Chinese impact on world markets discussed at BIR convention

Beijing's China World Hotel hosted the 2006 BIR World Recycling Convention and Exhibition

The conference also heard that despite a slowdown in China's demand for scrap steel, demand elsewhere in the world has “dramatically improved” in the first quarter of 2006.

Regarding other materials, the BIR Convention at the China World Hotel saw textile recyclers calling on the host nation to give fresh consideration to importing secondary textiles.

And, tyre recyclers heard of the impact of the European Landfill Directive on the landfilling of tyres.

Plastics
The BIR Plastics Committee revealed that China had imported more than 8 million tonnes of recovered plastics last year – with about half coming from Europe.

” To keep the relationship between one good supplier and one good buyer is always better than looking for 100 or more new sources. “
– David Wong, CB Holdings
David Wong of Chinese-based CB Holdings told delegates at the BIR conference that “serious” problems were arising because traders and merchants were having to take responsibility for quality control.

He said the issue of trust between suppliers or waste plastic and Chinese importers was now the main point of concern, especially with material having to pass pre-shipment control procedures. Mr Wong called for those shipping plastics to China to describe the material in as much detail as possible.

He said: “To keep the relationship between one good supplier and one good buyer is always better than looking for 100 or more new sources in the market every day.”

Supply of recovered plastics from Western European countries and the USA has slowed down – despite high oil prices and good demand from Asia and, increasingly, South Africa according to the BIR.

Steel
In other materials, the BIR conference heard that gloomy predictions for the steel industry have been defied by strong consumption by steel mills.

BIR Ferrous Division president Colin Iles, of UK-based metal recyclers EMR said despite an expected downturn in the world steel industry, conditions for ferrous scrap industries had “dramatically improved”.

Although scrap imports into China and South Korea were down 27% and 16% respectively, in other major consuming areas of the world, “increased scrap consumption is evident and appears sustainable for the immediate future”, Mr Iles said.

Peter Hickson, managing director of UK-based UBS Investment Research, predicted Chinese growth in consumption of steel at 13% for 2006 and 10% for 2007. He said the price of steel and other commodities were now strongly linked to the price of crude oil.

The Ferrous Division meeting heard that India was bringing in increased registration procedures, similar to the AQSIQ scheme in China, to crack down on potentially explosive scrap steel imports and related accidents.

Textiles
The BIR's Textiles Division saw European recyclers urging China to give fresh consideration to textiles recycling and its beneficial impact on resource conservation.

” China will have to look at textiles recycling and fibre recovery for the manufacture of new clothing. “
– Rainer Binger, FWS GmbH & Co.
Rainer Binger of German firm FWS GmbH & Co. said the expansion of China's textiles manufacturing sector entailed a “substantial negative impact on energy and water consumption”, and asked why textiles was the “notable exception” in the country's import of recycled materials.

“China will have to look at textiles recycling and fibre recovery for the manufacture of new clothing if it wishes to maintain its prime position in global trade,” Mr Binger told delegates.

Terry Ralph of Terimpex Ltd, who is also president of the UK's Textiles Recycling Association, reported that large volumes of textiles were being picked up by “legal and illegal” collectors for sale directly and unsorted to new EU countries and Baltic states.

“This is taking goods from the British markets, thus further reducing the quantities sorted in the UK,” he said. “The obvious effect is to force the price of the raw materials purchased from charities to even higher levels.”

Sorters' profit margins had been “completely eroded” as a result over recent months, he said.

Tyres
Meanwhile, the BIR Tyres Committee heard that the European Union has now surpassed America in diverting waste tyres from landfill. Thanks to the EU Landfill Directive, the proportion of tyres ending up in European landfills has dropped from 62% in 1994 to just 20% in 2004.

The committee's chairman, Barend Ten Bruggencate of the Netherlands, said 3.2 million tonnes of tyres were recovered across the 25 EU Member States in 2004, and that energy recovery accounted for 31% of tyres compared to 11% a decade previously.

Mr Ten Bruggencate underlined the “massive” potential for recycling tyres into playground or sports surfaces and described a Dutch newspaper report that using rubber granulate was carcinogenic as “unbelievable”.

The Committee chairman explained that the Dutch government had gone on record as saying that granulate was not a cause of cancer.