The 10th Fastmarkets RISI Asian Recycled Fiber and Containerboard Virtual Conference has been scheduled to coincide with an in-person event taking place in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 6-7.

RISI describes it as “a hybrid conference” for both in-person delegates and those registering to tune in to live broadcasts. “Industry experts will be invited to forecast the recycled paper and containerboard industry from a holistic perspective,” states RISI.

Topics addressed include recovered paper consumption, trading inspection procedures, collection methods, paper mill technology and “the changing global market,” according to RISI.

Speakers and panelists have been drawn from RISI itself, plus paper producers Shanying International Holdings, Dongguan Jianhui Paper and Shandong Sun Paper; trading firms Cellmark, Newport CH and Vecycle Ltd.; packaging producer Bingxin Packaging Co. Ltd.; and trade associations the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and the China Resource Recycling Association.

More information about the event, including how to register, can be found on this web page.

Several scrap traders contacted by Recycling Today say fears that a new European Union rule would disrupt outbound shipments from Europe are beginning to come to light. The traders say European exporters who took the proper procedural steps are still able to export to the People’s Republic of China, but buyers in that nation could still be reluctant to source from the EU.

In a Nov. 29 article, Fastmarkets AMM reports the government of China had failed to respond to a questionnaire from an EU agency. The questionnaire has been designed to allow governments to let companies in their jurisdictions opt in to receive circular commodity shipments—up to and including high-value metal grades.

A potential failing of the new EU procedure is the European Commission’s use of the word “waste” to describe circular commodities, including those with long-established value as industrial feedstock. Many buyers in China are proving reluctant to accept European scrap shipments, fearing trouble from either their own government or the EU.

The situation was predicted as early as this January by panelists in the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) “The Challenge” series, who convene periodically to discuss global scrap trade issues.

At its January session, veteran trader Michael Lion referred to as yet unfinalized (but proposed) EU rules and saw “the possibility of some form of export controls.” Joining Lion in the concern was fellow panelist Murat Bayram, who works from Hamburg, Germany, for United Kingdom-based EMR Ltd. Bayram deemed what was looming “a very, very dangerous situation.”

Reached Nov. 30, Bayram says advanced knowledge of the situation has been helpful to companies such as EMR who previously applied for an End of Waste (EoW) license, “knowing that China did announce they will not allow any waste shipments coming into China. So, we, for example, can still export.”

But the situation is far from clear for buyers or sellers, adds Bayram. “A lot of [processors in Europe] try to avoid exports even having the EoW license, as the domestic market is competitive and one can avoid additional costs if containers are not accepted at the other side of the world, whereas loading a truck here and bringing it few kilometers to the mill is easy and fast,” he comments.

Another nonferrous trader, who is based in Asia but sources material from Europe, says his recent experiences are similar. He remarks that some buyers in China have ascertained that facilities with ISO or EOQ (European Organization for Quality) certification can still ship from Europe to China. Others, he says, are requesting scrap sent from U.K. ports.

David Dodds, CEO of Ipswich, U.K.-based Sackers Recycling, says it is uncertain how much that country’s new status outside of the EU is making a difference. “We already have EoW on all our grades of scrap for the last two years,” he says of Sackers.

Brexit notwithstanding, Dodds predicts that “U.K. exporters will face the same problem soon, I am sure, [and] there will be a mad scramble for EOQ criteria.”

A trader with a United States-based metals company says inquiries and orders from China have not reduced and might have even picked up slightly in November. The U.S. faces the same inbound quality restrictions (and in some cases tariffs) for scrap it sends to China but does not currently have a framework scrutinizing export standards.

Western Disposal, a family-owned waste hauler located in Boulder, Colorado, has completed its new materials management center. The center will be a hub for recycling and waste diversion built to serve Boulder and surrounding communities. 

According to a news release from Western Disposal, the facility features two new infrastructure assets to increase landfill diversion. It also has expanded public recycling services designed to make meaningful contributions to the community’s sustainability and zero-waste goals.

The company says the expansion was possible with grant assistance from Colorado’s Front Range Waste Diversion program. The company invested in a semi-automated construction waste sorting system that will help with aggregate, cardboard, metal and clean wood recovery and recycling. A second system will be used to screen cardboard out of trash loads. Combined, these assets are projected to increase Boulder County landfill diversion by 10,000 tons annually.

The facility also features a dedicated public drop-off plaza where residents and businesses will recycle a wide range of hard-to-recycle materials. This includes electronics, tires, ferrous and nonferrous metals, as well as yard and wood waste. The company has also added curbside collection and recycling for some of these hard-to-recycle materials to its suite of curbside collection services.

“The new materials management center is three times the size of our existing facility,” says Kathy Carroll, community relations manager for the company. “The larger footprint enables us to accept a wider range of items and materials, delivering the accessibility and convenience critical to successful recycling programs, while also creating jobs and contributing to growing our local economy.”

The opening ceremony for the facility was held on Nov. 19 during Colorado Recycles Week, which was established by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in 2019.

Stora Enso, a paper manufacturer based in Helsinki, is extending its packaging products with a new portfolio of bio-based foams made from Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. The company says the products are fully recyclable and can be used for protective and thermal packaging. 

Its offering consists of Fibrease and Papira, foams that offer technical and sustainability properties.

Stora Enso says Papira is a fiber-based monomaterial designed to be biodegradable and compostable. Papira can be recycled with paper or cardboard, that way the material can be used to make new paper products and ensure optimal use of resources. Fibrease can be recycled in any paper or board streams. The company says it has tested the packaging at real recycling facilities.

The packaging can been collected through existing  recycling programs.

Fibrease is commercially available now, while the pilot plant producing Papira has started operations at the Fors site in Sweden, following the investment announced in August 2020. The pilot plant aims to evaluate and validate Papira as a packaging foam in customer tests. The foams can be used for protecting fragile goods and are optimal for thermal packaging of temperature sensitive products.

According to a news release from Stora Enso, fossil-fuel-based packaging is a major contributor to pollution, accounting for 40 percent of the world’s plastics. With Fibrease and Papira, Stora Enso says it is introducing renewable and climate-friendly alternatives to fossil-fuel-based protective packaging.

“Consumers of today are pushing to minimize the use of plastic and maximize recyclability,” says Markus Mannström, executive vice president of biomaterials at Stora Enso. “At the same time, the need for packaging protection is increasing due to growing demands in e-commerce and cold-chain logistics. With our bio-based foams, we help customers create eco-friendly and circular packaging solutions while also meeting material performance needs to protect and insulate the goods.”