Page 8 from: December 2012

8 December 2012

N E W S

Many of China’s plastics recyclers are
struggling in the wake of strict govern-
ment measures demanding a-level plastics
imports, resulting in a steep drop in the
volumes entering the country. The decline
is said to be as high as 50% at some ports.
Plastics recycler Shenzhen New Rainbow
Recycled Materials Technology has wit-
nessed a 20% drop in its imports of used
HDPE bottles so far this year. Similarly,
Hong Kong-based Lung Shing Interna-
tional Group Ltd has seen its imports of
recycled plastic drop by one-third
through the port of Guangzhou.
But the General Manager of Lung Shing’s

Guangzhou factory, Alex Xie, says the
company ‘considers itself lucky’ as this loss
does not compare to the falls seen else-
where. He observes: ‘Costs have increased
a lot. It takes more time to clear customs.’
Guan Aiguo, Chairman and Managing
Director of Tangshan China Recycling
Development Co., echoed this view at
the ChinaReplas 2012 conference and
trade show, held in Beijing last week.
Climbing costs and new regulations on
pollution will seriously affect the indus-
try which, he predicted, will ‘undergo
dramatic restructuring’ in the next three
to five years.

Tough criteria slash China’s
plastic scrap imports

NAPCOR: more PET
remains on US soil
The US recycling rate for PET con-
tainers was static in 2011 owing to con-
tinued light-weighting, sluggish sales of
carbonated soft drinks and flat collec-
tions, reports the US National Association
for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR).
The volume of post-consumer PET bottles
collected for recycling in the USA last year
amounted to 1.6 billion pounds – equiva-
lent to a 29.3% recycling rate given that
around 5.5 billion pounds of PET contain-
ers were sold in 2011. Of all the collected
material, more than 915 million pounds

(57%) was purchased by US reclaimers
for an increase of 18% over the previous
year. Meanwhile, some 628 million
pounds was sold to markets overseas.
‘Combined with bottles purchased in
mixed bales (59.6 million pounds),
exports to the Far East totalled 39.5%
of the PET bottles collected. This repre-
sents the smallest presence of exporters
in the market since 2005,’ states the
report, saying it reflects increased invest-
ment in domestic reclamation capacity.
www.napcor.com

Brazil remains aluminium
can recycling champion
Brazil topped all its previous alu-
minium can recycling efforts by accom-
plishing a ‘historic’ rate of over 98% in
2011, the Brazilian Aluminium Associa-
tion (ABAL) and the Brazilian Associa-
tion of Aluminium Cans of High Recy-
clability (ABRALATAS) have announced.
Ranked number one in the world since
2001 in terms of aluminium can recy-
cling, this latest milestone cements
Brazil’s position as the global leader. The
nation succeeded in recycling a total of
248 700 tonnes of beverage cans out of
the 253 100 tonnes present on the mar-

ket, the two trade associations have
stated.
ABAL and ABRALATAS also point to
large investments throughout 2011 to
keep up with the 7%-plus growth in
consumption widely anticipated for
2012. With steady year-on-year demand
increases forecast until at least 2025,
the nation’s industry responded by rais-
ing its aluminium can production capac-
ity by 9.5% this year – from 21 billion to
23 billion units.
www.abal.org.br and
www.abralatas.org.br

Sandy consigns a quarter-million
cars to the scrap yard
The severe damage wreaked by
Hurricane Sandy will force the scrapping
of up to 266 000 new and used vehicles,
US car-makers and dealers have esti-
mated.
‘We believe that between 100 000 and
250 000 vehicles currently in operation
could be removed from used vehicle
supply once all is said and done,’ states
the National Automobile Dealers Asso-
ciation’s Senior Analyst Laurence E.
Dixon III. The tally could yet grow as
General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co
have yet to announce their lost vehicle
numbers.
The hurricane destroyed ‘at least 17 000
new cars’, the nation’s leading car-mak-
ers have reported. Most were ‘damaged
beyond repair’ as a result of flooding.
US luxury plug-in hybrid vehicle manu-
facturer Fisker Automotive has con-
firmed that it lost 338 of its Karma
sedans at the Port of Newark, represent-

ing around US$ 34.8 million in replace-
ment costs. Nissan estimates it will have
to scrap around 6000 vehicles, with
Toyota and Lexus anticipating a total of
some 3000 scrap-ready cars.
Hurricane Sandy has been recorded as
the worst Atlantic storm in US history,
cutting off electricity supply to more
than 8 million homes and businesses,
leaving all but a handful of New Jersey
and New York car dealerships opera-
tional.
Source: New York Daily News

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