BIR provides details on proposed Chinese nonferrous specifications

The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has posted links to Chinese-language government documents providing details on proposed new nonferrous scrap specifications.

The proposed changes, which could take effect July 1, 2020, have been published by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation as part of an effort to allow some grades of red metal and aluminum scrap to be imported under a “raw materials” rather than a “waste” classification.

The document labeled GB/T38470-2019 pertains to brass scrap; GB/T38471-2019 details proposed copper scrap specifications; and GB/T38472-2019 provides cast aluminum scrap specifications.

The documents, averaging 25 pages in length, include photographic examples of some scrap grades and, in some cases, detailed chemistry specifications or breakdowns.

According to reviews of the documents by Reuters and other news agencies, bare bright copper wire will have to meet a 99.9 percent purity to rate while scrap classified as No. 3 copper by the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) will have to meet a 94 percent purity threshold.

Aluminum scrap likewise will need to meet varying levels of purity, according to the documents, with cast aluminum scrap levels ranging from 91 to 98 percent while recycled-content ingots need to be 100 percent pure aluminum, says Reuters.