Page 19 from: November 2011

19November 2011

In late October, recyclers from around the world converged on Munich in healthy numbers for
the BIR world recycling body’s 2011 Autumn

Round-Tables. And although every major com-

modity session confirmed the challenging status

of the global economy, there was also the strong

sense that a general scarcity of resources – both

in the near and long term – would underpin mar-

kets for recyclables. Consumption would con-

tinue to increase overall in a world whose popu-

lation was expected to hit 7 billion within days of

the Convention’s conclusion.

The economic outlook may not be rosy given

the Euro-zone debt issues, the sluggish US econ-

omy and credit tightening in China. However,

the legislative outlook was brightened consider-

ably in the immediate run-up to the Convention.

At the International Environment Committee

(IEC) meeting, it was revealed that the Basel

Convention’s 10th Conference of the Parties in

Colombia has resulted in ‘a true paradigm shift’

in the status of recycling. According to the

UN-EP Basel Convention’s Executive Secretary

Dr Katharina Kummer Peiry, the overall political

message from Colombia was that waste should

be minimised and treated ‘as a valuable resource

and not as a costly burden’, she said.

The acknowledgement that recycling can be

highly beneficial if conducted in a socially and

environmentally sound manner means that the

Basel Convention is no longer focused solely on

controlling and inhibiting waste transactions.

The recognition that some trade can be ‘legiti-

mate and useful’ represented ‘a significant

change in attitude by governments’, according

to the speaker.

‘Most discussed by far’
According to Dr Kummer Peiry, e-waste is the

subject of many illegal transboundary move-

ments and is ‘becoming a serious problem to

many countries’. In this context, it has been esti-

mated that the volumes of e-waste generated in

developing countries will match those in the

developed world within five to seven years, and

will ‘far exceed’ them by the year 2030.

Having described e-waste as the stream ‘most

discussed by far’ at Basel Convention level, the

guest speaker hailed the Partnership for Action

on Computing Equipment (PACE), launched

at the 9th Conference of the Parties, as a ‘key

platform’ for work on the management of used

equipment of this nature. Its ultimate aim, she

said, is to devise practical guidelines taking

industry input and expertise into account.

Indeed, she went on to suggest in Munich that

consideration should be given to forming a

Basel Convention industry platform along the

lines of the Business and Industry Advisory

Committee model at OECD level. There is

scope, she believes, for a consolidated forum

through which industry can channel its input.

Scrap and radiation
Seven years after stepping down as IEC Chair-

man, Dr Alvaro Rodriguez de Sanabria made a

return to the podium in Munich in his role as

radioactivity expert for Spain’s recovery and

recycling federation FER. In outlining work

towards an International Atomic Energy Agen-

cy ‘Code of Conduct for Scrap and Semis Trad-

ing’, he described this as a non-binding docu-

ment aimed at: protecting people, property and

the environment against ionising radiation

arising from radioactive material that may

inadvertently be present in scrap and semis; and

harmonising the approach of states to the dis-

covery and safe handling of such material – a

key point given the considerable volumes of

scrap being moved across borders.

It is ‘nonsense’, the speaker argued, to apply the

‘finder pays’ principle in situations where met-

als recyclers uncover radioactive orphan sourc-

es in incoming scrap consignments. It is not the

fault of recyclers, he said, if control of such

sources was lost further up the chain, adding:

‘They shouldn’t be punished as they have done

nothing wrong.’ He also emphasised that it is

‘technically impossible’ to declare scrap to be

100% free of radiation.

‘Intelligent recycling’
The Munich Convention provided a platform

for Professor Philippe Chalmin of the Paris-

Dauphine University in France to launch the

follow-up to his earlier survey of the world

recycling markets. He identified China as ‘def-

initely the key for all our markets’, particularly

recovered paper and non-ferrous scrap. How-

ever, he warned that, at some future point, the

world will be tested by a crisis in China and that

the commodity markets – both primary and

secondary – will be first to react.

He underlined that OECD nations are experi-

encing relative stagnation whereas the econo-

mies of emerging countries are ‘still riding high’,

leading to overall growth which will entail

increased investment in commodity production.

BIR meets in Munich

UN-EP Basel Convention’s Exe-
cutive Secretary Dr Katharina
Kummer Peiry: Waste should be
minimised and treated as a
valuable resource and not as a
costly burden.’

Professor Philippe Chalmin of
the Paris-Dauphine University in
France launched his new BIR-
commissioned report, entitled
‘World Markets for Recovered
and Recycled Commodities 2011
– the End of the Waste Era’.

Dr Alvaro Rodriguez de Sanabria,
radioactivity expert for Spain’s
recovery and recycling federa-
tion FER.

At the age of 81, Alfred Nijkerk,
who witnessed the launch of BIR
back in 1984, attended his 104th
BIR congress.

Peter Mathews of UK-based Black Country Metals (left) and Joe Pic-
kard, Director of Commodities of the US recycling organisation ISRI.

Brothers in arms: Kent Kiser, publisher and editor of SCRAP (left) and
Gert-Jan van der Have, deputy editor of Recycling International.

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