An executive from Germany-based freight rail firm DB Cargo has announced a change of strategy that is being viewed positively by the Bundesverband Sekundärrohstoffe und Entsorgung e.V. (BVSE), an association representing recyclers in that nation.

According to a BVSE website posting, DB Cargo CEO Sigrid Nikutta “wants to go on a growth course [and] is planning new hires.” BVSE says this message is welcome since “around one-third of scrap trade volumes [in Germany] are transported to customers by rail. The scrap industry is therefore urgently dependent on efficient rail freight transport.”

BVSE characterizes the current relationship between DB Cargo and the recycling industry as troubled. “We have to transport large tonnages quickly and safely, and available freight wagons and functioning sidings are an important prerequisite for this,” comments BVSE General Manager Eric Roebuck. “Both elements are lacking, and this deficiency has been managed poorly by DB Cargo for years.”

Nikutta has announced DB Cargo intends to grow “in the single wagon business, which is particularly dependent on medium-sized companies that do not have a large volume to be able to load block trains,” says BVSE.

BVSE says Nikutta has indicated DB Cargo “wants to compensate for missing rail connections by offering DB Cargo truck pick-ups, so that the freight quantities can then be brought together at marshalling yards and brought on to the rails.”

Adds the association, “This change of strategy certainly caused surprises in the recycling industry, because DB Cargo has not [historically] made it easy for medium-sized companies.”

Remarks Birgit Guschall-Jaik of the BVSE, “If structures and customer communication are now to be improved, this is an important step.”

She adds that “capacity optimization will not be enough,” and says investments in infrastructure and new freight cars also will be necessary. Guschall-Jaik also says if the partially government-owned DB Cargo “crowds out” competition at the expense of private rail companies, it will not ultimately be helpful. “We need DB Cargo and the private rail companies,” she states.

Houston-based Waste Management has been named Recycler of the Year in the Innovation category by the Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA).

Each year, WSRA presents Recycler of the Year awards to individuals, businesses, government agencies and community organizations that are strengthening and expanding recycling and waste prevention practices across the state. The Innovation award recognizes Waste Management’s work to engage communities across the state to recycle via its network of 11 company-run social media channels.

According to Waste Management, it has been able to strengthen the company’s traditional outreach and education programming through its social media engagement with area communities.

“The new digital landscape has revolutionized how people get information, learn and engage,” Mary Evans, director of Public Sector Solutions for Waste Management–Pacific Northwest, says. “Conversations are shorter, faster and [going on] 24/7. To this, add a global recycling crisis that upended the economics of recycling and created new pressures to reduce recycling contamination. It’s a huge challenge. Waste Management responded by using social media to activate behavior change to reduce waste and clean up recycling.”

Waste Management noted in a release that it works to develop social media content to “educate communities in compelling, bite-size pieces and activate positive behavior change around recycling habits.”

During the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling’s (BIR’s) Global eForum on paper markets June 16, panelists expressed mixed feelings about the future for recovered paper markets. 

Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, BIR Paper Division president and CEO of France-based Paprec, said he is “very optimistic” about the future of paper recycling. He said there are opportunities for more recovered paper to be used in packaging applications, adding that plastics are being challenged as a packaging option.

“We will see packaging and many other products switching from plastic to, for example, paper,” he said during the webinar. 

On the other hand, Keith Trower of U.K.-based Viridor Resource Management was a bit less optimistic on the outlook for recovered paper markets. Trower said he is a little concerned about the economic feasibility of recycling with very low prices for recovered paper. 

BIR General Delegate Sébastien Ricard of Paprec provided some positive figures for recovered paper in a presentation that featured data on worldwide recovered fiber production in 2018. According to that data, Ricard said more than half of all paper and board produced in the world is made from recovered fiber. Based on 2018 figures, he said 70 percent of all paper and board produced in Asia was made from recovered fiber. Additionally, 70 percent of all packaging produced in 2018 used recovered fiber. 

Dominique Maguin, past president of the BIR Paper Division and president of La Compagnie des Matières Premières in France, noted that these figures on recovered fiber incorporation in paper and board production are important for recyclers to consider, but he said he is a little more pessimistic on the future for recovered paper markets. While more than half of all paper production uses recovered fiber, Maguin said the amount of recovered paper generated in Europe is still higher than what it can actually consume. 

“Are we going to be able to export our recovered paper to foreign countries out of Europe? This is a very, very big problem for our industry because we have not had enough capacities to use all the recovered paper we are producing in Europe,” Maguin said. 

He added that the worldwide pandemic has exacerbated the challenge of finding homes for recovered paper. 

“The problem is that with this COVID-19 crisis, all the production worldwide has stopped,” Maguin said. “When you close down the factories producing cars, computers or something else, then you are killing the use of the cardboard to package this product. So, we are missing these tonnages, and we’re going to be missing these tonnages for some months. During the COVID-19 crisis, just in three months, we have lost something like 12 million tons of recovered fiber worldwide. Even if we are missing these tonnages, the prices are going down, which is a sign that this industry is not recovering so well from the crisis.” 

Panelists were also concerned about export markets for recovered paper, as China has announced plans to stop importing recovered paper altogether in 2021.

AmpleTech Refresh, Phoenix, has joined The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance’s (TERRA's) Done with IT program, which is designed to provide simple and safe electronics recycling options for businesses and individuals across Arizona and surrounding states, TERRA reports in a news release.

TERRA describes itself a the largest network of e-Stewards and Responsible Recycling (R2) Certified electronics recycling and information technology asset disposition (ITAD) solution providers in North America with secure facilities across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

According to TERRA, its Done with IT mail-in program provides access to simple, secure and sustainable electronics recycling options for individuals, businesses and local governments across the U.S. and Canada. This service is especially critical for rural and urban communities with little or no access to electronics recycling services and protects them from identity theft while safeguarding the environment and human health, TERRA says.

"Only certified businesses like AmpleTech adhere to rigorous standards and ongoing oversight that protect individuals and organizations against data breach and effectively mitigate the dangers associated with the improper disposal of e-waste," says Steven Napoli, president and CEO of TERRA.

"An expanding home-based workforce increases the value of having convenient access to data destruction, device refurbishment and remarketing services," says Kesh Kesic, president of AmpleTech. "Our partnership with TERRA helps us connect our certified solutions to those in need of these essential services.