Page 29 from: November 2012

29November 2012

Forthcoming BIR events

2013 May 27-29
Spring Convention & Exhibition
Shanghai, China

2013 October 28-29
Autumn Round-Table Sessions
Warsaw, Poland

2014 June 2-4
Spring Convention & Exhibition
Miami, USA

BIR’s 2013 Spring convention will take in the Pudong
Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai.

Camera problems for Hans Koning, Managing Director of the Dutch
metals recycling association MRF.

Rachel Pollack, Editor-in-Chief of ‘SCRAP’ and the US Institute of
Scrap Recycling Industries’ Director of Commodities Joe Pickard.

Olivier François of Galloometal
in Belgium, Chairman of the BIR
International Environment
Council.

BIR President Björn Grufman of
Sweden-based Metallvärden:
‘The recycling industry is still
growing, and more and more
companies are taking part in it.’

for material designated as a product than for a

‘waste’. In this context, Ruggero Alocci of Aloc-

ci Rappresentanze Ind. in Italy said that obtain-

ing product status constitutes a ‘big opportu-

nity’ only if producers reward suppliers with a

premium over the market price.

Pivotal to end-of-waste criteria are quality man-

agement systems, and the IEC meeting heard of

concern within the French recycling industry at

its government’s decision to specify ISO 9000

as the end-of-waste benchmark; a potential

compromise, suggested IEC Chairman Olivier

François of NV Galloometal, would be to insist

on the implementation of a quality manage-

ment system ‘compatible with ISO’.

Delegates’ attention was drawn to the fact that

the BIR has produced ‘Tools for Quality Man-

agement’ to help recyclers worldwide move

towards the objective of an ISO-compliant

quality management system. BIR’s Environ-

mental & Technical Director Ross Bartley

explained that the document shows ISO in the

context of end-of-waste procedures for iron/

steel and aluminium – materials for which end-

of-waste criteria have already been agreed.

Implementing a quality management system is

not a major undertaking, according to Ms

Zúñiga.

‘Disparity in the hurdles’
A presentation from Mr Bartley switched the

focus of the IEC meeting to progress at United

Nations/Basel Convention level towards a frame-

work for environmentally sound management

of hazardous and other wastes. A Technical

Expert Group, in which, among others, both BIR

and ISRI are actively participating, is conducting

work on a framework document for presentation

to the next Basel Convention Conference of the

Parties, to be held in the Swiss city of Geneva in

late-April/early-May 2013.

At present, said Mr

Bartley, the indications

are that the United

Nations will ‘set the

bar higher’ than the

OECD, extending the

requirements on gov-

ernments to cover, for

example, environmen-

tal insurance, environ-

mental impact studies

and the setting of

emission limit values.

Alicia García-Franco Zúñiga,
Director General of the Spanish
recycling federation (FER) belie-
ves achievement of product
status represents ‘a good solu-
tion for transboundary trade’.

This ‘disparity in the hurdles’ needs to be moni-

tored and throws up the question of whether a

company can be environmentally soundly man-

aged in a country where the government is poor

and/or infrastructure is lacking, he said.

Mr Bartley also commented on the non-binding

code of conduct relating to the transboundary

movement of scrap metal that may inadvert-

ently contain radioactive material, which is

being developed under the auspices of the Inter-

national Atomic Energy Agency. Partly as a

result of significant input from recycling indus-

try representatives, the document shows ‘a good

understanding’ of the issues as they relate to the

scrap industry. Therefore, he said, there is a need

to protect the current text and to ensure recy-

clers are not punished for discovering radioac-

tive sources in incoming scrap given that they

explicitly do not want to receive them.

B I R B A R C E L O N A

Alexandre Delacoux
BIR’s new General Manager
Alexandre Delacoux joined the BIR secretariat
as General Manager on a part-time basis at the
start of October and has been working very
closely with the recycling body’s Director Gen-
eral Francis Veys, it was confi rmed at the Autumn
Convention in Barcelona by BIR World President
Björn Grufman. Brought in to strengthen the BIR
team in Brussels, Mr Delacoux will lead an inter-
nal fact-fi nding mission throughout the fi nal
quarter of this year before going full-time with
BIR as of the beginning of January 2013.
Bringing to his new appointment more than 20
years’ experience in European and international
public affairs, Mr Delacoux was formerly Execu-
tive Director at European Biopharmaceutical
Enterprises. Also based in Brussels and estab-
lished in the year 2000, this trade association
represents biopharmaceutical companies oper-
ating in Europe that are engaged in the research,
development and manufacturing of innovative
medicinal products using biotechnology.
During his career, Mr Delacoux has also been
Secretary General of Micropower Europe – a
grouping of companies and organisations with
an interest in the promotion of microgeneration.

This was set up to
raise the profi le of the
EU microgeneration
sector and to cam-
paign for improve-
ments in the legisla-
tive and regulatory
framework to support
the growth of the
industry.

Alexandre Delacoux joined the
BIR secretariat as General
Manager in early October.

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