The chemical firm BASF, headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, has proposed a plan to consolidate manufacturing operations at its Cinderford, Gloucestershire, U.K. precious metals recycling plant. The company says it will exit its non-strategic electronic scrap, gold and silver recycling business and dedicate its full focus on the auto catalyst recycling market. The company says the decision to close the operation is in line with BASF’s long-term growth strategy and growing demand for platinum group metals (PGMs) such as platinum, palladium and rhodium.

The company also manufactures precious metals products that are used in industrial applications, including automotive emissions control catalysts.

The company, with production sites throughout the world, has decided that over the next several months, production at its Cinderford site would be shifted from a two-plant operation to a single production site that is dedicated to automotive catalysts recycling. The electronic scrap materials plant would be closed, and operations at that portion of the site would be discontinued by the end of 2014. An on-site assay laboratory would also be closed by year end.

“The measures we are planning will make us more responsive to market and customer needs,” says David Freidinger, BASF vice president, Precious Metals Recycling & Refining. “We will continue to make significant improvements to our manufacturing infrastructure for automotive catalysts recycling in Cinderford to optimize our production efficiencies and position BASF to cost-effectively meet growing demand for our high-quality precious metals products.”

Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency headquartered at The Hague, Netherlands, has announced that a two-day operation that covered 20 European countries, has made 271 arrests, identified 146 cases of theft and checked 8,300 scrap metal dealers for accepting scrap metal without asking the proper questions.

In a statement, Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, says, "Metal theft is not a victimless crime—it can have a devastating impact on individuals, communities and businesses. The overall damage caused by metal theft far exceeds the value of the stolen metal itself and can severely affect key infrastructure and services such as railways, traffic controls and telecoms networks. This crime phenomenon can only be tackled through consistent cross-border law enforcement cooperation, and the use of Europol's information systems and analysis capabilities."

The operation was led by the Belgian Federal and Judicial Police and took place at the end of May 2014. The operation was the result of an initiative launched during the second conference on metal theft, which was held at Europol’s headquarters this past April. The operation is part of an ongoing EMPACT2 (European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats) program that focuses on organized property crime, which Europol says is a current priority within the EU.

Erema, a manufacturer of plastic recycling systems based Ansfelden, Austria, held an open house in partnership with Techno Plastic, based in Castelfranco Emilia, Italy, to demonstrate a new inline strapping system. Techno Plastic specializes in strapping and downstream monofilament equipment.

The companies welcomed more than 60 customers and guests from around the world to the event held March 31 and April 1, 2014. The highlight of the event was the live demonstration of Erema's Vacurema 1510 T Basic system featuring a downstream Tight Strap 500 strapping line from Techno Plastic. Participants were able to witness the direct production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) strapping before the previously sold plant was shipped to the new owner FIPCO Filling & Packaging Materials Manufacturing of Saudi Arabia.

Additional items on the agenda included presentations from specialists from both companies on the subject of efficient direct PET strapping production.

According to Erema, using the patented Vacurema extrusion system in combination with an appropriate downstream production line from Techno Plastic, recyclers can produce high-quality PET strapping using ultrafine filtration directly from 100 percent washed post-consumer PET bottle flakes or mixtures with virgin material and from strapping production waste.

Erema says PET strapping made from postconsumer PET flakes are cost effective and offer better safety, quality and handling as compared with steel strapping.

The customizable technology from Techno Plastic is designed for extrusion lines for strapping and monofilaments.
 

Constellium N.V., a manufacturer of aluminum products headquartered in Amsterdam, has finalized a $20.3 million (15 million euro) investment at its site in Decin, Czech Republic. The company says the expansion will further its strategy of boosting production capacity of high-volume specialty alloy products to supply the European automotive market. The investment includes a new casthouse and extrusion line that will increase production of hard alloys extrusions by almost 10,000 tons per year, the company says.

The company says the investment will strengthen its position as a global leader in the production of hard-alloy bars and tubes. The extrusion line is running at full capacity in order to meet the growing demand for ESP and ABS aluminium blocks, parts for automatic gear boxes and car suspensions among others.

"Constellium's investment in the plant in Decin is a critical part of our strategy to fully capitalize on the growing demand for aluminium automotive structures and components that is mainly driven by light-weighting," says Paul Warton, president of Constellium's Automotive Structures and Industry business unit.

"This investment also paves the way for a new recycling facility at the Decin site, which will enable Constellium to deploy its innovative recycling technology,” adds Warton. “The facility will process and recycle aluminium scrap from Constellium's key automotive customers in Europe. A key advantage of aluminium is that it is infinitely recyclable and retains all of its original properties throughout the recycling process. These properties make aluminium an environmentally responsible and economical choice.”