Aluminium’s trade map is no longer drawn by smelters alone. Scrap flows, power contracts, industrial policy and specialist grades now shape who secures metal, at what cost and under whose rules. Ten recent developments across Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and Mexico show how recycling, energy and regulation are becoming the new levers of aluminium competitiveness. They also show where traders, exporters and policymakers may need to adjust. Scrap tug-of-war: the US pull, Europe’s leak and the recycling base at stake The pull starts with price. The US UBC scrap benchmark averaged USD 2,322.89 a tonne in July, USD 2,491.22 in August and USD 2,602.51 in September. That is a 12 per cent climb, and it came after a July that opened at USD 2,464.98 and fell to USD 2,270.76 within two days....
Nespresso is expanding its aluminium coffee capsule recycling network across New Zealand, adding 25 JB Hi-Fi stores as collection points and bringing the total number of participating retail locations to 138. The move gives coffee drinkers more places to return used capsules, helping make recycling a little easier after that final, satisfying sip. The new collection points join existing locations at Briscoes and Noel Leeming stores. The expansion also complements other return options available through Nespresso, including its boutiques, public collection points, NZ Post drop-off locations and courier collections from customers’ homes. The aim is to make returning used capsules more convenient, recognising that a single collection method will not work for everyone. For those who enjoy...
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In the United States, approximately 31% of all aluminum products comes from recycled scrap. That's a great number, but with more help by everyone, we could make that number climb. By recycling your aluminum products you are helping the environment in several ways. One of which is conserving energy. Each time aluminum is recycled it only takes only about 5% of the energy that it takes to produce new aluminum. In fact, Wikipedia states that aluminum can be recycled infinitely and never loses it's quality. And amazingly about 75% of all aluminum products that have been produced since 1888 is still in use today due to it's repeating recycling capabilities. Which is awesome!
UK secondary aluminium producers are starting to consider production cutbacks in an attempt to regain margins that have been slashed by low ingot prices in Europe. “Scrap prices are very firm, but ingot prices have been softening,” one producer said. “We’re contemplating easing production a bit.” Ingot prices remained stable on Wednesday January 4, as the market was quiet in its first two days back from the new year break, but margins remain perilously thin. Scrap prices were also unchanged on low sales volumes. UK producers are obliged to sell some of their ingots into Europe, as the domestic UK market is not big enough to absorb all...
Novelis Inc. has commissioned a recycling center expansion at Aluminium Norf GmbH in Neuss. Hannelore Kraft, Prime Minister of North Rhine, officially opened the new facility at a ceremony attended by company representatives, customers and local officials. The event marked the commissioning of the twin-chamber melting furnace and processing plant designed to recycle 50,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap per year to feed the rolling mills of Alunorf. The plant, which is a joint venture of Novelis and Hydro Aluminium, is the world’s largest aluminum rolling complex with 2,170 employees.
Oman has the potential to become a major aluminium recycling centre servicing the industry across the GCC in the future, an industry leader told delegates who attended the ARABAL 2011 conference in Oman the 15th time the event has been held. Mr Frederic Rouyer CEO of Oman Aluminium Processing Industries LLC told delegates at the Sohar Aluminium hosted event in Muscat about the huge untapped potential for the creation of a viable aluminium recycling industry in the Gulf. He explained that the amount of aluminium scrap produced in the GCC during the downstream process was set to double to an estimated 270,000 tonnes per annum by 2020 as the Gulf becomes an increasingly centre of global importance for the industry. Mr Rouyer explained that recycling was a highly cost effective way to...
A 32-year-old Grove City man was sentenced Wednesday to 120 days in jail and ordered to pay back the $47,184 he swindled from the Kandiyohi County Recycling Center. Gregory Donald Schake had been charged with four felony counts of theft by swindle for faking aluminum can transactions at the recycling center where he worked, and pocketing the money. Schake pleaded guilty last month to one charge and the other three felonies were dismissed. As part of the sentence handed down by Judge Michael Thompson, Schake will serve 120 days in the Kandiyohi County Jail in 30-day increments that could stretch out through June of 2013. In order for the jail time to be considered for deferment, Schake must be up to date with restitution payments. The payments include $10,000 to West Central Industries,...
Aluminium scrap market price decreased by JPY 2 per kilogram for high grade scrap around Osaka when primary aluminium market price maintains downtrend. Local secondary aluminium alloy makers purchase high grade new cutting scrap at around JPY 150 per kg, aluminium sash scrap at around JPY 127 and used aluminium beverage can at JPY 105 to JPY 111. Aluminium scrap purchasing price decreased by JPY 2 per kg mainly for high grade scrap for second half of December shipment to reflect the weak offshore primary aluminium price. Some alloy makers implemented the price cut by JPY 5 in the cases the price had been relatively high. As for low grade scrap, the purchasing price was almost unchanged from the first half of December despite of slight price gap between several alloy makers. One scrap...
Reactions were mixed at the Burbank Recycle Center on Tuesday — the first day the facility stopped paying CRV reimbursement for recyclables after its operator was slapped with allegations that it filed $33 million in fraudulent claims at another recycling center. The change threatens to drive customers like Cathy MacDonald away. The Burbank resident usually receives about $6 per visit for her recyclables. On Tuesday, she only got 23 cents. “I don’t think it’s fair,” she said as she brought her plastic recyclables to the facility on Flower Street. She planned to take her aluminum cans to another recycling center for full CRV reimbursement. The center now pays only scrap value for aluminum cans and plastic items. It used to pay $1.54 for a pound of aluminum cans, but it dropped to 20 cents...
A team of students from Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has proposed a waste collection model that brings monetary benefits to every constituent in the chain. The collection-at-source model was developed for Swedish food packager Tetra Pak after a pilot project carried out at Kalupur Railway Station in Ahmedabad. The students believe the model can minimise environmental footprint and implemented for other companies and products. More importantly, it will help environment," says Sulabh Jain, a member of the student team. Tetra Pak cartons have an inner aluminium lining and card board or paper on the outerside, thus providing a good value to waste collectors after a carton is disposed of. "Tetra pak runs recycling projects across the world. There is awareness in the Western...
A team of students from Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has proposed a waste collection model that brings monetary benefits to every constituent in the chain. The collection-at-source model was developed for Swedish food packager Tetra Pak after a pilot project carried out at Kalupur Railway Station in Ahmedabad. The students believe the model can minimise environmental footprint and implemented for other companies and products. More importantly, it will help environment," says Sulabh Jain, a member of the student team. Tetra Pak cartons have an inner aluminium lining and card board or paper on the outerside, thus providing a good value to waste collectors after a carton is disposed of. "Tetra pak runs recycling projects across the world. There is awareness in the Western...
SOMETIMES it's better to focus on what you can do, rather than worry about what you can't. That's the motto at a Whaddon day centre for adults with learning disabilities, where a pioneering can recycling project is paying dividends for some of Cheltenham's most vulnerable people. Clients at the Oakley Adult Opportunity Centre, in Isbourne Road, spend hours each week collecting aluminium cans from pubs and other businesses in the area before crushing them and selling them on as scrap. Eighteen adults with varying disabilities work together and the scheme raises hundreds of pounds a year, funding trips away, meals out and other treats. Centre manager, Richard Johnson, said: "It works really well on a number of levels. It keeps our service users active and makes them feel they are part of a...
Just in time for Christmas and all those mince pies, Aberdeenshire Council has introduced the collection of aluminium foil trays for recycling. Please make sure trays are clean and clear of food residue then just place them in your black recycling box along with food and drink cans. If you do not have a kerbside collection, please take them along to your most convenient recycling point or centre and put in the food and drink can recycling bin. “Recycling aluminium is twenty times more efficient than making it from the raw material, bauxite, and now we can increase the amount we collect by including foil trays,” said Infrastructure Services Committee chairman Peter Argyle.
Since the announcement of the new Alreco aluminum processing plant, Tom Harned, the executive director for the Logan Economic Alliance for Development (LEAD) has heard all kinds of positive comments about the county’s newest industry. “People have been very enthusiastic about it,” Harned said. People have also been inquiring about when the new business, which will start out with about 30 new employees, might begin hiring for those positions. “They are going to begin the construction phase in early 2012,” Harned said. “They will be hiring some management people, but they won’t be starting production until early in 2013.” So it might be about a year or so before the new industry begins hiring its full workforce. Alreco, which is owned by the Australian company MHM Metals, purchased the old...
A SCRAP Metal dealers pressure group has called for an independent audit to determine the price of scrap metal in the country to facilitate fair trade between them and manufacturers. Pressure group chairperson Fabian Chisulo said a committee was instituted recently to look into the price mechanism of scrap metal. Mr Chisulo said in an interview recently that the audit was not neutral and that it was in favour of manufacturers. “We were shocked as scrap metal dealers to learn at the recent meeting we had with the Deputy Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Keith Mukata, that the findings from the committee on the price mechanism came out contrary to the real situation,” he said. He said manufacturers agreed that they bought ferrous metal (mild steel) and non-ferrous metal (copper,...
Third graders at Macks Creek Elementary helped reduce the volume of trash in landfills and will have a pizza party to celebrate their award-winning recycling efforts. The third grade classes won a recycling drive against some of their older peers by collecting more than 3,000 lbs. of paper and cardboard in just two months. Palmer Recycling, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and a host of other local sponsors organized a paper recycling contest amongst four grades at Macks Creek Elementary. A corresponding aluminum can drive netted 922 lbs. of recycled aluminum and a pizza party for the fifth grade class courtesy of CMC Recycling of Springfield. Palmer Recycling owner Jerry Palmer of Macks Creek decided to put the recycling program together after he received a grant from DNR...
Japanese major secondary aluminium alloy makers including Daiki Aluminium Industry and Nikkei MC Aluminium try to keep the alloy selling price unchanged for December after the shipment from the previous month. The alloy users are likely to offer the price cut by 5 yen per kilogram or more. Secondary aluminium alloy makers emphasize they have mainly used high-cost materials procured in November for the products of December shipment. However, there are many adverse factors for the alloy makers and the selling price is likely to decrease. Primary aluminium market price at London Metal Exchange decreased to less than US$ 2,000 per tonne on December 19 and kept the yearly bottom level this week. Secondly domestic aluminium scrap market price decreased by 5-10 yen per kg this month. Moreover,...
You can help the environment by recycling your aluminum cans and help a local Habitat for Humanity chapter at the same time in Lexington. Wise Recycling is donating a portion of its proceeds from each recycled aluminum can to the local Habitat for Humanity chapter. The company wants to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and encourage the community to get involved and support Habitat for Humanity. The project runs through the end of December.
The 11th China Metal Recycling International Forum was hosted in Guangdong recently. Chairman of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Chen Quanxun, deputy general manager of Chinalco Ren Xundong attended the meeting. More than 1900 representatives from over 30 countries and 56 enterprises attended the meeting. The subject of the forum included four aspects: laws and regulations, strategic development, technical exchange, capital and market. The forum was highly appreciated by the attendants.
JMB reported that aluminum scrap dealers agreed with secondary alloyed aluminum makers for aluminum scrap price for second half of December around Tokyo. The price is flat as the first half and decreases by JPY 2to JPY 3 per kilogram for some items. The scrap price and shipment remains slow toward yearend. The dealers tried to keep the aluminum scrap selling price for second half of December citing tight supply. The secondary alloyed aluminum makers tried to reduce the scrap price by JPY 4 to JPY 5 per kilogram under lower offshore primary aluminum ingot price. The alloyed aluminum makers' purchase price decreased by JPY 2 to JPY 3 to around JPY 105 per kilogram for used beverage can scrap. The demand of UBC remains low when used can re melting ingot makers cannot make money at the scrap...
