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CN -2015 CMRA Convention: How green is my industry?

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Recyclers and metals producers around the world sometimes struggle to convince regulators that they are a net positive for the environment.

Recycling is an exercise in resource conservation, but that has not spared the industry from far-reaching environmental regulatory scrutiny, according to members of a panel discussion at the 2015 Annual Convention of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metals Branch (CMRA), which took place in Ningbo, China, in early November.

For overseas recyclers sending materials to China, Operation Green Fence in 2013 and subsequent joint customs agency and Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) enforcement actions have demonstrated that recyclers are not always seen as a force for good in China.

During a panel discussion at the CMRA Convention, Robert Stein of United States-based Alter Trading Company said Green Fence “sent out a signal to the Chinese scrap processing community” that certain grades of scrap were now unwelcome. Recyclers and nonferrous producers in China thus “couldn’t get certain materials, and some shut down,” added Stein.

Another outcome, said Stein, is that “technology has stood up and taken command where hand sorting couldn’t.” This has eroded the advantage Chinese buyers once had in buying the zorba shredded mixed metals grade, he added. “Instead, we make a product that is acceptable to the die casting community in the U.S.” Stein said of Alter’s current approach to shredded mixed metals.

Both Stein and fellow panelist Salam Al Sharif of United Arab Emirates-based Sharif Metals International praised Green Fence for having provided a boost to the quality of some scrap grades. “Recyclers should honor the commitment to quality; we appreciate that,” said Sharif.

Morgan Parker of Australia-based Sell & Parker said his country has a history of tight environmental regulation, including frequent visits from regulatory authorities, so “Green Fence is just another environmental regulation; it makes sense.”

China’s more intense regulation may have increased costs of doing business there, added Parker, but it also rewards overseas recyclers who are good operators. “It will remain hard to sell [scrap to China] unless you have a clean, consistent product. The days of just putting it into a container are over. That’s not such a bad thing.”

Fellow panelist Robin Cai of Hong Kong-based Alter Metal Recycling Ltd. (a subsidiary of Alter Trading Company), concurred with Parker. Recyclers around the world “share the common benefit of reducing pollution,” she commented. “They understand environmental costs will increase and are necessary. No one wants China to keep its pollution levels or to increase emissions.”

The 2015 CMRA Annual Convention was Nov. 7-9 at the Shangri-La Ningbo in Ningbo, China.

Source: recyclingtoday.com

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