Crude steel production for the 64 countries that report to the Brussels-based World Steel Association (Worldsteel) fell by 13 percent in April 2020 compared with one year earlier, says the association.

The estimated 137.1 million metric tons of output was considerably reduced from one year earlier because of “the ongoing difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Worldsteel says.

Other than in China—where steel output never fell significantly even while many of its other worksites shut down—the April figures reflect the impact of governments asking citizens to stay home to combat the spread of the virus.

Producers in China, which began ramping its economy back up in April, managed to produce 0.2 percent more steel in April 2020 compared with April 2019. Steelmakers in nearly every other nation reported a smaller figure, however.

“Production in the European Union is estimated to be 10.7 million metric tons in April 2020, down 22.9 percent compared with April 2019,” says Worldsteel. In the United States, an estimated 5 million metric tons of crude steel was produced, a decrease of 32.5 percent compared with April 2019, according to Worldsteel.

Major scrap importer Turkey saw its output shrink by 26.3 percent compared with one year earlier, while Brazil’s production dropped by 39 percent. Output in India, another major scrap importer, fell by 21.1 percent.

The drops in output are likely to recover slightly in May, with some government-imposed lockdowns beginning to ease up. June figures could represent a month with an even more significant return of steelmaking activity.

The Asia-Pacific operations of France-based Suez have a decades-long presence in Asia, and the firm’s regional leaders say they are optimistic the environmental services firm can continue to widen its footprint in Asia in the approaching decade.

In a late May press conference at the Suez Asia office in Hong Kong, regional recycling and recovery CEO Antoine Grange commented that Suez had been providing wastewater treatment and waste management services to the People’s Republic of China dating back to 1975.

The company now employs some 9,000 people in Asia overall, according to Grange and Suez Asia Recycling & Trading Manager Bryan Leung.

Many of the French firm’s projects and partnerships in Asia involve wastewater treatment and hazardous waste handling, but one of its largest current investments involves the construction of a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear-low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) plastic recycling plant in Thailand.

That plant, scheduled to be online later in 2020, will have the capacity to convert some 30,000 tons per year of plastic film into recycled-content pellets. Suez describes the 14,000 square meters (150,000 square feet) facility as having “an advanced, efficient water treatment system [and] rooftop solar panels.” Grange says it will feature innovative equipment and technology imported from Europe.

Grange and Leung said the investment relates to Suez’s status as a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. That alliance, which was announced in London in January 2019, consists of more than 45 companies who committed to invest some $1 billion to divert plastic scrap from being disposed of improperly.

The two Suez Asia executives, each of whom has been affiliated with the Suez Hong Kong office since the mid-2010s, says the French firm will continue to seek projects and partnerships in Asia to target the property handling of food waste as well as plastic.

On the food scraps front, Suez runs an organic waste treatment facility in Hong Kong with more than 70,000 metric tons of annual capacity. The plant features anaerobic digestion (AD) technology that generates some 6,000 metric tons per year of compost and enough electricity to power its own operation and sell excess electricity to the grid.

Grange expressed confidence that governments in Asia, including in China, are steering toward policies of sustainability, with the potential for increased opportunities in the region. Some of these, he said, could be caused by recycled-content plastic targets being put in place similar to some in Europe.

He said a challenge to new plastic recycling investments exists in the form of low oil prices. “The value of what you are producing has to face huge competition against [currently low-priced] virgin plastic.”

Grange said a future in which recycled-content plastic and virgin plastic pricing were “de-coupled” would be helpful. This could come about, he added, either by regulation, or if consumers “insist on recycled content, and brand owners say, ‘OK, this has a value.’”

As Suez Asia starts the decade of the 2020s, the firm says it is poised to “customize a wide range of waste management solutions that meet the specific operational as well as environmental objectives of various business and industrial clients across Greater China.”

A fact sheet prepared by the firm states, “It is expected that more materials recycling facilities (MRFs) will be built in the coming two to five years across China as the compulsory waste classification model continues to spread to other cities after Shanghai.”

Another bullet point on the fact sheet adds, “China has pledged to adopt sustainable raw materials to replace virgin plastic and reduce pollution. Many large beverage and consumer goods companies such as Nestlé and Coca-Cola have already cut virgin plastic [use] or promote the use of food-grade [recycled-content] PET for packaging.”

Scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Bath in the United Kingdom say they have developed a “faster, more efficient way” of recycling plant-based biopolymers or bioplastics. The research was funded by the U.K.-based Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The research team says its chemical recycling method not only speeds up the process, but can convert discarded bioplastics into a new product—a biodegradable solvent—that “can be sold for use in a wide variety of industries including cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.”

Bioplastics, made from polylactic acid (PLA), are used in products including disposable cups, packaging materials and toys. Typically, once they reach the end of their useful life, they are disposed of in landfills or composted, biodegrading over periods of up to several months, say the researchers.

The newly-developed chemical process uses a zinc-based catalyst developed at the University of Bath and methanol. The solution can be used to break down consumer plastics and produce the solvent, called methyl lactate. A description of the process and the research results have been published in the Washington-based journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

The method was applied to three separate PLA products– a disposable cup, some 3D printer scrap, and a toy. The team found the cup was most easily converted to methyl lactate at lower temperatures, but even the bulkier plastic in the toy could be converted using higher temperatures. “We were excited to see that it was possible to obtain high quantities of the green solvent regardless of samples’ characteristics due to colorants, additives, sizes and even molecular weight,” says lead author Luis Román-Ramírez of the University of Birmingham’s School of Chemical Engineering.

“The process we’ve designed has real potential to contribute to ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of plastic going into landfill or being incinerated, creating new valuable products from waste,” says lead researcher Professor Joe Wood, of the University of Birmingham.

Adds Wood, “Our technique breaks down the plastics into their chemical building blocks before ‘rebuilding’ them into a new product, so we can guarantee that the new product is of sufficiently high quality for use in other products and processes.”

Next steps would involve scaling up the process further to see it can be used in an industrial setting.

Denmark-based waste and recycling firm Marius Pedersen A/S is using an electrically powered Sennebogen 821 M material handler to help it reduce the environmental impact of its activities.

Ronnie Fegge, a regional manager at Marius Pedersen, and Morten Espersen from Denmark-based Sennebogen dealer UN Mobilkraner A/S, recently spoke with Sennebogen corporate communications personnel about the use of the electric 821 M in an indoor recycling facility.

Sennebogen: Mr. Fegge, you are relying on an electrically powered material handler. Why is it essential for you to rethink your company’s strategy right now?

Ronnie Fegge (RF): In 2016, we carried out a series of renovations at Marius Pedersen and started to make the company ready to embrace the future. We simply had to keep up with current technology, and this involved switching to systems that provide power capacity for electrical machines when their use becomes relevant. As a recycling company, we are all pleased that we have been able to reduce the environmental impact of our daily operations and improve the working environment with the new Sennebogen. It is a pure win-win situation for us, as the machine requires less maintenance and will deliver a longer service life.

Sennebogen: What was the motivating factor for you to go with the 821 M equipped with an electric drive?

RF: First, we created the infrastructure during the renovation work, then we had to replace some of our machines. We set out to find the right solution to meet our requirements. On a visit to Sweden, we had the opportunity to see an electrically operated Sennebogen in action. We put the machine through its paces there to find out whether the Swedish approach would be transferable to our case: an indoor application with very low ceiling heights. We also needed flexibility to move in order to optimize use of the storage space in our large hall. After that experience, we were no longer in doubt. We made an agreement with UN Mobilkraner (the local Sennebogen dealer) to deliver that very machine configuration. The end result is that this enabled us to give this megatrend around alternative drive systems a chance in our company as well.

Sennebogen: Mr. Espersen, as the project manager, how were you finally able to convince your contacts at Marius Pedersen of the mobile electrical version of the 821 E-Series?

Morten Espersen (ME): After our joint visit to Sweden, the decision was almost made on the spot. The case of the Swedish recycler was very similar, which is why those responsible at Marius Pedersen have now made this decision. We are very pleased to have delivered a new, electrically driven material handler to a company that previously relied entirely on diesel-driven machines. It is a completely new approach to the recycling industry in this country, but one that shows all the more that in many cases an electric alternative can work. With the mobile electrical solution from Sennebogen, the company not only saves fuel and operating costs but also reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides and fine dust particles. This was a brilliant decision considering the company’s new environmental strategy.

Sennebogen: Finally, Mr. Fegge, we would like to talk to you about the project planning itself. Can you sum up your experience?

RF: The cooperation with UN Mobilkraner, our Sennebogen dealer, was great. Delivery and commissioning worked perfectly. What impressed me most was the company’s commitment. One week after the machine was delivered, we received a surprise visit from UN Mobilkraner. They just wanted to stop by and make sure that everything was as it should be. And since then, they have always been within reach – even for minor problems they are available to us promptly, quickly and in an uncomplicated manner with advice and assistance. In our opinion, this is a major plus.