Page 13 from: September 2013

Business

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Trek/REI
US bicycle brands Trek and REI have joined forces with Alchemy Goods to cre-
ate a nationwide bike tube recycling network. Their mission is to collect one
million bike tubes by the end of 2014. According to the new partners, the
network is already represented in ‘nearly every state’. The network is aiming
to collect over 200 000 bike tubes by the end of this year – ‘more than double
what was collected in 2012’, the companies note. www.trekbikes.com

Eldan Recycling
Danish recycling equipment manufacturer Eldan Recycling has delivered a shred-
der for large tyres to what it describes as the biggest retread manufacturer in
Venezuela. Given that a proportion of the tyres is unfi t for use, the Eldan Super
Chopper is used as a fi rst step towards the recovery of the rubber, steel and
textiles. www.eldan-recycling.com

re-fashioNYC
New York City residents have donated for ycling over one million pounds of
clothing, shoes, accessories, towels, linen and rags via re-fashioNYC – the local
Clothing Reuse and Recycling Program. So far, it saw some 300 clothing donation
bins placed in over 250 buildings, providing a ‘convenient clothing donation option’
for more than 36 000 apartment units. It is estimated that New Yorkers consign
200 000 tons of textiles to landfi lls every year. www.on.nyc.gov/mTRilS

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Recent scrap import duty changes
in India represent a serious threat to
4500 metal recycling units across the
subcontinent – with many facing closure,
according to media reports.
In May this year, the Indian government
imposed a 2.5% customs duty on
imports of scrap iron, steel and alu-
minium and a 4% duty on imports of
brass scrap. India is the only country in
Asia to have introduced such import
barriers on raw materials following four
years of suspension; others in the region

have freed up scrap import controls.
With the Indian rupee reaching record
lows on an almost daily basis, scrap
imports have become more expensive at
a time of decreasing demand owing to the
overall weakness in economic conditions.
The Metal Recycling Association of
India (MRAI) has requested India’s
prime minister Manmohan Singh to take
action to provide them with a level play-
ing fi eld. ‘The prime minister assured us
that he would look into the issue,’
says MRAI vice president (non-ferrous)
Dhawal Shah.
India imports around 7.5 million tonnes
of scrap annually. With domestic scrap
collection dominated by the informal
sector, metal recyclers depend on
imports to produce 10 million tonnes of
castings each year. According to ‘The
Economic Times’, India’s IIF smelter body
has also opposed the 2.5% levy on
imported scrap, warning it could hurt the
domestic industry and result in India los-
ing its US$ 100 billion vehicle and
vehicle components market to China and
Thailand. www.mrai.org.in

Indian recyclers hit hard
by import levy

US company Earth911 has been her-
alded the winner of the inaugural Recy-
cling Innovators Forum competition, part
of the Resource Recycling Conference held
in Kentucky earlier this month. The judges
believed that its idea of putting barcodes
on recyclable products that can be
scanned by smartphones has the potential
to ‘transform’ the recycling industry.
Earth911’s concept instantly leads con-
sumers to a website that provides the
recycling specifi cs of the product in ques-
tion, tailoring information to a user’s own
location. It beat some 50 other concepts
spanning everything from plastic compos-

ites with bio-content to fl oat/sink separa-
tion of polypropylene and HDPE. Judges
said they were impressed by the practical
and mobile nature of the winning idea.
Earth911 was awarded US$ 20 000 in
prize money to help realise the project.
The runner-up, GreenMantra, received
US$ 5000 in fi nancial support for its
method to create industrial waxes from
recycled plastics. In third place was
PointGuard Pallet Protector, which was
given US$ 2000 to support the develop-
ment of a recycled plastic product
designed to extend the lifespan of ship-
ping pallets. www.earth911.com

Scanning innovation to
‘transform’ recycling?

Consumer electronics giant Philips
is to bid to intensify the reuse of recycled
materials in its products, according to
Eelco Smit, sustainability manager in its
consumer lifestyle division.
In the study report ‘Resources for our
Future’, published by the Dutch TNO
research institute together with the
Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, Smit
calls for more action by both the recycling
and producing industries. ‘We have to
work together with the suppliers of both
recycled and virgin materials,’ he says.
Philips aims to double the amount of
recycled material in its products by
2015, as well as to double the collection
and recycling of its products. A show-
case ‘eco-friendly’ product is the

Senseo Viva Café Eco: half of its plastic
components, 45% of its metal parts
and 90% of its packaging are made of
recycled materials.
There’s a solid reason for Philips doing
this, according to Smit. ‘We expect that
in the near future many of the raw mate-
rials we use will become scarcer and
prices will rise,’ he argues. ‘So recycling
these materials will reduce our costs.’
The ‘Resources for our Future’ study
report, presented late August to the
Dutch minister for foreign trade Lilianne
Ploumen, covers the economic, eco-
logical and (geo)political aspects of the
globally growing shortage of raw mate-
rials, and focuses on alternative
resources. www.tno.com

Philips targets more action
on recycled products

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