In a step toward “fighting against plastic waste,” the government of India has announced that it will completely ban plastic scrap imports, which have been allowed only through Special Economic Zones. Since making the announcement in early March, the Indian government has said it will delay implementation until the end of August, giving its plastics recycling sector time to adapt.
India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MOEFCC) announced the ban via its Twitter account March 6. According to the ministry’s Twitter feed, India’s Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, were amended March 1 to prohibit the materials from entering the country’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Oriented Units (EOUs), where they previously had been permitted.
According to an online article by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), the 206,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap imported into China in the first two months of 2019 was some 103,000 metric tons, or 33.4 percent, less compared with the volume brought in during the first two months of 2018.
At the same time China was accepting less scrap, its exports of unwrought aluminum alloys rose by more than 21 percent in the first two months of 2019. SMM cites GACC data indicating a 15,300-metric-ton rise in alloy exports in January and February 2019 compared with the same months in the prior year.
One of China’s largest aluminum producers does not seem phased by the recent statistics. According to a Reuters report, Hong Kong-based China Zhongwang Holdings will invest more than $3 billion in a new plant in China’s Henan province that will be able to produce 1 million metric tons of aluminum extrusions.
Metals
Departments - Newsworthy
Recent news from the various sectors of the recycling industry
Southern Recycling LLC—along with representatives from Warren County, Kentucky; the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky; the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce; and Southern Recycling’s parent company, Houchens Industries—gathered to officially open the company’s new processing facility in Bowling Green. The new facility features equipment that will increase the company’s scrap processing capacity.
“We are thrilled to have this new state-of-the-art recycling facility here in Bowling Green,” says Spencer Coates, president of Houchens Industries. “We at Houchens Industries and Southern Recycling would like to thank everyone involved in the design and completion of this facility, including the Chamber of Commerce, city and county governments and their representatives and Stewart Richey Construction. Of course, we are most thankful to the management and employees of Southern Recycling for their hard work and dedication.”
With the new location in Bowling Green, Southern Recycling now operates five processing facilities: three in Kentucky and two in Tennessee.
Southern Recycling was founded in 1985 and serves industrial, commercial and residential recycling customers. The company says it specializes in processing and shipping more than 25,000 tons per month of ferrous and nonferrous scrap and other recyclables at its facilities.
Photo by Daniel Varela
W. Silver Recycling opens new plant in Southern California
W. Silver Recycling opened its new Calexico, California, metals recycling facility in April. The plant is W. Silver’s 11th location, with eight facilities in the United States and three in Mexico.
Lane Gaddy, the president and CEO of W. Silver, tells Recycling Today, “We are especially excited about this site as it completes a long-term vision for W. Silver of coast-to-coast coverage on the Mexican border. It opens up the largest maquila region in which we are not operating in currently in Mexico.”
Gaddy says the site is well-suited for servicing maquilas in the states of Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, as well as customers in California’s Imperial Valley and those in southwest Arizona.
The site is a greenfield 5-acre parcel with rail service provided by Union Pacific.
“Our entire team has been working for months to prepare for the opening of our first office and facility in California, and we’re ready to start partnering with new customers along the Baja and Sonoran border of Mexico,” Gaddy says. “With sites across the entire southwest, this new location now allows us to better serve the maquilas along California’s southern border. Direct access to rail and the port of entry will help us reach more customers and continue to grow our business.”
W. Silver was founded by William Silver in 1920 in El Paso, Texas, the city that still serves as its headquarters. The company specializes in servicing industrial accounts in Mexico and the southwest United States and has more than 500 employees in the U.S. and Mexico at its 11 locations and at customer sites.
University develops lithium-ion battery recycling solution
Researchers at Rice University in Houston say they have a solution, literally, to deal with sometimes difficult-to-recycle lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, cellphones and other electronic devices.
Materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan and colleagues at a Rice laboratory say they have used an environmentally friendly deep eutectic solvent to extract recyclable elements from the metal oxides commonly used as cathodes in lithium-ion batteries. The goal, researchers say, is to curtail the use of harsh processes to recycle batteries and also to keep batteries out of landfills.
The solvent, made from choline chloride and ethylene glycol, extracted more than 90 percent of cobalt from powdered compounds and a smaller but still significant amount from used batteries, the researchers say.
“Rechargeable battery waste, particularly from lithium-ion batteries, will become an increasingly menacing environmental challenge in the future as the demand for these through their usage in electric vehicles and other gadgets increases dramatically,” Ajayan says.
“It’s important to recover strategic metals like cobalt that are limited in supply and are critical for the performance of these energy-storage devices,” he continues.
“This has been attempted before with acids,” says Rice graduate student and lead author Kimmai Tran. “They’re effective, but they’re corrosive and not eco-friendly. As a whole, recycling lithium-ion batteries is typically expensive and a risk to workers.”
The researchers built small prototype batteries and found that cobalt could be recovered from the eutectic solution through precipitation or even electroplating to a steel mesh, with the latter method potentially allowing for the deep eutectic solvent to be reused.
“We focused on cobalt,” says Rice alumnus Marco Rodrigues, now a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne National Laboratory. “From a resource standpoint, it’s the most critical part. The battery in your phone will surely have lots of it. Lithium is very valuable too, but cobalt in particular is not only environmentally scarce, but also, from a social standpoint, hard to get.”
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has opened a battery recycling research and development center at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. The goal of the R&D facility is to reclaim and recycle materials such as cobalt and lithium from spent lithium-ion batteries.
The launch of the DOE’s lithium-ion battery recycling center, called the ReCell Center, “will help the United States grow a globally competitive recycling industry and reduce our reliance on foreign sources of battery materials,” the agency says.
“The ReCell Center will help expedite the pursuit to profitable lithium-ion battery recycling,” says Jeff Spangenberger, director of the ReCell Center.
“ReCell brings our national laboratories, the private sector and universities together to develop advanced technologies that safely and cost-effectively recycle lithium-ion batteries,” says Daniel R. Simmons, assistant secretary of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). “This center will create jobs and create a national supply of lithium-based battery materials, as well as spur the adoption of an affordable electric vehicle economy.”
The DOE says the ReCell Center is a collaboration between Argonne, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and several universities, including Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, the University of California at San Diego and Michigan Technological University.
WPI has received a one-year, $150,000 contract to conduct research on the effects of impurities on the cathode materials used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries.
Yan Wang, a WPI professor of mechanical engineering who developed a process for recycling lithium-ion batteries that can recover and reuse cathode materials regardless of their chemistry, will lead the project. Battery Resourcers, a company co-founded by Wang, licensed the patented process and has established a pilot plant in Worcester to demonstrate that it can be scaled up to near-commercial capacity.
The ReCell Center is supported by the DOE with $15 million in funding over three years, and its work will include development of test beds and a process scale-up facility at Argonne.
The DOE also announced the start of its Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize. The prize encourages entrepreneurs to find innovative solutions to collecting, storing and transporting discarded lithium-ion batteries for eventual recycling. It will award cash prizes totaling $5.5 million to contestants in three phases designed to accelerate the development of solutions from concept to prototype.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. has announced it will build its new scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) steel plate mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky. That city is situated on the Ohio River southwest of Louisville, Kentucky.
Nucor says it will invest approximately $1.35 billion to build the mill, which will be capable of producing 1.2 million tons per year of steel plate products. The company says it expects the plate mill to be fully operational in 2022, pending regulatory approvals and obtaining appropriate permits.
“This strategic investment will enable us to build a clear market leadership position in the United States plate market,” says John Ferriola, chair, CEO and president of Nucor. “Kentucky is an excellent location for this mill, right in the center of America’s largest plate-consuming region. Our acquisition of the Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Kentucky, five years ago has been a tremendous success, and we are pleased to add a second mill in the state.”
With the new plate mill, Nucor will be able to produce 97 percent of the products the domestic plate market demands, including what it calls specialty higher margin products.
The mill will produce cut-to-length, coiled, heat-treated and discrete plate ranging from 60 to 160 inches wide and in gauges from 3/16th of an inch to 14 inches. The company says the Brandenburg mill will employ more than 400 people full time at an average annual salary of $72,000.
The mill’s location on the Ohio River will give Nucor logistical advantages in sourcing raw materials and serving customers throughout the Midwest, the company says.
Nucor currently operates plate mills in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas.
The company has two additional major investment projects underway at its Gallatin sheet mill in Kentucky. That mill’s new galvanizing line will be operational during the second quarter of 2019. Additionally, a project to increase Gallatin’s hot-rolled coil capacity at expanded widths of up to 73 inches is expected to come online during 2021, Nucor says.
Municipal, Paper
Departments - Newsworthy
Recent news from the various sectors of the recycling industry
White Birch Paper newsprint mill ceases production
The Bear Island newsprint mill operated by White Birch Paper Co. in Hanover County, Virginia, has been idled, according to a report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
White Birch, Greenwich, Connecticut, restarted the mill last year after a previous shutdown in 2017. However, the company announced March 8 it would cease production of newsprint effective immediately.
White Birch sold the mill to Kingsey Falls, Quebec-based Cascades Inc. in July 2018. Last year, Cascades announced plans to invest $275 million into the mill to make recycled paper products. Before the conversion takes place, White Birch Paper planned to temporarily operate the site as a newsprint mill under a 27-month lease.
However, Christopher Brant, president of White Birch Paper, released a statement the first week of March saying, “the idea and attempt to keep the employees of Bear Island active through the mill’s transition in ownership and grade production has come to an unfortunate and premature end.
“We walked into this project believing that the U.S. trade actions surrounding the uncoated groundwood paper business made the mill’s output a necessity for customers in the U.S. market for the two years planned,” Brant continues. “A challenging restart of the mill and zero-tariff environment have forced us to weigh the viability of continuing production amidst waning market support for the mill and the perceived advantages it has to offer.”
Cascades still plans to start production of containerboard at the plant in 2021, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That plan is contingent on final approval by Cascades’ board of directors.
South Dakota MRF adds paper cups
A partnership with the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI), Falls Church, Virginia, has allowed material recovery facility (MRF) operator Millennium Recycling Inc., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to add paper cups to its list of acceptable recyclables.
“We are committed to giving our customers in Sioux Falls, Yankton, Huron, southwest Minnesota and beyond the opportunity to provide a new life for recycled cups—not just send them to the landfill,” says Shannon Dwire, president of Millennium Recycling.
Roughly 600,000 tons of paper beverage cups are used each year in the United States, Millennium says, with the majority of this material ending up in landfills as they were once thought to be unrecyclable because of their plastic lining, which insulates the cup and prevents leaks. However, a growing number of mills recognize that these cups are a source of high-quality fiber and are recycling them into new products, including tissue, boxes and pulp to make new cups, the company adds.
“The team at FPI is working with us on communication efforts,” says Marissa Begley, who handles marketing and communications for Millennium. She adds that FPI also is supporting the company with social media messaging.
“Other than that, no equipment or process changes have been implemented at Millennium,” Begley says.
Each year, Millennium processes about 50,000 tons of recyclables. The company will send its cups and other paper items to mills that include WestRock in St. Paul, Minnesota, where they will be turned into 100 percent recycled paperboard for packaging. This WestRock mill is one of more than a dozen mills in the U.S. and Canada that have committed to recycling paper cups.
“At FPI, our work is ongoing with communities, recycling facilities and end markets to expand the opportunities to collect, process and recycle foodservice packaging,” says Lynn Dyer, FPI president. “Domestic markets for recovered materials are critical for successful recycling, and we congratulate Millennium Recycling and WestRock for playing a large role in getting more paper cups and paper take-out containers recycled.”
Copper, aluminum scrap outlook uncertain but hopeful
Departments - Commodities Nonferrous
Future investments in processing technology and melting capacity could boost nonferrous scrap markets.
Despite the uncertainty that characterizes copper and aluminum scrap markets currently, speakers at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) 2019 Convention & Exposition, ISRI2019, April 8-11 in Los Angeles, remained optimistic, envisioning future investments in processing technology and melting capacity within North America.
Tim Strelitz, owner and president of Los Angeles-based California Metal-X (CMX), a manufacturer of brass, bronze, engineered alloys and C87850 ingot using scrap, said he was optimistic about the future of domestic copper recycling. Speaking during the Spotlight on Copper, he said he believed more copper scrap would be consumed in the U.S. spurred by China’s restrictions on imports of this material.
“The Chinese are there for the Chinese” and will do whatever is best for them, Strelitz said, even if that means figuring out how to bring copper scrap back into the country. “China continues to be very much of an unknown commodity,” he added.
Jurgen van Gorp of Beerse, Belgium-based Metallo said China’s policies that no longer welcome certain types of copper scrap stimulate creativity. However, he also said the copper and brass packages that previously were shipped to China and now are being offered to his company are not truly the packages they are labeled to be. Instead, these packages require more extensive processing and upgrading prior to melting.
Strelitz agreed, adding that CMX has become very “adroit” at this, which lends efficiencies to the company’s melting operation.
CMX recently acquired Colonial Metals Co., a secondary copper smelter in Pennsylvania that closed in mid-2018. CMX has partnered with another California-based company, scrap metals processor SA Recycling, on the deal. Strelitz said Colonial’s processes were “excellent,” and, when coupled with CMX’s “innovative capabilities,” CMX has the chance to bring the plant back to full production. Strelitz said melting and casting at the Colonial plant were expected to begin in May.
“Across the world and not just in the U.S., government policy is really driving that supply- demand dynamic and its effect on the U.S. scrap business.” – Steve Deacon, nonferrous president for EMR USA
Steve Deacon, nonferrous president for EMR USA, Bellmawr, New Jersey, who spoke during the Spotlight on Aluminum at ISRI2019, said China was “the elephant in the room,” affecting demand for U.S. aluminum scrap. “We’ve seen that void filled not only by India but other emerging Asian markets.”
Investments are being made throughout the world on the secondary and primary sides of the aluminum business, he added, which should help to spur demand.
Andrew McKee, president of the Chicago-based Materials Trading division of Schupan & Sons, Kalamazoo, Michigan, said the wide spreads on aluminum scrap would attract new investments from secondary aluminum producers.
However, both men said government policy is playing a larger role in spurring these investments beyond supply-and-demand dynamics alone. “Across the world and not just in the U.S., government policy is really driving that supply-demand dynamic and its effect on the U.S. scrap business,” Deacon remarked.
Declining domestic demand for OCC pushes pricing downward
Departments - Commodities Paper
Lower prices for OCC and mixed paper make it difficult for material recovery facilities to move materials.
Old corrugated containers (OCC) prices declined for a fourth consecutive month, dipping to $40 per ton in the April buying period, according to PPI Pulp & Paper Week. Also, mixed paper prices averaged about -$2 per ton in April, which is consistent with where prices for that grade have been for the last three months.
During the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) 2019 Convention & Exposition April 8-11 in Los Angeles, Michael Timpane, vice president of material recovery and process optimization at Resource Recycling Systems, Ann Arbor, Michigan, reported how commodity values are affecting material recovery facilities (MRFs) in a session on municipal recycling contracts. He said the average value for MRF-recovered commodities was at $38.18 in March.
Timpane added that the declining average commodity values can be attributed mostly to the oversupply of mixed paper and very low prices for that grade. “Mixed paper hasn’t been worth anything for at least six months, and most people have to pay to get rid of it,” he said.
The lower prices for OCC and mixed paper are making it increasingly difficult for MRF operators and paper recyclers to bale materials cost-effectively.
For a free trial of Fastmarket RISI’s PPI Pulp & Paper Week pricing, please visit www.risi.com/rt.
Adam Josephson, director and equity research analyst at Cleveland-based KeyBanc Capital Markets, says a few factors likely contribute to the continued decline in OCC prices. First, he says, China is continuing to cut its import quotas for this material. In 2018, China imported about 19.1 million metric tons of recovered paper, according to U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. International Trade Commission data as reported by ISRI. This year, he says that number is expected to decline to 11 million or 12 million tons.
“That doesn’t mean that [China will] import even that full amount,” he adds. “China continues to cut its import quotas, which means they’re buying increasingly less of our recovered paper.”
“Mixed paper hasn’t been worth anything for at least six months, and most people have to pay to get rid of it.” – Michael Timpane, vice president, Resource Recycling Systems
Second, Josephson says, the sharp deceleration in the rate of U.S. box demand growth is a factor that’s contributing to declining OCC prices and demand. While box demand growth was healthy in early 2018, it began to stall as of May 2018. As of March 2019, he says box demand growth declined about 0.5 percent. With less box demand growth, he says demand for OCC is reduced.
Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging program is another factor affecting OCC demand and prices. The company announced this past winter that by Aug. 1 it would require all items larger than 20 pounds sold through Amazon be designed and certified as ready-to-ship within its Frustration-Free Packaging programs.
An OCC consumer says it expects OCC prices to fall further. Sonoco, Hartsville, South Carolina, hosted a conference call on its first-quarter 2019 financial results April 18. The global packaging company reported that it would not be surprised if OCC prices dipped further in May before stabilizing or bouncing back later in the year.
“We remain optimistic that we have the initiatives in place to achieve our targets for profitable growth,” said Robert Tiede, president and CEO of Sonoco, on the conference call. “We must also be realistic about the balance of the year as global economic conditions showed some weakness to start the year, and the uncertainty of tariffs, trade disputes and regional policy concerns are still hanging over business and consumer confidence.”
Yet, low OCC prices might spur interest from mills that normally buy mixed paper. Bill Moore, president of Atlanta- based Moore & Associates, says, “If there’s a mixed mill, at these kinds of OCC prices, they’ll want to use as much OCC as they can.”
Josephson says OCC prices likely will rebound or stabilize eventually.
“At some point, the system will correct itself,” he says. “But inventories are sufficiently high right now that I think another drop in May is quite likely. China demand isn’t likely to grow; it’s likely to continue to fall. So much of this depends on what happens with domestic demand, and specifically domestic box demand. If that doesn’t pick up anytime soon, there’s little reason to expect upward movement. That’s not to suggest that current prices are sustainable long term; but, short term, there could be more pressure.”
