The dinner has traditionally been the highlight of the year for the non-ferrous organisation, the British Secondary Metals Association. Earlier this year the BSMA merged with the larger British Metals Federation to form the BMRA.
Mr Roundtree, who was previously with the BSMA and is now the new association's first president, told the 360 members and guests: “It is really heartening to see so many of you here as this truly historic moment.”
And he appealed to all members to fully support the work of the new association. “We are gathered here as the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors of the industry. This has been a long time coming and I ask you to support us in the coming months. It is vital that this association is a success. There is no alternative to this: We must make it work.”
Earlier in the day the BMRA held its half-yearly meeting which saw discussion of several issues including the End-of-Life Vehicles directive.
By Christmas the association is aiming to pull together a proposal acceptable to all members on the potential role for the metal recycling industry as the directive is implemented in the UK.
The association is also carefully studying proposals from the Society of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which has a number of key features:
- Last owner responsible for ELV delivery to an authorised dismantler or shredder.
- An obligation on shredders to take back any complete ELV at no charge to last owner.
- If shredders can prove a deficit from processing ELVs which they are advised to take back, they may wish to claim against the vehicle manufacturers.
The SMMT paper speaks of the need to win the support of shredder operators for its proposal. But the paper also says that it is highly probable that shredders will not buy in to this option if profitability is potentially jeopardised in the medium to longer term, when investment levels to achieve the higher material recycling rate might become onerous.
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