Page 53 from: August 2013

53August 2013

irritation at recycling legislation developments

both on a national and European level. He men-

tioned the ‘increasing number’ of German munic-

ipalities which were claiming the ‘first rights’ on

scrap from households. ‘Law-makers use the argu-

ment that revenues are required for funding the

whole disposal system, but commercial collectors

sometimes fail to prove legal reclamation,’ he said.

On the sidelines of the conference, the BIR

world recycling organisation’s environmental

& technical director Ross Bartley described this

growing trend as ‘unfair competition’ and as ‘a

serious threat’ because municipalities ‘have the

power to determine whether and where indus-

tries may operate through land-use planning’.

Pawlitzki also called for a less populistic

approach from politicians in publicly espousing

‘easy to reach’ mobile phone recycling targets.

According to him, an estimated 80 million used

mobile phones lying about households in Ger-

many would lead to a recovery of just 720 tonnes

of copper. ‘That is 0.8 Eurocent value per phone.

The material might be valuable, but the volumes

are too small to make recovery and recycling

interesting’, Pawlitzki stressed. And he added that

a complex collection infrastructure would be

required: ‘Serious improvements such as close-

to-consumer deposit systems are necessary.’

Forecaster’s nightmare
In reality, this issue appears to be some way

down the list of concerns when compared to

the major challenges faced by copper scrap

market participants on the more global scale.

For instance, lower prices and tighter Chinese

import checks – now known worldwide as the

infamous ‘Green Fence’ – have increasingly dis-

rupted the smooth functioning of the copper

scrap market over recent months. Further-

more, global economic prospects remain

uncertain: China, the USA and Japan appear to

be strengthening, but the Eurozone is still weak

while Brazil and India are ‘ailing’, according to

Ian Littlewood, copper market research analyst

from UK-based Wood Mackenzie.

Peter Boeckx, chief purchasing officer for raw

materials at Belgium’s Metallo Chimique,

underlined the large number of drivers influ-

encing the copper scrap market – some very

general, some almost individual – such as sea-

sonal effects, import/export tariffs and envi-

ronmental legislation. ‘All these different

parameters can have an impact on the market

in a different direction and even reinforce or

reduce each other’s effect,’ he said. ‘As a conse-

quence of this complexity, the copper scrap

market is a nightmare for people who would

like to create mathematical models or forecasts.’

On the subject of nightmares, a ‘hot’ issue that

grabbed the audience’s attention at the Düs-

seldorf event was scrap-related theft and fraud.

With its value still historically high, copper is

at the top of many criminals’ hit list, according

to Robert Voss of UK-based Voss International,

the chairman of BIR’s International Trade

Council. ‘We are walking right into the hands

of thieves,’ he lamented. ‘It is very easy to follow

where a container of copper goes to. That infor-

mation is simply open to the public.’ In addi-

tion, stolen copper is hardly traceable and can

be sold anywhere in the world.

To illustrate the fact that theft is a ‘fast-growing

problem threatening our industry’, Voss recalled

the workshop devoted to this issue at last year’s

BIR Convention in Rome. ‘Right at the moment

I was addressing the audience and telling them

I had had six containers broken into, I got a

message about a seventh case,’ he said. And the

Hybrid cars and wind
turbines to feed demand
Demand for copper will see enormous growth
in the coming years, partly thanks to electric and
hybrid vehicles as well as to a new generation
of airplanes ‘filled’ with copper.
New high-speed trains can use anywhere from 2
to 4 tonnes of copper, a volume much higher than
the 1-2 tonnes used in traditional electric trains.
The automotive industry too could not manage
without copper: a mid-range car contains an aver-
age of 25 kg of copper while electric and hybrid
counterparts contain a much higher quantity.
And across Europe, growth in wind power capac-
ity will boost copper demand dramatically,
according to Ian Littlewood, copper market
research analyst at UK-based Wood Mackenzie.
‘We expect wind capacity installations to
increase by 12% per annum between 2013 and
2015,’ he confirmed. On average, each wind
turbine uses 3.6 tonnes of copper per megawatt.

Robert Voss: ‘We are walking
right into the hands of thieves’.

Ross Bartley: ‘Municipalities
claiming the first right on scrap
from households form a serious
threat’.

‘Close-to-consumer
deposit systems are

necessary.’

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