Recycling Today archives
Getting the message out about recycling is being carried out at the highest levels in North Korea, particularly in regard to ferrous scrap, according to a recent report from Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The organization, based in Washington and funded by the U.S. Congress, says a lack of raw materials is one of several problems besetting North Korea’s state-owned Kim Chaek Iron and Steel.
According to RFA, which cites sources in North Hamgyong Province where the mill complex is located, residents there have had an existing quota of from eight to 15 kilograms (17.5 to 33 pounds) of scrap metal to collect each month. That quota has now been increased, and Jan. 2 “employees of all the factories and enterprises had to report to work with sleds and carts filled with all the scrap metal they collected.”
In addition to ferrous scrap scarcity, Kim Chaek also is having trouble securing sufficient electricity and metallurgical coal to maintain its productivity, according to the report.
Regarding coal, RFA cites another source as saying companies in China that previously supplied coke to North Korean steel mills “are increasingly reluctant to do so, as the mills have failed to repay their debts.”
Several years ago, according to RFA, representatives of Kim Chaek who visited China were detained in that nation because the firm owed money to a supplier.
In the meantime, according to a resident who requested anonymity, the Kim Chaek mill is running only intermittently. “Smoke only comes out of the chimney of the steel mill a few days each year,” according to the source.