Page 27 from: May 2013

27May 2013

L O O K I N G B A C K

2013, efforts remain ongoing at the EU level to

finalise end-of-waste criteria for copper scrap,

as well as for recovered paper and plastics.

This year is expected to provide an echo of 1998

in another way. Fifteen years ago, BIR under-

lined the scale of concern surrounding radio-

activity in scrap by commissioning a guide to

the subject by a leading expert, including a glos-

sary of terms as well as national and suprana-

tional points of contact for members encoun-

tering this issue first hand. And in 2013, thanks

in no small measure to the active participation

of recycling industry representatives, the Inter-

national Atomic Energy Agency is on course to

finalise a non-binding code of conduct relating

to the transboundary movement of scrap metal

and semi-finished metal that may inadvert-

ently contain radioactive material. Based on the

draft, the document is expected to acknowledge

the inequity of punishing recyclers who dis-

cover radioactive sources of which govern-

ments had earlier lost control.

‘Desperate’ conditions
Turning from metals to other recyclables, 1998

was characterised by extremely low prices for

recovered paper. Towards the end of the year,

the ex-works price of corrugated was below

US$ 20 per tonne while mixed papers was

attracting negative values in some quarters.

‘Desperate’ was the word used to describe mar-

ket conditions at that time. However, this was

not to be the last occasion on which recovered

fibre prices would plunge: OCC was to slump

below US$ 30 per tonne shortly after the onset

of the late-2008 economic crisis, only to mount

a stout recovery shortly afterwards as the law

of supply and demand rapidly reasserted itself.

Figures revealed in 1998 showed that the world

was consuming approaching 130 million

tonnes of recovered paper on an annual basis,

with Asia accounting for some 45 million

tonnes, North America for almost 38 million

tonnes and Europe just behind on 37 million

tonnes; worldwide recovered fibre collection

volumes were slightly in excess of 130 million

tonnes per year, while global paper and board

production was a shade under 300 million

tonnes. As Table 2 shows, nearly all these figures

have grown significantly over the intervening

years – with Asia becoming an ever more dom-

inant factor in the world marketplace.

‘Extraordinarily long’ procedures
In 1998, BIR Textiles Division president Klaus

Löwer of Germany married two of the concerns

mentioned above when he suggested that export

trade was being seriously inhibited by EU leg-

islation under which harmless secondary textiles

were treated as though they were ‘nuclear waste’.

The talk within the sector was of ‘extraordinar-

ily long’ licensing procedures entailing high

costs, and of driving the distinction between

secondary textiles and waste. Difficult trading

conditions were compounding the pressures on

the trade as low prices and poor demand put

the squeeze on sorters’ margins.

Since 1998, meanwhile, the numbers for plastics

scrap have continued to climb: in Europe alone,

for example, around 25 million tonnes is gener-

ated annually, of which approaching 30% goes

for materials recycling and around a third is sent

for energy recovery. For tyres too, recycling

momentum has been maintained: at the BIR

Autumn Convention in 1998, it was noted that

the USA recovered some 75% of its old tyres for

some purpose, the

remainder being

landfilled although

efforts were being

made to reduce that

proportion; nowa-

days, the USA, along

with Europe and Japan, are consistently record-

ing recovery rates well in excess of 90% for used

tyres which are subsequently diverted down

increasingly established material or energy

recovery routes.

Exponential growth
In 1998, the launch issue of ‘Recycling Interna-

tional’ carried an article from Tony Bird OBE,

then president of BIR, in which he noted that

the recycling industry worldwide employed

more than 1.5 million people and turned over

some US$ 160 billion annually. Since then,

these figures have grown exponentially: a recent

survey calculated that, in the USA alone, the

recycling industry employs half a million peo-

ple and is worth more than US$ 90 billion to

the domestic economy on an annual basis. And

from this statistical platform, one industry

luminary has estimated that the global recy-

cling industry must now be worth perhaps half

a trillion dollars per year while providing live-

lihoods for as many as 20 million people.

With governments and supranational bodies

around the world becoming increasingly

responsive to arguments about the scarcity of

resources, one wonders what these figures will

look like in 15 years from now.

Table 2: Key global comparisons for paper (million tonnes)

15 years ago Today

Total consumption of recovered paper 129 227

– Asia 45 125

– North America 38 30

– Europe 37 53

Total collection of recovered paper 130 228

Total production of paper and board 299 400

In 1998, the world was consuming approaching 130 million tonnes of
recovered paper on an annual basis. Last year, the total was 228
million tonnes.

The USA, along with Europe and Japan, are consistently recording
recovery rates well in excess of 90% for used tyres.

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