Changes in Chinese Customs a Cause of Concern for BIR Attendees

During BIR’s Media & Metals Separation Committee meeting, held during BIR’s recent spring meeting in Athens, attendees expressed concern over Chinese regulations.

Customs agents in Beijing, China have started asking scrap dealers to specify mixed metal contents from the point of order to completion. However, "mixed metals cannot be defined as black and white before processing - most of it is a grey area", said David Chiao of the US-based Uni-All Group. "None of us can define the mixed metals in detail."

Confirming that BIR would monitor this situation, Chiao noted calls for all importers in China to register with AQSIQ before September 1 this year. "Remind your customers in China," he said, "otherwise cargo will be blocked from filing a customs declaration in China."

In his report on the U.S. market, Andy Wahl of Newell Recycling of Atlanta Inc. pointed to a slowing flow of input material that would probably lead to an early-summer shortage of, for example, Twitch. The struggles of the U.S. automotive industry were heavily influencing the secondary market, he noted.

In Italy, Arturo Ferrari of Pyreco SRL confirmed that only one landfill was authorized to receive "fluff" and that costs would possibly increase in this area.

In his review of legislation, BIR Environmental & Technical Director warned that delays by some countries in responding to the revised EU Shipment Regulations "could disrupt the movement of materials - and particularly mixed materials". He also noted that the UN-EP/Basel Convention had launched its Public Private Partnership Program relating to electronic waste; as regards the earlier Partnership Programme on Mobile Phones, guidelines for Environmentally Sound Management were now to be tested.

In his presentation at the Committee meeting, Jacob Rognhaug of Germany’s TiTech outlined the use of near infrared technology in recycling electronic waste. For a relatively low capital outlay, it was possible to sort valuable fractions and achieve a payback period "as low as two months", he contended.