although this can be mixedwith 10-25% pig or HBI/DRI iron.Iron ore and coking coal constitutethe main raw material costs for inte-grated producers whereas scrap andelectricity costs are paramount forthe mini-mills. Given sky-high ener-gy price levels, EAF mills are cur-rently at a disadvantage and aretherefore looking to keep scrapprices as low as possible. Integratedmills, on the other hand, have suf-fered severely as a result of this

year’s average 71.5% increase in oreprices and of the jump in coking coalprices from US$ 45-55 per tonne fobin 2003 to a record US$ 125 fob for2005 contracts.

Analysts at a recent coal industryconference in Nice, France, disagreedon what is likely to happen nextyear: some predicted a roll-over ofpresent prices while others antici-pated a decline in the annual con-tract price to US$ 100 per tonne. Themain factor is China which, histori-cally, has been a net exporter of coal.However, having been a net exporterof 10 million tonnes in 2003, thecountry is now expected to be a netimporter of 10 million tonnes thisyear. Reasons for this reverse in-clude the spectacular rise in Chinesesteel capacity (see next paragraph)and the closure of a number of coalmines due to environmental and hu-manitarian factors. This follows sev-eral disastrous mining accidentsover recent years.

So what will happen to iron oreprices for next year? Here too, opin-ions differ greatly. Normally, Octo-ber sees the beginning of the so-called ‘mating season’ when ore-ex-porting countries and ore-consumingintegrated steel mill groups from allover the world gather to discuss fu-ture price levels. These discussionstend to last well into the followingyear, typically concluding aroundMarch or April. Although fiercely de-nied, it had been rumoured that theworld’s largest iron ore producer -CVRD of Brazil - was about to de-mand a 40% increase for 2006 con-tracts. However, some experts sug-gest increases for next year may belimited to 15-20%, or even as littleas 5%.

It goes without saying that higheriron ore prices work to the detrimentof the integrated steel mills and infavour of scrap prices, given thatmini-mills will respond by switchingto scrap from the more expensivecompeting commodities. Once again,China is the main factor: in the firsteight months of 2005, the countryimported 180 million tonnes of ironore - an increase of nearly 33% com-pared to the same period of 2004.China bought iron ore fines for US$95 per tonne in April, but prices thenfell to around US$ 65 in June and

July before climbing to US$ 70-72 inAugust and September.

In the first seven months of thisyear, the world’s leading pig iron ex-porter Brazil shipped a total of 3.9million tonnes, or 44.5% more thanin the corresponding period of 2004.Some 3 million tonnes went to theUSA - 61% more than in 2004 - and151 000 tonnes to Spain.

Steel

The big question, not least for thescrap industry, concerns the direc-tion of steel prices in the final quar-ter of this year. A number of EUmills have announced price increasesfor the fourth quarter but this couldbe wishful thinking in many in-stances. It would not be the first timethis year that mills have tried to pre-pare buyers for higher prices - whichultimately did not materialise. Steelgiant Thyssen Krupp Steel has an-nounced a fourth-quarter price riseof € 30 per tonne (US$ 36) for flatproducts, but stockists consider thisto be unattainable. The final quarterof the year is always a weak periodgiven slower activity levels in theconstruction industry.

In early September, cold rolled coilwas being sold at € 430-480 per tonneand hot rolled coil (HRC) at € 380 -420 per tonne. However, given thatHRC imports are currently being of-fered at € 350-380 per tonne cfr Eu-rope, a level of around € 380 seemsmore likely.

At a recent seminar in Moscow, itwas suggested that global steelprices could fall by as much as 10%next year on the basis that some ofthe world’s main steel-exportingcountries have been installing clear-ly excessive capacity this year. Fur-thermore, construction steel pricesin China have dropped rapidly to-wards their May and June levels.

However, well-known steel con-sultant Michelle Applebaum pre-dicted that steel prices were likely tomove higher. She ventured the fol-lowing annual price averages (pershort ton):

2003 US$ 2822004 US$ 6052005 US$ 5082006 US$ 5692007 US$ 650


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The forward price projections ap-pear somewhat over-optimistic giventhat China is building new steel ca-pacity at such a pace that over-pro-duction is a very real danger. Thatsaid, China’s steel exports have de-fied all forecasts in declining to thepoint where the country recently be-came a net importer once again, as ithad been for decades prior to 2004.

World steel production rose by6.9% or 47 million tonnes in Janu-ary-August this year, largely due toa Chinese production increase of28% or 50 million tonnes. Production

among the EU’s 25 member statesdeclined by 3.4%, while output in theUSA and in CIS countries fell by, re-spectively, 5.8% and 1.5%.

The damage caused to buildings,oil rigs and general industry by re-cent hurricanes in the Gulf region ofthe USA is expected to boost de-mand for construction and flat steelboth this year and next. It has beenreported that Nucor, for example,will again impose a raw materialssurcharge of US$ 113 per short tonfor October, although this may beonly a temporary measure.

Conclusion

Weakness in the scrap market isunlikely to last too long although areturn to the high prices of earlySeptember is not anticipated in thenear future. As suggested earlier, aprice of around US$ 200 fob Rotter-dam for the 60/40 I/II mix appearsreasonable.

The current yo-yoing of scrapprices is artificial and owes much tothe uncertainty surrounding 2006raw material prices. What will iron -and hence pig iron and HBI/DRI - donext year? Will prices rise again?

Will coking coal prices move side-ways or even decline? Will oil pricesremain around US$ 60 per barrel?How will the US dollar fare in rela-tion to the Euro? Will there be fur-ther terrorists attacks? And finally,how will freight rates move over thenext year?

In short, with so many factors in-fluencing the global economy, andhence the commodity markets, scrapprice predictions remain a difficultand dangerous task.



110

120

130

140

150

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170

180

190

200

210

220

230

240

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260

197.35200.50

242.33

252.83

249.17

209.50

195.33193.17

214.50

168.33

120

157.67

199.9

239.50

225.83

AprMarFebDec Jan May Jun July AugSep SepNovOct

Fob West Coast price

Fob East Coast price

270

120

130

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190

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255 255

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230 230 230 230

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185

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205 205200 200 200

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190

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Highest price

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165

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145

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210235

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200 200 200 200195

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235


257.4

257.1

130

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190

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271.8

270.8

253.4

244.6239.6

207.4

169.2

127,7

159

214.3

213.7

USA Export Prices (US$/GRT)HMS 1, heavy steel scrap (1/4 Inch)

Fob Rotterdam Export Prices (US$/t)HMS 80/20 heavy steel scrap

* Average German Scrap Prices (€/t)S2 / E2, steel scrap (3 mm) Delivered at mills

USA Domestic Scrap Prices (US$/GRT)HMS 1 heavy steel scrap (1/4 Inch) composite price delivered at mills

Ferrous Scrap Prices (Reference date: September 30, 2005)

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By Alfred Nijkerk et al


Nickel & Stainless

Prices of 18/8 stainless steel scraphave fallen at least US$ 180 pertonne in the past month, outstrip-ping the decline in the LME nickelquotation over the same period. Inthe third quarter, scrap purchases inEurope were 75% lower in most in-stances as a result of production cutsby virtually all the major stainlesssteel producers. This was their re-sponse to over-stocking and soften-ing global demand.

By contrast, special alloy priceshave effectively been moving side-ways. By October 3, the Rotterdam304 (18/8) scrap price was standingat US$ 1240 per tonne while the 316(18/10/2) price had declined to US$2000 per tonne. The ferritic 430(17% chromium) price was aroundUS$ 320 per tonne while 409 (13%chromium) was nearer US$ 280.

Recently, a number of the main-stream non-ferrous metals havebeen registering ever-higher valueson the LME with copper, for in-stance, reaching an all-time high ofmore than US$ 3800 per tonne.However, nickel remained weak incomparison to its second quarterprice (see the SMR graph) when ithad broken through the US$ 16 000barrier. By the end of September,LME three-month nickel was backat US$ 13 600 - some way below itslevel of 22 September 2004 when itstood at US$ 14 000.

There are a number of reasonswhy stainless steel producers wereforced to cut production and to lowertheir prices. Over-stocking wasblamed for the current difficult mar-ket conditions while an erosion inbase prices was seen as one of the

month. Chinese ferro-molybdenumprices fell slightly but remained atUS$ 78 -80 for the final three weeksof September, while European pricesare expected to remain at their end-September levels of around US$ 80-85 per kg delivered. Molybdenum(drummed oxide) was standing atUS$ 35.50 per lb.

Prices for 70-80% ferro-vanadiummaterial stood at US$ 65-67 per kglast month and ferro-tungsten priceshave spent the last two months at


Stainless scrap prices remaindepressedProducer over-stocking and reduced global demand for stain-

less steel adversely affected scrap purchasing patterns in

the third quarter, especially in Europe. Stainless steel scrap

prices have duly fallen, whereas values of most of the noble

alloys have remained broadly unchanged over recent weeks.

key influences on standard productgrades. Another strongly negativefactor has been the 54% increase inChina’s stainless steel productioncapacity during the course of thisyear, as a result of which globalstainless steel production appearsset to increase by at least 5% thisyear to around 26 million tonnes. Inthe first six months of 2005, worldproduction grew by 5.5% whereasAsian output was 13% higher thanin the corresponding period of 2004.

In addition, low-nickel 200 seriesstainless steel has achieved spectac-ular growth, especially in Asia whereit is seen as a cheap substitute forthe 304 and 316 grades, which con-tain 8-10% nickel. The emergence ofthe 200 series has adversely affectedthe market and has also led to con-siderable confusion, partly because itis non-magnetic just like theaustenitic 300 series. This is in con-trast to the ferritic and strongly mag-netic 400 series which contains 13%and 17% chromium but no nickel.The non-magnetic properties of the200 series make it difficult fortraders to identify and to separateout from the 300 series (see box).

Special alloys

As mentioned above, the values ofmost of the noble alloys have beenmoving sideways over the past

US$ 30-35 per kg. Ferro-titaniumprices are expected to rise in the nearfuture due to higher demand fromaircraft manufacturers. Boeing, forinstance, has announced that titani-um will account for 15% of the weightof its new 787 model, which is doublethe amount used in its successful 777.The company has also confirmed thatit will consume 50% more titaniumthan in previous years.

Europe

While most metals were enjoyinga clear upward trend, the LMEthree-month nickel price fell belowUS$ 14 000 during September. How-ever, market experts are predictingthat nickel prices will remain ataround US$ 14 000 per tonne overthe coming months - notwithstand-ing the likelihood of significant fluc-tuations either side of this level.

Meanwhile, the volatility of nickelhas attracted criticism from the mar-ketplace. At last month’s 4th MetalBulletin Nickel, Stainless and Spe-cial Steels Forum in Bilbao, Spain,BIR President Fernando Durantiraised the question as to why nickelconsumers had to pay price levelsthat were largely attributable the ac-tions of speculators. Representativesof Russian nickel producer MMC No-rilsk also expressed concerns aboutthe current volatility of the nickelmarket.

In Germany, nickel cathode priceshave fallen from US$ 14 984 to traderecently at US$ 14 264. As for al-loyed scrap, V2A (304) prices fell toUS$ 1250 whereas V4A (316) scrapalso went down to lower levels. Inthe Netherlands, INOX 18/8 scrapwas recently trading at US$ 1240 asagainst US$ 1420 four weeks earli-er, while INOX 316 was fetching atUS$ 2000.

Asia & Pacific Rim

LME three-month nickel priceshave fallen by nearly 23% from theJune high of US$ 16 600. Even withthe recent recovery to around US$13 600 on the back of all-time highcopper levels, supply/demand factorssuggest even lower prices ahead forthe nickel market. While there ap-pears to be a global surplus of stain-

less steel capacity, Chinese produc-tion is expected to continue its rapidrise. Although China’s domesticmarket is growing, the country’s ex-ports are likely to increase - a factorwhich will contribute further down-ward pressure to an already weak-ened market. For the moment, how-ever, demand remains robust forstainless scrap in the Far East.

North America

Latest data indicate that globalstainless steel production reached12.9 million tonnes in the first sixmonths of this year - some 5.5%higher than in the first half of 2004.However, the only region of theworld to achieve a production in-

crease was, predictably, Asia. Fol-lowing recent stainless steel produc-tion cutbacks, at least one leadinganalyst suspects that the WesternWorld will record no increase in out-put this year. Meanwhile, overall

world production is expected to ad-vance by just 2.5%. Further down-ward pressure on nickel prices is en-visaged next year although the met-al’s value is thought likely to surviveat historically high levels.


Fernando steals the show in BilbaoAt last month’s 4th Metal Bulletin Nickel, Stainless and Special

Steels Forum in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, BIR PresidentFernando Duranti called for the return to a normal rather than fund-dominated nickel pricing system. Mr Duranti was applauded when heasked the world’s largest nickel producer - Russia’s Norilsk Nickel - toexplain why consumers should pay prices that had been generated pri-marily by the actions of speculators/hedge funds. These speculatorskeep stocks low, thereby maintaining high nickel prices which mainlybenefit producers. Indeed, it is a known fact that the world’s ten largestnickel producers control over 75% of the market compared to 43% in thecopper market.

Mr Duranti, who is also CEO of Milan-based non-ferrous tradingcompany Leghe & Metalli International, also offered a solution to thecurrent confusion surrounding the different series of stainless steel. Hehighlighted in particular the problems that the comparatively new low-nickel 200 series were causing within the scrap market: whereas in thepast a scrap trader had only to sort magnetic 400 (ferritic, Fe/Cr) seriesfrom the non-magnetic 300 (austenitic, Ni/Cr/Fe) series, he is now con-fronted with a flow of non-magnetic, low-nickel 200 series containing ahigh percentage of low-value manganese. Stainless steel-consumingmills cannot accept 200 series scrap alongside far higher-priced 304 or316; these latter qualities are valued mainly for their nickel contentand so every piece of 200 series material has to be separated out.

Mr Duranti also suggested that stainless steel mills achieve betterresults by using stainless steel scrap in their raw material blend ratherthan simply a pure nickel and carbon steel scrap feed.

(See also the interview with Fernando Duranti on pages 38-41).


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The summer may have run its course but the heat has not

left the metal markets, with most of the base metal prices

remaining at high levels; in particular, copper has showed

litt le sign of losing its upward momentum. Meanwhile,

Hurricane Katrina has served to create an element of uncer-

tainty and volatility in the marketplace. In Europe, many buy-

ers have been reluctant to commit to any tonnages for

which there is not an immediate production requirement. In

North America, meanwhile, some sellers have been holding

on to their copper scrap in the hope of higher prices still.

Copper remains red hot

Aluminium

LME three-month high-gradealuminium prices have droppedfrom US$ 1914 to US$ 1824, whilealuminium alloys shed some US$ 150to stand around US$ 1605 towardsthe end of last month. Meanwhile,aluminium stocks in LME ware-houses have climbed by around 10 000 tonnes.

Europe’s high energy costs are

proving especially detrimental to thealuminium processing industry. InGermany, energy prices increasedby almost 10% between December2004 and August this year, whileprices of natural gas advanced by aneven steeper 16.7%. As a result,there has been continued erosion ofWestern Europe’s secondary alu-minium smelting capacity.

In Germany, primary aluminium

99.7 prices have fallen recently fromUS$ 2106 to US$ 2050 whereasscrap prices have barely changed.Wire scrap (Achse) was recentlytrading at US$ 1812 and aluminiumturnings (Autor) at US$ 1191. In theUK, scrap prices have showed someimprovement over recent weeks:commercial pure cuttings were re-cently fetching US$ 1386-1458 andcommercial turnings US$ 893-902.

In The Netherlands, aluminiumscrap prices have found themselveson a gentle downward trend of late:prices of new pure aluminium scraphave dropped to recently US$ 1108while first-quality old rolled alu-minium scrap has slid from a levelof US$ 1145 to US$ 1095.

Copper

There appears to be no end insight to the phenomenon of risingcopper prices. Over the last month,LME three-month grade A priceshave jumped from US$ 3614 to US$ 3668. Market experts have at-tributed this price growth mainly tostrong demand from Asia and to thegeneral increase in raw materialprices. Some of these experts weresurprised by the recent increase inLME stocks, although these are stillconsidered to be at very low levels.Predictions about the future devel-opment of the copper market aremore varied than ever: some ana-

lysts expect prices to continue to riseand even to break through the US$ 4000 barrier, whereas othersare forecasting price falls in thefourth quarter of this year.

Scrap prices have followed the up-ward trend set by primary copper. InGermany, bright wire scrap (Kabul)has risen recently from US$ 3510 toUS$ 3580, while copper granules 1(Kasus) have climbed by aroundUS$ 80 to US$ 3648. Non-alloyedbright wire scrap (Kader) was re-cently yielding US$ 3457. In the UK,No 1 bright wire (Ordinary) priceshave advanced from US$ 2431-2485to US$ 3409-3500, while coppergranules 98% have gone up fromUS$ 3069-3186 to US$ 3117-3209.In Dutch market, bright wire scrapprices have risen from US$ 3227 to US$ 3528, while mixed scrap has gone up by some US$ 200 to US$ 3163.

Lead & Zinc

The lead market was in the dol-drums last month and processorshave been ordering in line with onlytheir immediate production needs.LME three-month prices brokethrough the US$ 900 barrier on sev-eral occasions while stocks in Euro-pean warehouses have continued todwindle. Hardly any prompt lead isavailable in Europe and, should de-mand rise, traders are predictingthat there will be high surcharges.

In Germany, new soft lead was re-cently trading at US$ 1075 whilesoft lead scrap (Paket) was stable atUS$ 743. In the UK, soft lead scrapprices rose slightly to US$ 510-529.Zinc prices have risen in line withLME trends and market experts areanticipating stability at high levelsin the near future. European proces-sors have been reluctant to buy largevolumes of late owing these highprices but sales expectations for thefourth quarter are generally high.Also on the positive side of the mar-ket equation, LME zinc stocks are atrelatively low levels.

Zinc prices in Germany have sta-bilised at high levels. Special high-grade zinc prices have risen in recent weeks from US$ 1471 to US$ 1529, while old zinc scrapprices have gained some US$ 30 tostand at US$ 921.


Europe

Pressure from energy prices


Aluminium

The last quarter has seen an in-creased level of interest in secondarygrades of aluminium scrap such asTense and Taint/Tabor - most likelya reflection of the new aluminiumingot orders booked by the automo-tive industry for the fourth quarterof 2005. Secondary smelters in theFar East are reported to be operat-ing at near capacity and yet marginsremain soft given that cheaper, im-ported ingots are readily available.

The market had clearly anticipat-ed the decision in China to drop the5% duty on secondary aluminiumexports, with the result that in-creased prices have failed to appearas discounts for secondary gradeswidened. However, specific gradessuch as Zorba have continued to en-joy good demand and healthy prices.

China’s primary aluminium pro-duction increased by 21.3% in thefirst eight months of the year to near-ly 4.9 million tonnes, despite govern-ment attempts to clamp down on en-ergy-inefficient plants. The Chinesegovernment is shortly expected to im-plement a plan to curb primary alu-minium exports and to call on pro-ducers to target the domestic market.

Copper

Copper has continued to amazethe analysts during the past quarter,establishing new settlement highs onthe LME. Although LME stocks havecontinued to rise and some profit-taking has taken place, the markethas rallied again to test new highs.Meanwhile, copper futures prices onthe Shanghai Metal Exchange havefollowed the LME’s lead.

Most overseas buyers of copperscrap have been extremely unsettledby these volatile market conditionsand have been reluctant to place or-ders. And throughout these most re-cent market moves, base demandappears to be reasonably sound asChina’s copper scrap imports haveincreased by some 35% in the yearto date.

Surprisingly, discounts and pre-miums for all the higher grades ofcopper scrap have remained virtual-

ly unchanged. Bellwether Birch Cliffis being bid at a discount of 12-15%of settlement, delivered China ports.

Demand remains extremely strongfor brass scrap grades such as Hon-ey, with orders proving to be particu-larly strong out of China. Aggressivebuying seemed to follow LME coppermovements dollar for dollar as buy-ers feverishly looked to cover everyavailable tonne.

Lead & Zinc

Global tightness in the lead con-centrates market has helped to boostLME three-month lead prices toUS$ 960. A reduction of almost 20%in LME stocks has helped to pushprimary and secondary lead premi-ums to levels not seen since the earlypart of 2005.

Zinc experienced an interestingSeptember: LME three-month pricesmoved to US$ 1450, largely as a re-sult of the disastrous impact of Hur-ricane Katrina on the US Gulf Coastregion and of the seemingly unstop-pable copper market. This rally wasquickly halted by some volume sell-ing, and zinc quickly retreated toUS$ 1333 before mounting a recov-ery to US$ 1430.

Chinese demand for zinc has re-mained robust during the course ofthe past quarter, but a global short-age of concentrates is thought likelyto limit the output of refined productin the immediate future. As a result,China will yet again be a net im-porter of zinc ingot in 2005.


Nickel

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Asia & Pacific Rim

Increased scrap demand

Aluminium

Consumers of aluminium scraphave reported little difficulty in sourc-ing material although many are look-ing to restrict their inventories in re-sponse to increased borrowing rates,lacklustre business conditions andlimited sales opportunities. Latestscrap price indications include: castand sheet in the mid 50 cents range;turnings and siding in the upper 50cents range; and MLCs delivered tosmelters in the low 60 cents range.

The longer-term impact of Hurri-cane Katrina on scrap generation isnot yet known although the re-build-ing effort in the Gulf Coast regionwill clearly have a beneficial impacton demand for a wide range of indus-trial raw materials, including alu-minium and other base metals. Ac-cording to the US Federal Reserve,Hurricane Katrina reduced thecountry’s overall industrial produc-tion by 0.3% in August.

Meanwhile, US exports of alu-minium scrap increased by aweighty 69% in the first sevenmonths of this year - from 351 089tonnes to 591 871 tonnes. The totalincorporated a 20% jump in overseasshipments of remelt scrap ingot to16 562 tonnes, as well as a 281%leap in UBC exports to 8194 tonnes.

Copper

Demand for copper and brassscrap has remained strong across theboard as the supply of refined copper

remains very tight. The flow of bothcopper and brass into scrap proces-sors’ yards has diminished over re-cent months and, according to the ex-perts, supply of these materials canbe expected to remain short over thenear to medium term. Processorsclaim that some suppliers are re-fraining from selling them materialin the hope of scrap prices going evenhigher. Among the elevated levels re-ported towards the end of Septemberwere 96 cents for auto radiators andUS$ 1.14 for red brass.

The current month was expectedto start slowly in terms of exports toChina as this major Asian consumerwas due to take its national GoldenWeek holiday. Furthermore, someChinese buyers are reported to havebacked off in response to higher cop-per prices on Comex. Meanwhile, lat-est figures reveal that US overseasshipments of copper scrap fell by 7%in the first seven months of this year -from 405 726 tonnes in January-July2004 to 375 738 tonnes this timeround.

As September drew to a close, astrike at Asarco and uncertaintysurrounding the outcome of labourtalks at Falconbridge’s Kidd Creekfacility were applying pressure toboth the copper and zinc markets.The most recent statistics from theInternational Copper Study Groupindicate that the global market wasin deficit to the tune of 219 000tonnes in the first half of this year

compared to 790 000 tonnes in 2004.World refined production of copperincreased by just over 5% in the firstsix months of 2005 and yet consump-tion fell by more than 2% over thesame period. Indeed, if one were toexclude China from the equation,global copper consumption slumped5.7% over the latest January-Juneperiod. And as for the USA, con-sumption tumbled almost 10% in thefirst half of the year.

On a brighter note, analysts atBloomsbury Minerals have predict-ed that LME copper stocks will fallto around 20 000 tonnes over thenext two months, leading to an in-crease in the cash copper price toabove US$ 1.90.

Lead & Zinc

Not often the metal to capture theheadlines, zinc powered to an eight-year high of US$ 1460.50 towards theend of last month. The industrial dis-pute at Teck Cominco has seen its

Trail facility on strike since mid-Julywhile, as mentioned above, there isthe potential for industrial action atKidd Creek. Despite these factors,however, several analysts have sug-gested that the zinc market could runout of steam in the near future andthat its value could drop as low asUS$ 1200 before the year is out.


Contributing to the Non-Ferrous Metals Market Analysis:

* Ralf Schmitz, German Non-Ferrous Trade AssociationVDM (Europe)

* Kumar Radhakrishnan, General Manager, International Division of Simsmetal Ltd, Australia (Asia & Pacific Rim)

* Ian Martin, RecyclingInternational’s Editorial Consultant (North America)


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FEBR APR JUNE AUG SEPTSEPT OCT OCTNOV DEC JAN

■ Non-ferrous metal scrap, stainless, nickel scraps …■ Telecom relay, military and meter scraps■ Cable, motors, transformer core, mixed metal scraps■ Shredded heavy metal, Alu. shredder■ Dismantled silicon steel, secondary grade steel coil, offcut steel,

reusable rail, steel scrap, shredded steel■ PET, HDPET, LDPET, PVC, Nylon, ABS, plastic scrap

North America

Limited sales opportunities

Closed: September 30 2005

Similar conditions have been wit-nessed among the middle grades ofrecovered paper: production re-turned to pre-summer levels and, forthe most part, printers appear to beenjoying healthy order books. De-mand from mills in Europe and In-dia has been particularly good.Prices have been kept relatively sta-ble, partly as a result of higherfreight surcharges.

Once again, stable conditionshave been seen among the highergrades of recovered paper, althoughlower generation has brought a sig-nificant reduction in stocks for mer-chant processors. Prices have beengenerally stable even though de-mand has been showing signs of im-provement for some grades.

North AmericaTaking downtime

Given the lack of major improve-ment in overall economic conditions,the North American paper marketshave remained very quiet. The pack-aging sector has been particularlyweak and, as a result, prices havefallen throughout the USA. Thereare currently high inventories of lin-er board and, following the holidayseason, generation of corrugated haspicked up. A number of mills, no-tably in the brown sector, have beentaking maintenance downtime - asure sign that the market is notoverly strong. Conditions are not ex-pected to change significantly dur-ing the fourth quarter of the year.

There is currently a slight over-supply of cardboard amid scant do-mestic demand. At the same time,Chinese mills have reported that theyare holding sufficient stock to last fourmonths - at least two months’ supplyat the mills, one month’s supply cur-rently on the water, and a furthermonth’s supply in the form of materi-al currently being purchased. Chinesebuyers are also claiming that there isplenty of European, Australian andJapanese fibre available at pricesaround US$ 10 lower than those of-fered by US traders.

The short-term market for newgrades is fairly tight. China has beentrying to buy more volume of lateand, as a result, prices for de-inking,newsprint and board mill news have


Paper & Pulp

Higher costs hurt recycling operations


EuropeReturn to normal

Incoming volumes of the lowergrades of recovered paper have re-turned to pre-summer holiday lev-els. In most instances, Europeanmills have been ordering normal vol-umes for this time of year and havemaintained their prices. Demandfrom China and India has remainedhealthy while Indonesia has recent-ly re-emerged on to the market.

European and Far Eastern de-mand for the de-inking grades hasbeen good, although wider exportprices have not mirrored Europeanlevels. Production of these grades re-covered to anticipated levels duringSeptember.

Following the holiday season, Europe has seen an improvement in the generation of many

grades of recovered paper - with the notable exception of some of the higher grades. In North

America, margins among many of the paper mills are being squeezed by higher oil prices and

by the lack of scope for raising finished product prices. Meanwhile, following a month of

decent demand from various countries in the region, lower-grade prices in Asia are expected

to remain broadly unchanged in October

firmed. However, this is expected tobe a short-lived revival.

Woodfree de-inking grades suchas paper and coated book have alsoshowed signs of weakening and ex-port demand is rather slow, especial-

ly from South America and India. In general, paper mills’ margins

are declining because of higher oilprices and the lack of scope for rais-ing their finished product prices.There is a real possibility that someolder mills will be shut down in thenear future.

Although freight rates from theUSA have not risen of late, the ship-ping lines have started to imposebunker fuel surcharges. In addition,high fuel prices are driving up thecosts of trucking recovered paper toand from the ports.

Conditions in the North Americanmarket are not expected to changedrastically over the next four weeks,unless perhaps winter conditions ar-rive to hamper collections.

AsiaPick-up in orders

Following a month of decent low-er-grade demand from China, Tai-wan and Indonesia, prices are ex-pected to remain broadly unchangedin October. That said, the markethas had to contend with slight BAFand CAF increases. The markets forboth the middle and higher gradesof recovered paper experienced aslow-down during the summer, butdemand picked up again last monthand is expected to improve still fur-ther during October. In contrast tothe lower grades, the middle andhigher grades are expected to at-tract slight, post-summer price in-creases.


Pulp Market Trends

Contributing to the Recovered Paper MarketAnalysis:

* Dick de Groot (Van Gelder Recycling, The Netherlands)

* Marielle Gommans (Bel Fibres, Belgium)

* Steve Vento (Tidewater Fibre Corp., USA)

* Dante Weyerman (CNC Company, The Netherlands)


For September deliveries, con-tract prices for most pulp gradesedged up by US$ 10-20 tonne inTaiwan and South East Asia. At thetime of writing, however, price lev-els were still under negotiation inboth Korea and Japan.

These price hikes were introduceddespite sluggish paper and boardmarkets; pulp producers have beenstruggling with rising chemical andenergy costs, while Canadian manu-facturers have also been hit by theappreciation of their currency in re-lation to the US dollar.

Northern bleached softwood kraftpulp has risen by US$ 20 per tonnewhile other grades have climbed byUS$ 10 tonne. Exceptions include:Brazilian eucalyptus, the marketfor which remains flat; and alsomixed hardwoods, which are notcurrently on offer in these markets.

Purchasers are continuing tocomplain about the differential be-tween their own buying prices andthose prevailing in China. However,producers have been pointing outthat China is a spot market charac-terised by volatile prices and thatlevels there can be higher than con-tract prices. China is also the largestbuyer in Asia and producers com-pete fiercely to secure business fromthis giant consumer. Furthermore,

shipping costs to China are cheaperthan to other Asian countries due tothe country’s robust export trade.

In Korea and Japan, Canadiansuppliers are pushing for US$ 20 pertonne price hikes for NBSK, but sofar buyers seem willing to acceptonly US$ 10. Purchasers have alsoindicated that they would fight anyattempts to raise short fibre prices,justifying their stance by citing over-supply and low paper/board demand.

In North America, Sappi FinePapers told customers in late Sep-tember that it would be increasingits northern bleached hardwoodkraft pulp prices with effect fromOctober 1 and until further notice.A producer of some 410 000 tonnesper annum of market pulp at millsin Minnesota and Maine, Sappiplans to raise its list price to US$630 per tonne for aspen grade andmixed northern bleached hardwoodkraft, and to US$640 per tonne forsingle-species maple pulp. If fullyimplemented, these would repre-sent increases of US$ 20-30 pertonne from this month’s effectivelist price.

The firm is the latest hardwoodkraft producer to propose higherprices for October: upward pricemoves for hardwood kraft had al-ready come from Alberta-Pacific

Forest Industries (APFI), Domtarand International Paper. APFI hadinformed US and European cus-tomers of its intention to raiseprices on two grades of marketpulp: the Vancouver-based firm hasupped its northern bleached soft-wood kraft pulp price by US$ 20 pertonne to US$ 640 with effect fromOctober 1 and until further notice -the same price that major produc-ers such as Bowater, Canfor, Inter-national Paper, Pope & Talbot andWeyerhaeuser had earlier proposedfor domestic business. APFI alsoslated a US$ 20 per tonne increaseto US$ 630 for its aspen northernbleached hardwood kraft pulp,while in Europe the company pro-posed a US$ 20 per tonne increasefor NBHK but did not cite a specificprice to customers.

UTI-pulp European consumerpulp inventories rose by 4.1% or 45711 tonnes in August to some 1.163million tonnes, their highest levelsince May 2005 when inventorieshad stood at 1.186 million tonnes.However, stock levels were 43 813tonnes or 3.6% lower than the Au-gust 2004 level of 1.206 milliontonnes. The figures break down as29 days’ worth of supply for August2005, 28 days for July, and 30 daysfor August 2004.

Pulp consumption fell by 16.1%to almost 1.068 million tonnes inAugust, the lowest level seen sinceAugust 2004 when it had stood atnearly 1.038 million tonnes. Con-sumption in August this year was2.9% higher than in the samemonth of 2004.

August statistics reveal thatstocks of wood pulp at Europeanports rose for the first time in fivemonths. Inventories climbed from1.278 million tonnes in July to 1.45million tonnes one month later,with stocks showing an increase atall of the surveyed ports. Thelargest jump in percentage termswas registered in Italy where stocksrose 22%.

European paper mill orderbooks for August:

Coated woodfree 12-18 daysUncoated woodfree 9-16 daysWood-containing papers 9-17 days

European pulp prices asfrom September 1

(per admt CIF):

NBSK US$ 620 SBSK US$ 590 Radiata US$ 600SMHW US$ 580 NMHW US$ 590 BEK US$ 600

Sluggish paper and board markets

Bel Fibres SARue de Monte en Peine 27022 HYONBelgium

Phone (+32) 65.760.960Fax (+32) 65.760.965E-mail [email protected]

Young but experienced specialists in

Collecting and recycling of

• Paper• Board

• Plastics• Archives destruction

Central NationalCompany B.V.

In cooperation with our American

associates Central National -

Gottesman Inc. Established 1886,

New York, U.S.A. our company

provides the industry with woodfree

and woodcontaining paper, kraft

and testliner board, bleached and

unbleached pulp.

We have 23 associated offices in key

world centers with specialised people

who can make the difference for you.

Address: Rapenburg 9, 2311 GD Leiden, The NetherlandsTelephone: +31 71 5160 050 Telefax: +31 71 5160 051E-mail: [email protected]: www.cenaco.nl

Specialists in pulp and paper



Textiles

Europe

Experts in Europe are broadlyagreed on the current status of sort-ed used clothing sales, describingthe market as somewhere betweensatisfactory and good. Overall, itwould be fair to say that the usedclothing business is considerablyless tense than 12 months ago.

In late September and early Octo-ber, premium and No 1 qualities haveproved readily saleable in the Euro-pean Union and in Eastern Europe.Buyers in Africa have also been or-dering considerably larger volumesas a consequence of the seasonal up-turn in their domestic sales of second-hand clothing. In line with this risingdemand, there has also been a slightimprovement in the payment perfor-mance of many customers.

The majority of European sorting

companies have increased their ca-pacities and many are currently run-ning at full tilt. As a result, thegrowth in demand for high-qualityoriginal material is expected to lastuntil at least the end of October. It ishoped that, despite the recent onsetof autumn collections, there will be norepeat of the huge over-supply wit-nessed in previous years. That said,an on-going increase in the propor-tion of waste and low-quality textilesfound in original material remains asource of concern for textile recyclers.

In contrast to used clothing, hard-ly any movement has been noted inthe market for recycling qualities.Despite the rising prices of raw ma-terial, it has become virtually impos-sible to achieve higher returns onthese grades.

Prices of wiping cloths are stable,with supply and demand appearing

to be broadly in balance. A similarsituation applies to the recyclinggrades whereas bed feathers are con-tinuing to enjoy very strong demand.

North America

Business conditions in NorthAmerica continue to be fairly strongpartly because a considerable num-ber of sorting companies have shutup shop over recent years and haveleft more opportunities for thosethat remain. Jerry Usatch of Du-mont Export Corp. in Pittsburghadds: ‘Customers do not have asmany options when shopping formaterial as in the past. If you havegood-quality merchandise, it has be-come easier to sell these days.’

Prices of original material fromcollections increased some monthsago and have been stable ever since.Material generation has been good al-though supplies are not huge - a fac-tor which has affected margins. Oneof the reasons behind the lack of sup-ply has been the impact of hurricanesKatrina and Rita on collections in theGulf Coast region of the USA. Anoth-er factor has been the absence of realrecovery in the North American econ-omy, prompting people to spend lesson new clothing. ‘The amount of

clothing people discard is in a directratio to what is being purchased,’ ac-cording to Mr Usatch.

Sales of sorted clothing from theUSA are currently good. ‘It’s a mat-ter of numbers,’ Mr Usatch continues.‘Since there are not as many goodsavailable, it’s easier to sell whatyou’ve got and currently no companyhas huge stocks. There simply isn’tenough unutilised capacity around.’

As usual in the run-up to Christ-mas, seasonal demand from Africahas picked up strongly and is expect-ed to last until the end of the year.

Given that there is currently aslight shortage of wiping cloth ma-terial in North America, demand hasbeen quite firm. Wiping rag pricesincreased several months ago andhave subsequently stabilised. Mar-ket experts consider these prices tobe still too low but do not expect anymajor changes in the near future.

Contributing to the Textiles Market Analysis:

* Günther Krippendorf,FWS/Alta West, Germany

* Jerry Usatch, Dumont ExportCorp., Pittsburgh, USA


In Europe, premium and No 1 qualities are proving saleable

to Eastern Europe and Africa in particular, with the result

that many sorting companies have increased their capaci-

ties. In North America, material generation has been affect-

ed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita; there is currently a slight

shortage of wiping cloth material and demand is quite firm.

Growing demand for high-quality sorted clothing

The November issue of Recycling International will feature:

Editorial closing date: October 28 2005

Contact Manfred Beckphone: +31 26 3120-994

fax: +31 26 3120-630e-mail:

[email protected]

Advertisement closing date: October 31 2005

Contact Jan-Willem Ypmaphone: +31 343 517-488

fax: +31 343 510-253e-mail: [email protected]

If you want to get yourmessage across to more than

6000 leading recyclingcompanies in 108 countries

worldwide, then call/fax/e-mail us about editorial

features or advertising in theNovember 2005 issue ofRecycling International.

Extra circulation!Additional copies of theNovember issue of Recycling

International will be on display at: Pollutec 2005Paris, FranceNovember 29 - December 2

World recycling updateIn late October, more than 600 recycling-mindedindividuals from over 50 countries are expectedto gather in Milan, Italy, for the BIR AutumnRound-Table and Trading Sessions. Delegateswill include traders, processors and machinery/equipment manufacturers, as well as represen-tatives from trade associations and from national/international authorities.Recycling International will carry in-depth reports on the following session topics:

* Ferrous metals * Media & metal separation* Non-ferrous metals * Recovered paper & textiles* Stainless steel & special alloys * Plastics & tyres* International legislation * Shredders

I N T

HE

NE

XT

I SS

UE

The November issue will also featurethe following regular sections:

* News * Product News * Magazine Round Up *

In-depth Market Analyses covering ferrous and

non-ferrous metals, paper and textiles *

Viewpoint *

Scrap, published by the Institute of Scrap RecyclingIndustries (ISRI), keeps you on the cutting edge of recycling information—the information you need to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Every bimonthly issue of Scrap offers in-depth articles on market trends, new equipmentand technology, management issues, and more, while its columns and departments keepyou up-to-date on industry news, meetings, new products, and personnel moves.

A subscription to Scrap is a small investment that can yield large dividends for your com-pany. A one-year (six-issue) subscription costs $36 (in the U.S.), $43 (Canada/Mexico), and $115 (all other countries). Subscribe for two years (12 bimonthly issues) and save 17 percent off the single-year rate!

Subscribe online at www.scrap.org or send your subscription request with payment to:Scrap Subscriptions, 1325 G St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005-3104 USA

Get theScrap Edge

C L A S S I F I E D A D S

e q u i p m e n t

MANY MORE MACHINES ON WEBSITE

Tel: +44 (0) 8700 100 097Fax: +44 (0) 121 313 [email protected]

ELV DEPOLLUTION EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE NOW

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(1992) Lefort Car Baler - portable(1997) Bonfiglioli Car Baler - portable(1998) Lefort 750T Shear - diesel(1999) Taurus TS652P Shear - staticNEW Akros 600T Shear - portable

BJD 668 Hammermill & Spares

SECOND-HAND MACHINERY FOR SALE

North America’s largest inventory of used equipment for recycling and scrap processing. Balers, shredders, automobile shredders, magnets, eddy-current separators and more.

We buy used equipment worldwide. What surplus equipment do you have for sale?

Web: www.rossmach.com Email: [email protected] • Phone: +1 847.480.8900 (USA)

Alan Ross Machinery Corp

Do not hesitate to contact us if themachines are in bad condition or need repair. We are interested!

A. Strauch GmbHPhone: +49 171 770 2560Fax: +49 5931 845 890E-mail: [email protected]

WANTED: • FUCHS and LIEBHERR

material handling machinesfrom 1985 to 2000

• Scrap grapples• Mobile Scrap shears

round magnet drum magnet headroll magnet rectangular magnet overband magnet

Ruhrorter Strasse 112, D-45478 Mülheim-Ruhr. Postfach 100837, D-45408 Mülheim-Ruhr, Tel. +49 208 423020 Fax +49 208 423780

Own reparationworkshop

Guarantee: 24 months


MBH Bronneberg & Jegerings BVPhone: +31 492 591 900Fax: +31 492 543 045Email: [email protected] Website: www.bronneberg.nl

MBH-Bronneberg high speed shearbaler. Box 3400 x 1400 mm.

Ask us when you look for:Used machines:• Guillotine shear with 500 tons and 6 meter box, generator. Excellent!• Guillotine Lindemann 500 in good working condition. New PLC control• Lid baler MBH, bale 30 x 30 cm. Box 1600 x 1000 mm. Reconditioned• Lid balers, MBH, bales: 40 x 40, 30 x 30 cm, box 1600 x 1000 mm• Lid baler MOROS GCF /J 40, bale 40 x 40 cm• Metal baler JMCIntyre type 2035• MBH car flatteners with Deutz diesel engine. • MBH hydr. Alligators with 900 mm blades with

infeed system. Cuts 110 round!!!• Lefort hydr. Alligator C 750 with 750 mm blades• Cable granulation plants, 400 – 850 / input• Cable strippers for pvc cable• UNTHA (960 x 700 mm) rotary shear with in

feed conveyor• Vertical paper balers for stores etc.

(Mobile) MBH-Bronneberg scrap lid baler with pre-loading hopper. Box 1600 x 1000 mm.

All machines in good condition !!From stock• NEW MBH CABLE STRIPPERS / MBH ALLIGATORS 400 – 500 - 600

Our Program:• Mobile, portable and stationary guillotine

shears 420-1000 tonnes• Mobile car-, steel and metal scrap balers

60 x 80/50 x 25/60 x 30/40 x 40/30 x 30 bales• Alligator shears 400 / 500 / 600 / 750 / mm

blades• Cable strippers for plastic and armoured cable• Car flatteners, cable granulation plants• Roll splitters for paper and aluminium

m a c h i n e r y


TEL +44 (0)1206 501688 FAX +44 (0)1206 863432

www.fastshipuk.com

[email protected]

SPECIALIST INTERNATIONALSHIPPING AND TRANSPORT

MACHINERY AND PLANTUK EUROPE WORLDWIDE

contact: via mail: [email protected] telephone: + 49 6226 932-130

new and second hand, refurbisheddrive motors 55 to 300 kw

GRANULATORS FOR SALE

REGULATOR - CETRISARegulación de Motores, S.A.

YOUR BETTER CHOICE

Eddy Currents SeparatorsCans-Bricks SeparatorsStainless Steel SeparatorsOverbelt SeparatorsDrums SeparatorsRollers Separators

Ignacio Iglesias 117 - 11908820 EL PRAT DE LLOBREGATBARCELONASPAIN

TFN: +34 93 370 58 00FAX: +34 93 370 12 [email protected]

Himmelmann ElektromotorenRuhrorter Strasse 112D-45478 Mülheim/RuhrPhone: +49 208 42 30 20Fax: +49 208 42 37 80

WANTEDWANTEDUsed or damaged lifting magnets withdiameters of 1000 mm, 1100mm and

1200 mm, ribbed design, defective or used.


Broad experience in:

Global Metal Shredding IndustryHeavy Equipment and ComponentsFabrication subcontrating.USA, Latin America & Europe markets.Degree in Mechanical Engineering Multilingual.

USA Based International Business Manager Engineering/Technical LiaisonLooking for new challenge in metal scrap/waste management industry, etc.

Contact:

Phone & Fax: 001-210-690-2234Mobile: 001-210-835-7288e-mail: [email protected]


For advertisements please contact:Jan Willem Ypma (Sales Manager)

P.O. Box 20986802 CB ArnhemThe NetherlandsPhone: +31 343.517.488Fax: +31 343.510.253E-mail: [email protected]

Advertiser Index

Carl-Benz-Str. 24 – 77871 Renchen – GermanyPhone: +49 7843 / 99169-20

Fax: +49 7843 / 99169-23eMail: [email protected] Homepage: www.terec.de

For sale:☞ original clothing☞ sorted secondhand clothing☞ original shoes☞ also all grades of uncut wiping rags

Magnets and non-ferrous separators

for recycling

Petunialaan 19, P.O. Box 18, 5580 AA Waalre, the Netherlands Tel + 31 (0)40-2213283, Fax +31 (0)40-2212479

e-mail: [email protected] www.goudsmit-magnetics.nl

Goudsmit has been developing, manufacturing and installing magnetic systems for removal of iron and non-ferrous particles from waste and bulk materials since 1959.The range of products includes non-ferrous separators, electro and permanent overbelt magnets, magnetic drums and metal detectors. For recycling of plastics, glass, car tyres, household refuse, wood and demolition waste. Do you need a clean end-product from recycled material? With a system manufactured according to your specifications? Then ask for one of our many reference projects.

Visit us at IFAT, Hall B3, stand 122.

Watch this space: it could becarrying youradvertisementin the nextissue.

94

A1 Specialized Services & Supplies 8

Andrin 14ATM Maschinenbau 13John R Adam & Sons 36Akros 24Alex Stewart 80Bakker Magnetics 77Batrec 12Bel Fibres 88Birim Makina 14Cheng Ho Hsing 18CNC Network 88Deltax/Gensco 84Eldan Recycling 9ELG Haniel 16Duesmann 74Fuchs-Terex 4Galloo Group 20GHS Strahlenschutz 17Granutech-Saturn 81Hagglunds Drives 32Harris Waste Management 33Holmatro 81ICM 46ILG 77INARE 12IPTS 84IUT Beyeler 95JMC Recycling Systems 80Kiesel 74Leghe & Metalli 81Liebherr 48Loglift Jonsered Cranes 30

Ludlum Measurements 36Lynxs Shredder Technology 44Mantsinen 56Mewa Recyclinganlagen 7Metso Lindemann 76Moros (Industrias

Hidráulicas) 70MTB Recycling 57Niton 41Norddeutsche Affinerie 71Oelde, Ventilatorenfabrik 54Oxford Instruments 70W.A. van Peperzeel 63RadComm Europe 12RecycleNet 88RIISA 15RecySystems 68RNS Engineering 30Schmachtenberg 36Scrap Magazine 91SCS 46Sennebogen 25SET International 85SGM Gantry 12+51Sharif Metals 74The Shredder Company 622B Consultancy 96Sierra Europe Recycling 2Sims Group 90Steinert 46Tung Tai Trading Corp. 77Universal Alloy & Metals 59Vezzani 40Wright Engineers 74

m a c h i n e r y t e x t i l e s

October 2005, No. 8

Shipbreaking

Two days in Alang Shipbreaking

Two days in Alang


secondary smelting


processor


secondary smelting


processor

Octob

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Shanghai Sigma Metals - Recycling International

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Transcript of Shanghai Sigma Metals - Recycling International