Page 7 from: May 2015
N E W S
7May 2015
For more daily free global recycling news, visit
www.recyclinginternational.com
China Automobile Parts Holdings
China Automobile Parts Holdings has signed a memorandum of understanding
with Malaysian company SRI Elastomers to build a facility in China’s Xiamen City
for recycling end-of-life tyres and other processed rubber scrap into a rubber
compound. The plant will boast an initial capacity of 10 000 tonnes per year,
which will be increased by adding more modules as and when necessary. The
initial investment is estimated at Malaysian Ringgit 3 million (US$ 800 000).
www.srielastomers.com
ISRI/LG Electronics
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) presented LG Electronics with
the 2015 Design for Recycling Award at the recent ISRI Convention and Exposi-
tion in Vancouver, British Columbia. LG’s new television series are said to be
‘recycling-friendly’ as they feature both recycled and recyclable plastics, stan-
dardised materials and connection types, while they enable easy dismantling
and label/seal separation. www.isri.org
Volkswagen
Volkswagen and advertising agency DDB Russia have created a new kind of
eco-currency for the car manufacturer’s Think Blue campaign, installing a spe-
cially-made vending machine in different parts of Russia that accepts only bat-
teries as payment in a bid to boost recycling. Volkswagen says just one of these
machines collected more than 8000 batteries during the fi rst month after instal-
lation. Over 15 million batteries are thrown away every single year in Russia’s
big cities. www.vw.com
Canadian Fibres
Canada Fibers has commissioned its Urban Polymers plastics recycling plant in
Toronto. The facility will convert post-consumer and post-industrial waste into
pure, homogeneous materials using ‘state-of-the art equipment’ and globally-
sourced additive formulations. Urban Polymers’ 16 000 square metre facility will
go into commercial operation this spring and will provide customers with mate-
rial of ‘unrivalled purity and consistency’. www.canadafi bersltd.com
Impact Recyclers
‘The largest national network of social enterprise certifi ed electronics recyclers’ has
been launched in the USA, known as Impact Recyclers. Operations are spread across
California, Colorado, Indiana, Georgia, Minnesota and New York. Partners in Impact
Recyclers take care of collection, sorting, recycling, refurbishing and data destruction
while hiring ‘people who are willing and able to work, but who have the hardest
time getting a job’. The network’s seven co-founding companies together recycled
25 million pounds of electronics in 2014. www.impactrecyclers.com
Bintang Timur
Plastic waste management company Bintang Timur, located on the Indonesian
island of Java, has welcomed a US$ 4.5 million investment by Californian private
equity fi rm Elixir Capital that will see the recycler grow its domestic business.
The investment will help the company to expand and create 50 new recycling
sites in Java and in Bali, bringing market share back into locally-owned hands
and catalysing job growth. www.elixircap.com
EcoTitanium
French fi rm EcoTitanium is developing a titanium recycling facility that will sup-
ply the aviation industry, reports the Dutch Embassy in Paris. The plant is being
built in the Auvergne region of southern France and is claimed to be a fi rst of its
kind in Europe. Total investment is Euro 48 million. ERAMET’s subsidiary Aubert
& Duval is one of the stakeholders. www.eramet.com
Business
India’s Directorate General of
Foreign Trade has announced its suspen-
sion of the 2015 Pre-Shipment Inspec-
tion Certifi cate (PSIC) rules brought into
force on April 1. Instead, shipping prac-
tices will continue to fall under pre-April
legislation until further notice.
The Indian government is to keep the
new rules in abeyance while considering
changes, and may consult with industry
representatives on its proposals over the
coming days. The new policy was heav-
ily criticised by both Indian and global
players because it required all metal
scrap imports to not only be inspected by
approved surveyors but also to have the
entire process of loading into containers
put on video, showing the inspector’s
face, the exporter’s face, all carriage
details and inspection equipment.
For now, this decision brings ‘relief for
foreign suppliers’, says the Bureau of
International Recycling (BIR). The world
trade body had warned of the serious
negative consequences of India’s policy
changes over recent weeks, as had other
notable recycling organisations such as
the Metal Recycling Association of India
(MRAI). The latter was ‘shocked and
disappointed’ to hear the requirements
when they were fi rst made public and
predicts that the revised rules – this time
introduced with industry involvement –
may come into force towards the end of
this month.
MRAI points out that India is heavily
dependent on scrap metal imports, with
some 6 million tonnes of ferrous and
non-ferrous scrap brought in each year
to meet its requirements.
‘The Indian government should be pro-
moting the usage and trade of metal
scrap instead of putting hindrances and
impediments in place that will nega-
tively impact the domestic industry from
having access to such valuable raw
materials,’ says the MRAI.
The organisation believes the new rules
stand in stark contrast to the recently-
launched ‘Make in India’ campaign
designed to promote and facilitate doing
business in India. ‘Such counter-produc-
tive steps will severely restrict the avail-
ability of imported metal scrap and
directly hurt the domestic industry,’
complains the MRAI.
‘The MRAI, who had just left an 11-hour
meeting with India’s Directorate Gen-
eral of Foreign Trade, says it has post-
poned the effective date for the new
rules until May 1, 2015,’ the Institute of
Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has
noted. Another meeting is scheduled for
April 30th, at which point ISRI hopes
‘most of the onerous requirements in the
new rule will be eliminated’.
According to the BIR, there will be an
‘opportune’ moment for India’s foreign
suppliers and other industry players to
discuss the PSIC issue at the forthcom-
ing meeting of the world body’s Interna-
tional Trade Council, to be held on May
19 during the BIR World Convention in
Dubai. www.mrai.org.in
India suspends
controversial shipment
inspection rules
RI 4-NEWS.indd 7 30-04-15 15:27
