Page 8 from: January / February 2013

8 January/February 2013

N E W S

Quote ~ Unquote

‘Character is what a man
is in the dark.’

In the UK, the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill
has negotiated the House of Lords com-
mittee stage and is on course for imple-
mentation early in the fourth quarter of
this year. The Bill is now unlikely to
return to the House of Commons and
will probably go forward for Royal
Assent in May.
Introduced last year by Conservative MP
Richard Ottaway, the Bill proposes a
tougher licensing and enforcement
regime in a bid to tackle metal theft.
According to Ian Hetherington, Director
General of the British Metals Recycling
Association (BMRA), the Bill represents
‘a very good framework for regulation of
the scrap metal industry – it is compre-
hensive and hopefully will rapidly become
an Act’. He hopes the Bill will close off
‘loopholes’, such as the ‘unfair playing
fi eld’ created by exemption of some metal
traders – including motor vehicle salvage
operators – from the current legislation.

Industry ‘disruption’
Despite welcoming the progress of the Bill
through the Houses of Parliament, Mr
Hetherington laments the fact that its
implementation will have been preceded
by the ban on cash payments for scrap
metal in England and Wales, which came
into effect on December 3 last year as part
of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punish-

ment of Offenders Act. Early evidence
suggests the cash ban has done little to
reduce metal theft but has certainly
caused ‘disruption’ in the scrap industry.
UK magazine Materials Recycling World
has reported that, in the week after the
ban entered force, British Transport
Police visited more than 200 yards and
only fi ve dealers were found to be in
contravention of the new requirement.
But while acknowledging that the
majority of customers appear ‘quite con-
tent’ with a system of transferring pay-
ment ‘from bank account to bank
account’, Mr Hetherington remains ‘cau-
tious’ about reports of seemingly high
levels of compliance with the cash ban;
specifi cally, he fears some ‘wily’ opera-
tors may be holding on to material,
postponing sales until the authorities’
focus shifts away from the issue. ‘We are
not complacent – and the police must
remain vigilant,’ he says.
Among the responses to the ban, scrap
metal giant EMR is making an on-site
cheque-cashing service available to its
customers, prompting accusations of
creating ‘an uneven commercial land-
scape’. However, EMR has insisted that
the system meets government guidance
on the legisation in that it provides
traceability and an effective audit trail.
www.recyclemetals.org

Progress for UK’s Scrap
Metal Dealers Bill

Where have you spotted Recycling
International lately? That is the ques-
tion we are putting to you. As you
might know, we are celebrating our
15th anniversary this May and, as
part of the festivities planned to mark
this occasion, we are inviting you to
take part in our anniversary-edition
photo contest.
The winning photograph will be pub-
lished in our special May issue and its
sender will also receive a 1-year free
subscription to Recycling Interna-
tional. But in this case, there are no
losers; all entrants will be rewarded
with an illustrated copy of ‘Death in
the Paranoid Parrot’. This is a sequel
to ‘Boobs, Beads & Bourbon’ and again
contains cherry-picked viewpoints writ-
ten by Recycling International’s Editor
Manfred Beck over the last few years.

How to enter
So what exactly is your photo contest
assignment? We would like to ask you

to use your imagination and to cap-
ture our magazine in unexpected set-
tings or amusing, endearing or other-
wise surprising moments. It could be
on top of a metal scrap heap, in your
local dentist’s waiting room, at your
kid’s kindergarten class or perhaps in
a more exotic location. Anything is
possible, as far as we’re concerned.
The contest will run from February
1 to April 1 to give us suffi cient time
to select the most interesting pic-
tures. Be sure to leave your name and
contact information, plus the location
where the picture was taken. Please
note that there is no limit on how
many pictures you can submit, so feel
free to take your camera out for the
afternoon.
You can post your pictures on
our Facebook and Twitter page or
send your photos to: marketing@
recyclinginternational.com

Aircraft giant Boeing has signed
an agreement with car-maker BMW that
will see the two companies share their
knowledge on carbon fi bre materials
through a joint research project.
Boeing and BMW intend to collaborate
on improving the manufacturing process
for carbon fi bre via process simulations
and will also exchange ideas regarding
the automation of manufacturing. The
new partnership is a ‘very important step
forward in developing the use and end
use of carbon fi bre materials,’ says Boe-
ing’s Commercial Airplanes Vice President
of Product Development Larry Schneider.
He identifi es as a priority the drawing-up
of a plan for end-of-life products made

from carbon fi bre. ‘We want to look at
ways to reclaim and reuse those materi-
als to make new products,’ he states.
‘Our work with BMW will help us attain
that goal.’
According to BMW Development Board
Member Herbert Diess, Boeing’s ‘exten-
sive experience’ will help boost sustain-
able production solutions in the trans-
portation sector. www.boeing.com

Boeing and BMW target
carbon fibre reclaim

To post the pictures, visit:
www.facebook.com/RecyclingInternational
www.twitter.com/RecyclingIntl

What are
you waiting

for? Join the
celebration

and win!

Snap and win

15 years of Recycling International

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