China’s manufacturing recovery appears to be hampered by supply chain issues in the metals sector brought on by COVID-19-related closures of mines in Peru, Chile and the Philippines.

Reuters’ London-based senior metals columnist Andy Home writes in a recent column, “China’s first-quarter trade figures capture these accumulating supply tensions, with import volumes of ores and concentrates dropping, and flows of scrap, an important part of the raw materials mix, drying up.”

While Home says the decrease in imports could be in part because the country’s metal companies built inventories when prices were low, constraints on imports of mined concentrates and scrap were at play in the copper sector.

“Concentrate imports fell by 1 percent in the first quarter, which was the first break of a strong uptrend running since early 2015,” Home notes. “China has built out a lot more smelter capacity in recent years, increasing its call on mined concentrates from countries such as Peru, where the lockdown has taken a heavy toll on mine operators.”

He writes that the issue has been compounded by a reduction in the flow of scrap over the last two years as the country’s central government has enacted purity requirements for these imports. Home notes that the pending reclassification of higher quality scrap, which will not be subject to import quotas, promises to boost imports significantly.

This reclassification is planned for July 1, though Adina Renee Adler, assistant vice president of international affairs with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, says the harmonized tariff codes under which these materials will be imported have not yet been determined.

Adler adds that demand for copper and aluminum scrap has increased in China, which has led to larger import quotas being issued in the last month.

Additionally, China has exempted tariffs on scrap imports from the United States. The policy is designed to help Chinese scrap metal consumers that have been challenged by the slowdown in economic activity in that country related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite these moves on China's part, Home writes that “locked-down scrap collection chains in supplier countries are now restricting shipments” to the country. China’s imports of copper scrap declined by 39 percent in the first quarter to 210,000 metric tons, he adds.

ISRI Chief Economist/Director of Commodities Joe Pickard says China’s domestic collection of scrap is down considerably because of the country's earlier COVID-19 lockdown. He adds that this could indicate improved Chinese scrap demand in the short term coupled with the supply disruptions globally from mining closures.

Other countries' ability to meet this demand will be affected by the extent of their lockdowns.   

Spittal an der Drau, Austria-based processing equipment maker Lindner Recyclingtech says it enjoyed healthy sales figures in 2019, and even with COVID-19 and related economic restrictions in place, it is optimistic “the company will overcome the crisis in a positive light.”

In a late April news release, Lindner says “work on the production floors is still in full swing” at its two Austrian manufacturing plants.

The company also states, “The group of companies around Lindner Recyclingtech markedly exceeded revenues of €100 million ($109.6 million) last year and was able to start 2020 with full order books.”

Comments Lindner Chief Financial Officer Hans Sagerschnig, “Since 2016, sales have risen by roundly 70 percent. Needless to say, we are very pleased about this development. But what is much more important in view of the COVID-19 crisis is our strong equity ratio of more than 65 percent. That makes us a stable and reliable partner for our clients even in challenging times.”

Looking ahead, Sagerschnig adds, “Thanks to our entire team’s good performance and camaraderie, we are certain to successfully overcome the crisis and continue to be a dependable employer in the future.”

Tying in with the financial report, Lindner says a European credit rating that was recently published designated the Lindner Group as having “the top rating, proving that the company stands on a firm footing.”

Lindner says its family business has been offering shredding equipment for decades, serving the municipal solid waste (MSW), commercial and industrial waste, scrap wood, plastics, packaging materials, paper and light scrap sectors.

Brookhaven, New York, which is home to one of Long Island’s first dual-stream recycling systems, recently invested in upgrades to its existing container processing line under the new ownership of Winters Bros. Waste Systems. Jeff Nella, Winters Bros. general manager, commends Whitney Point, New York-based Green Machine and Winters Bros.’ tenured employee, Billy Brennan, for executing what he called a “swiss army knife” approach to recycling systems integration.

The Brookhaven system currently processes 30 tons per hour (TPH) of commercial and residential single-stream recyclables. The new container sort line, built on the back end of the system, processes the 10 TPH of unpicked recyclables remaining after front-end fiber sorting.

Pick containers and fiber with a single optical sorter

Revolutionary to the recycling industry is the deployment of a patented Green Eye® optical sorter that, with a push of a button, can pick containers or fiber and direct each to the appropriate location on the system.

Winters Bros. finds it extremely valuable to process its 10 TPH of containers and then have the ability to enhance fiber-rich material streams missed by the front-end system. Additionally, another Green Eye optical sorter was deployed in sequence to pick remaining old corrugated containers (OCC), which are integrated with the OCC sorted on the front end of the system. Plans include deploying Green Eye robotic sorters to pick any valuable plastics that remain.

Ready for any material stream

Jimmy Winters, owner of Winters Bros. Waste Systems, says, “Communities in our area are collecting their recyclables mixed (single-stream), separated (dual-stream) [and] with or without glass, along with commercial streams of all types. We feel confident that our new processing system is ready for virtually any material stream dropped on our tip floor.”   

https://greenmachine.com/

Green Machine, Whitney Point, New York, is building its most advanced waste processing system for Rose’s Responsible Recycling LLC, Halfmoon, New York, to handle more than 20 tons per hour (TPH) of residential and commercial recyclables in the greater Albany, New York, area. The brand new facility is equipped with all of Green Machine’s latest technological advancements, including seven of the company’s redesigned patented Green Eye optical sorters, an array of newly released Green Eye robotic sorters, as well as its new wrap-resistant disc and spacer screen designs.

John Green, president of Green Machine Sales LLC, says, “We’re excited to be able to showcase our latest and greatest. For the past few years, we’ve been putting our nose to the grindstone to design and build recycling equipment that can meet high-grade specifications, despite uncertain market trends, as well as have the flexibility to process many types of material streams. This system is designed to handle dual-stream, single stream, commercial and dry waste and baled plastics, and we guarantee that this automated plant will produce the country’s cleanest paper grades.”

Rose’s Responsible Recycling plans to start processing waste and recyclables in June 2020.

https://greenmachine.com/