Recycling and Trade: Win-Win Situation for Enterprises and Environment

Nowadays, it is a well-known fact that recycling bears immense advantages all over the world. Recycling materials not only extends the lifecycle of – finite – resources but also avoids the emission of millions of tons of CO2. At the same time, the use of secondary raw materials saves money by saving work steps – and thus costs – compared to the production of primary raw materials. Recycled raw materials are not traded globally for nothing.

This favorable constellation seems to be at stake as international trade is adversely affected. That was an important issue during the latest World Recycling Convention, organized by the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR). At the BIR Convention’s kick-off meeting “The Challenge” (special edition), Michael Lion, Chairman of the BIR International Trade Council and host of “The Challenge”, addressed the issue of “Chronic Container Chaos”, where “surging freight rates, lacunae of container availability and shipping space confronts and disrupts BIR members’ trading, marketing and supply chain capabilities”. According to Andrew Hoad from DP World, rapid relief cannot be expected. Especially given the three months halt of container box production leading to a potential shortfall in restocking on an annualized four million TEU’s (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit).

There is also another problem: The European Commission is considering changes to EU waste shipment regulations, which could prove to be of “tremendous importance” and potentially highly damaging to export flows of many recycling materials, warned Olivier François, Chairman of the BIR’s International Environment Council (IEC). One of the priorities established for the revision of the regulations was to restrict exports of materials designated as “waste”, including many of the high-specification materials produced by the recycling industry. Europe would generate surpluses of “quality secondary raw materials” that could not be absorbed by its domestic market. In the opinion of Olivier François, such a move could lead to “tension” given that “many developing countries need the raw material”.

It is illustrated by China’s latest import policy that secondary raw materials are sought-after. In January, the country has relaxed somewhat its tight import restrictions for scrap materials. Furthermore, it has announced a “provisional zero import tax rate” on some materials for steel production. These measures are part of the country’s strategy to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 (Page 6). In contrast, the Philippines is facing a garbage crisis (page 38).

Regarding ship recycling, you find an interesting article from page 30 onwards. And the provider of commodity trading and recycling software, cieTrade, pre­sents its software spectrum in an interview (page 24).

We hope you get a lot of new and useful information from reading this current magazine.

Yours, Brigitte Weber