Challenges and innovation in WEEE recycling within Europe formed the core of a guest presentation to the BIR E-Scrap Committee meeting in Budapest on October 14, 2019. In terms of challenges, Chris Slijkhuis of Austria’s Müller-Guttenbrunn Group (MGG) highlighted material losses through illegal scavenging, collections and exports. In addition, the linking of EU waste and […]
Recent weeks have brought the “confusing” reality of substantially higher nickel prices but a fall in stainless steel values, according to Joost van Kleef of Oryx Stainless BV in the Netherlands. “So how is that possible?” the Chairman of the BIR Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee asked the body’s latest gathering on October 15, […]
“The alarm bells are ringing louder and louder” for plastics recyclers amid worrying economic developments and wider uncertainties, warned BIR Plastics Committee Chairman Henk Alssema of Netherlands-based Vita Plastics in his introductory remarks to the body’s latest meeting in Budapest on October 14, 2019. But while many companies are currently beset by problems such as […]
“I think we can agree that there is no place for quotas, tariffs and bans in the scrap industry,” insisted Greg Schnitzer of US-based Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. in Budapest on October 15, 2019. The BIR Ferrous Division’s President was responding to a guest presentation delivered to the body’s latest meeting by Viktor Kovshevny of […]
Over the course of the next three to four years, Turkey could provide a home for a significant proportion of Europe’s recovered fibre surplus, it was indicated at the latest meeting of the BIR Paper Division. By the year 2023, Turkish paper mills are expected to have developed a combined annual production capacity of between […]
The textiles recycling industry is suffering from a combination of high supply, falling quality and payment issues among some customers, stated Martin Böschen of Switzerland-based TEXAID – Textilverwertungs AG in his summary of market reports delivered to the BIR Textiles Division meeting on October 14, 2019. “We also need to find better recycling solutions for […]
According to David Chiao of US-based Uni-All Group Ltd, the main issues affecting non-ferrous scrap businesses at present are the US/China trade war, political instability around the world and a widespread decline in manufacturing, with some countries’ automotive industries recording 10 % production drops over the recent period. At the same time, scrap metal flows […]
Despite the multiple challenges engulfing the recycling industry, there are also many reasons to be optimistic about its prospects. This was the overarching conclusion drawn by contributors to a debate on global trade which kicked off BIR’s latest World Recycling Convention, held at the Budapest Marriott Hotel on October 14 and 15, 2019. Session moderator […]
In his first Convention welcome address as President of BIR, Tom Bird set out the key priorities for his term in office, including membership expansion and a close working relationship with the media to promote the vast environmental, economic and social contribution of the recycling industry. He also identified the need to make BIR the […]
The LEGO Group announced the launch of LEGO® Replay, a pilot program that will accept any and all previously used LEGO bricks and donate them to children’s non-profits in the United States. The effort is a collaboration with Give Back Box, Teach For America, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. The process is simple: […]