Page 11 from: November 2013
Business
N E W S
11November 2013
For more daily free global recycling news, visit
www.recyclinginternational.com
DISH
US satellite television provider DISH is partnering with the Reworx electronics recycling
programme in a collaboration which will see the latter recycle the former’s retired
satellite receivers and related electronics in an extension of its sustainability operations
that processed over 26 million pounds of materials in 2012. www.dish.com
Ecovative Design
New York-based Ecovative Design has won the prestigious 2013 Buckminster
Fuller Challenge and will receive US$ 100 000 worth of funding to further devel-
op its ‘groundbreaking’ mushroom material that provides an ecological substi-
tute for conventional plastics such as expanded polystyrene. The new alternative
is bio-based and home compostable. www.ecovativedesign.com
Pratt Paper
US paper and packaging company Pratt Paper/Pratt Industries has announced
plans to build a US$ 260 million recycling facility in Valparaiso, Indiana, with
operations scheduled to begin by 2018. The new 250 000-square-foot plant
will produce roughly 360 000 tonnes of recycled paper per year.
www.prattindustries.com
Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen
Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen and Leistritz Extrusionstechnik have joined
forces to market pioneering lines of recycling compounding technology for
plastics. The new product lines will feature advanced twin-screw extruder tech-
nology from Leistritz, which will allow the melt to be refi ned to produce pellets
at optimum cost for ‘virtually any application’. www.ngr.at
Loacker Recycling
Austrian company Loacker Recycling has acquired the Swiss fi rms M F Hügler
and Gotthard Schnyder, both part of the same group, for an undisclosed price.
The businesses specialise in scrap metal recycling, and Hügler is also active in
the plastic scrap, waste paper and cardboard markets. It is both a logical and
strategic step, comments Loacker Recycling ceo Karl Loacker, noting that scrap
metal recycling and recovery in times of scarce resources is becoming ‘increas-
ingly important’. www.loacker.cc
International Paper
US-headquartered paper recycler International Paper has signed a long-term
agreement with Texas-based Balcones Resources to recover old corrugated
cardboard containers (OCC) and use them in production of new ones. The Bal-
cones contract will support a sustainability initiative under which International
Paper is aiming for a 15% increase in recovery of OCC by 2020.
www.internationalpaper.com
Follow Recycling International on , and to get your latest recycling
news. Or visit our website www.recyclinginternational.com for extensive
daily news service.
PEF pilot to help harmonise
battery labelling?
The European Commission has
selected the RECHARGE battery asso-
ciation to develop the Product Environ-
ment Footprint (PEF) for rechargeable
batteries in an advanced pilot phase.
According to the Brussels-based body,
its proposal was chosen from 90 others,
together with 11 related projects.
Using a life-cycle assessment approach,
RECHARGE aims to develop the ‘applica-
ble criteria’ to the environmental perfor-
mance of batteries in selected applications.
It is hoped these may be ‘translated to the
overall rechargeable battery sector’. Ulti-
mately, the PEF pilot phase will provide an
opportunity to ‘harmonise’ the rules for
environmental labelling of the batteries.
RECHARGE says its environmental impact
evaluation for rechargeable batteries will
be based on the PEF guidance document,
as well as selected environmental perfor-
mance criteria; the latter are inline data
internationally recognised and accepted
by battery industry players and other
stakeholders.
www.rechargebatteries.
org
Platinum and palladium will be
the best performing precious metals next
year as record global car sales keep them
in short supply for a third successive year.
Platinum will gain 13% to average
US$ 1.635 an ounce by the fourth quar-
ter of 2014, taking the mean of eight
estimates collated by Johnson Matthey
and analysts at Barclays. Palladium will
gain 10% to average US$ 823 an ounce,
the most for any quarter since 2001. This
is in stark contrast to gold and silver,
which have slumped by 20% and 25%
respectively because of lack of demand
and investor interest.
‘Platinum and palladium markets show
the tightest supply and demand among
precious metals and probably will
throughout next year as well. Industrial
demand should stay high,’ observed
Daniel Briesemann, an analyst from
Germany’s Commerzbank.
The trend can be partly explained by the
projected growth in car sales, expected to
accelerate to 4.8% in 2014 from 2.7%
this year. Such an increase would mean
that sales of cars and light commercial
vehicles reach 83.2 million this year and
87.2 million in 2014 – at a time when
metal stockpiles are contracting as mining
companies fail to keep pace with demand.
So far this year, palladium has risen 6%
to US$ 746.10 in London while platinum
has fallen 6.1% to US$ 1,445.60.
Meanwhile, holdings in exchange-trad-
ed products backed by platinum reached
a record 73.3 tonnes valued at US$ 3.4
billion last Friday, 18 October. The
amount of metal bought through pal-
ladium ETPs increased 16% to 67.7
tonnes valued at US$ 1.63 billion.
Given this background, Bloomberg
expects an average price of US$ 1,500
this quarter for platinum, with palladium
averaging US$ 750.
www.barcap.com
Platinum and palladium
to top the charts again
Quote ~ Unquote
‘When turkeys mate
they think of swans.’
RI-9-NEWS.indd 11 08-11-13 15:26
