BIR CONVENTION: Searching for Plastic

Consumers of plastic scrap throughout the world are engaged in a competition to obtain material in a market hungry for many different resin types.

A collection of market reports given at the Plastics Committee meeting at the Spring 2006 Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Convention revealed that most parts of the world enjoyed a robust demand for plastic scrap and pricing that is higher than consumers are accustomed to paying.

In India, the production of plastic increased 14 percent last year, outpacing economic growth of closer to 8 percent. According to information conveyed by BIR Plastics Committee chairman Peter J. Daalder of Daily Plastics BV of the Netherlands, about one-third of India’s plastic is made from re-processed materials.

European markets are showing “good activity,” according to Jacques Musa of Soulier in France, although dealers are “complaining of low margins.” Production scrap is “less and less available” in Europe, while the “few remaining tons are bid up on price,” according to Musa.

Regarding PET bottles, “Most of the stream is remaining in Europe,” Musa reported, but even so reclaimers are having difficulty finding enough material to operate their plants at 100 percent capacity, with 60 to 80 percent capacity utilization rates are more common.

Daalder also reported a shortage of material in Germany and the Netherlands for many grades of plastic, although the supply of plastic bottles from residential recycling programs is “more in balance” and has resulted in a “better situation for local re-processors.”

In the Netherlands, consumers of plastic scrap had lobbied for export restrictions on plastic scrap, but Daalder indicated the problem is not a scrap shortage. Rather, consumers have access to the scrap, but “just not at the price they want.”

The BIR Spring 2006 Convention was held at the China World Hotel in Beijing May 29-31.