Page 11 from: November 2011

N E W S www.recyclinginternational.com

11November 2011

The Basel Convention must con-
tinue setting the rules for recycling and
disposal of end-of-life ships, African
countries attending the 10th Conference
of the Parties to the Basel Convention
have insisted. Delegates told the meet-
ing in Cartagena, Colombia, that they
feared current controls on hazardous
waste management might be relaxed
under the International Maritime Orga-
nization’s rival Hong Kong Convention
(HKC).
Legal experts and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) joined developing
nations in expressing concern that the
HKC, adopted in 2009 but not as yet
ratified by any country, would allow the
export of asbestos, PCBs, residue oils
and heavy metals to countries and com-
munities ill-equipped to handle them. A
particular aspect of the HKC that worries
environmental groups is that it will allow
recycling of ships on tidal beaches in the
developing world.
‘The Hong Kong Convention is radically
different from the Basel Convention as it
puts the costs and liabilities of waste
management on the importing state and
not the polluter – who in this case is the
ship owner,’ said Ingvild Jenssen, Director
of the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking.
Ms Jenssen claimed the European Union
is working on the basis that the two
instruments are equivalent and that the
HKC could ultimately supersede Basel,
a prospect the shipping industry is
thought to welcome.
However, the 178 countries that are
party to Basel voted at the conference to

bring into law the Basel Ban Amend-
ment. This will prohibit exports of hazard-
ous wastes from developed to develop-
ing countries under any circumstances,
including electronic wastes and other
materials contained in end-of-life vessels.
The deal was brokered by Indonesia and
Switzerland and was supported by
developing countries, China, the EU and
NGOs including Greenpeace, the Center
for International Environmental Law, the
Basel Action Network and the NGO Plat-
form on Shipbreaking.
Jim Puckett, Executive Director of the
Basel Action Network, said: ‘The ban
ensures that developing countries are
not convenient dumping grounds for
toxic factory waste, obsolete ships con-
taining asbestos or old computers com-
ing from affluent countries. It enforces
the Basel Convention obligation that all
countries manage their own hazardous
waste.’ Read also the BIR coverage on
page 18. www.basel.int

Basel vote tightens rules on
hazardous waste in end-of-life ships

The plenary stage at the 10th meeting of the Basel
Convention in Cartagena, Colombia.

Boeing plans to invest US$ 1 mil-
lion per year in a strategic research col-
laboration with Nottingham University
in the UK to improve the recycling of
aircraft components made from carbon
fibre-reinforced plastics.
The difficulty of recycling the composite
materials means they have often gone to
landfill from aircraft ‘graveyards’ in the
desert, even though other parts are
removed and sold or materials recycled
when the planes retire from active service.
Researchers at Nottingham have been
developing ways of recycling carbon
fibre composites for the last decade, and
have worked with Boeing since 2006.
The aircraft manufacturer has agreed to
fund the work for three years initially,
but intends to continue on a rolling
basis. The support will allow the univer-
sity to carry out more technology devel-
opment, with the aim of processing
recycled fibre in new applications and
products in collaboration with suppliers.
Sir Roger Bone, President of Boeing UK,

commented: ‘The ultimate aim is to
insert recycled materials back into the
manufacturing process, for instance on
the plane in non-structural sustainable
interiors applications, or in the tooling
we use for manufacture. This work helps
us create environmental solutions
throughout the lifecycle of Boeing prod-
ucts.’
Dr Steve Pickering, Project Leader at
Nottingham University, added: ‘Our
research has been developing recycling
processes for carbon fibre composites
for over 10 years in projects funded by
industry, the UK government and the EU.
‘With Nottingham, Boeing is a partner in
the ongoing AFRECAR (Affordable Recy-
cled Carbon fibre) project, funded by the
Technology Strategy Board. With col-
leagues Professor Nick Warrior and Pro-
fessor Ed Lester, and industrial collabora-
tors including Boeing, we are developing
high-value applications for recycled car-
bon fibre along with new recycling pro-
cesses.’ www.nottingham.ac.uk

Boeing funds strategic carbon
fibre recycling collaboration

The use of carbon composite is accelerating in modern aircraft building.

A Japanese company has developed
a method employing shredded paper in
the production of a paper-plastic com-
posite. The process devised by Tokyo-
based ECO Research Institute (ERI)
grinds shredded paper to the micron-size
range for use as a filler in thermoplastics.
An ERI partnership with the Michigan
Molecular Institute (MMI) in the USA
has led to the formation of Eco Bio Plas-
tics Midland, Inc. which will utilise the

technology at a facility to be built at
Midland in Michigan, with ground-
breaking expected before the year-end.
Dr James Plonka, MMI’s President and
CEO, explains: ‘Our plans call for the
initial paper-plastic composite produc-
tion facility to produce 10 million
pounds per year, with the ability to grow
to 100 million pounds per year.’
He adds: ‘The bottom line in the short
term is that because of legal and privacy

concerns in the business, health and
financial sectors, the generation of shred-
ded paper is going to continue to mount,
and this research provides a useful, poten-
tially lucrative alternative to simply dump-
ing this paper in landfills, or incinerating
or re-pulping it. In the longer term, we
expect to be able to utilise this technology
to develop a whole host of different appli-
cations, across many different industries.’
Eco Bio Plastics Midland will be a US-

based subsidiary of ERI, with MMI pro-
viding financial investment and techni-
cal support, as well as the development
of new technology in the field. Now with
numerous manufacturing sites in Japan
and elsewhere in Asia, ERI was founded
in 1998 by Takamichi Matsushita and its
core business is manufacturing new
materials out of industrial waste paper
through innovative technology.
www.ecobioplastics.jp

US plant to produce paper-plastic composite

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