BASF Heraeus (China) Metal Resource Co. Ltd. will offer precious metal recycling solutions in China.

German companies BASF and Heraeus have agreed to form a joint venture to recover precious metals from spent automotive catalysts in Pinghu, China. The companies will have an equal ownership stake in the new company, BASF Heraeus (China) Metal Resource Co. Ltd. The founding of the legal entity is targeted for the first quarter of this year, following the approval of the relevant authorities. Construction is planned to begin in 2022, with operations starting in 2023, according to a joint press release.

China has limited natural resources in platinum group metals (PGMs), consisting predominately of platinum, palladium and rhodium, and strongly relies on imports.  Recycling scrap materials, such as those recovered from spent automotive catalytic converters, enable a circular economy. Recycled precious metals are furthermore very environmentally friendly and have as much as a 90 percent lower CO2 footprint than primary metals from a mine.

“Through the partnership with Heraeus, we will bring best-in-class pyrometallurgy technology for the recovery of precious metals from spent automotive catalysts in China and help improve resource utilization for high-tech and other companies that use precious metals,” says Tim Ingle, vice president, BASF Precious Metals Refining,  Chemicals & Battery Recycling.  “BASF’s leading position in automotive catalysts recycling and our combined expertise in precious metals will provide customers with a world-class circular economy solution to re-use precious metals in China.”

Marius Vigener, vice president of Business Line Chemicals at Heraeus Precious Metals, says, “This JV builds on our already strong presence in China within the wet-chemical recycling industry.  Recycled precious metals minimize emissions and will enable our customers to reduce their CO2 footprint. This will support China in the development of its circular economy and contribute significantly to the stability of local precious metal supplies.”

The new factory is expected to create 100 new jobs, BASF and Heraeus say.

BASF’s Catalysts division is the leading supplier of environmental and process catalysts, while Heraeus Precious Metals is a leading provider of precious metals services and products. 

The regional office also serves as a technology and distribution center.

Vecoplan LLC, headquartered in Archdale, North Carolina, has expanded its national footprint with a new office and technology facility in Eastvale, California. Referred to as Vecoplan West, the Southern California location hosts sales and after-sales support offices and a distribution facility for spare and replacement parts. It also serves as a technology center that offers product trials of Vecoplan shredders.

The site’s official grand opening celebration will be Thursday, March 17, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, facility tours, entertainment, food and drinks and shredding demonstrations of plastic, wood and paper materials. Vecoplan products also will be on display.

Customers, suppliers, dealers and prospective customers are encouraged to RSVP via the event landing page, which will be continuously updated with details as they are confirmed. Media representatives and local officials also invited to attend.

Vecoplan LLC is the North American subsidiary of Germany-based Vecoplan AG. In addition to the new regional office in California, Vecoplan LLC has a Midwest office in Indiana. The company manufactures shredding equipment and recycling systems for virtually any material, selling into plastics, wood, biomass, waste and recycling and waste-to-energy markets.

CMA CGM Group says starting June 1 it will no longer transport the material.

Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, headquartered in France, has announced that the shipping line will no longer transport plastic scrap aboard its ships beginning June 1. He made the announcement during the One Ocean Summit organized by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, which was Feb. 9-11.

The CMA CGM Group says the decision demonstrates its commitment to protecting the environment and conserving biodiversity.

The shipping line says nearly 10 million tons of plastic end up in the sea annually because of open-air storage of the material and the absence of processing infrastructure for plastic scrap that does not actively get recycled or reused.

With the decision that it will no longer transport plastic scrap onboard its ships, CMA CGM says it will prevent this type of waste from being exported to destinations where sorting, recycling or recovery cannot be assured.

The Basel Action Network (BAN), Seattle, says the shipping line’s move is in response to a call issued by BAN, The Last Beach Cleanup and 50 other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in their Global Shipping Lines Campaign. The organizations wrote letters to the nine largest global shipping lines--Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC, Hamburg SUD, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Evergreen, COSCO and Orient Shipping--urging them to establish policies and implement procedures to prevent the export of end-of-life plastic of all kinds moving from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries or the OECD countries Turkey and Mexico.

CMA CGM is the first of the shipping lines contacted to announce a complete halt of plastic scrap shipments. Hapag-Lloyd has stopped shipments to China, while Maersk, Hamburg SUB and MSC have stopped shipments to China and Hong Kong. 

Container producer ties its marketing of recyclable aluminum beverage cups to the National Football League title game in Los Angeles.

Westminster, Colorado-based Ball Corp. is rolling out its aluminum beverage cups to the Southern California market with timing that coincided with the mid-February National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl contest.  

Ball says it held a series of events and “activations” the second weekend in February “to help fans celebrate sustainably, including the Rams Tailgate Tour and the Chargers Bolts Experience at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California.”

Referring to itself as the “official Infinitely Recyclable Aluminum Packaging Partner of the Los Angeles Rams and a Proud Sustainability Partner of the Los Angeles Chargers,” Ball says it supplied the cups on-site and deployed “Team Aluminum” on-site ambassadors who helped collect the cups for recycling.

 “In downtown Los Angeles, Ball is mixing up a signature cocktail with the Los Angeles Rams and serving them to guests in the aluminum cups at Penthouse56, the Rams Hospitality House,” said the company of another weekend activity.

The cups also were onsite to help serve Bud Light beer at SoFi Stadium, which hosted the Super Bowl on Sunday. Comments Dan Fisher, president and CEO-elect of Ball Corp., “Ball is committed to helping venues, teams and fans minimize the significant environmental impact of sports and entertainment by strengthening in-venue recycling and providing innovative and infinitely recyclable aluminum cans, cups and bottles – a sustainable alternative to the millions of plastic cups that are disposed of every year.”

Ball says the cups were on hand at the two prior Super Bowls, one in Tampa, Florida, and the other in Miami.

The line between primary and secondary aluminum producers is fading fast.

At a late 1990s Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Commodity Roundtables event, the president of a secondary aluminum company stated bluntly that his industry would be best served if primary aluminum producers “stay the hell out” of the aluminum scrap market.

In 2001, that same company president—Joseph S. Viland of since-sold Indiana-based producer Wabash Alloys—expressed the same thought in an interview with Recycling Today in the form of a prediction: “The most difficult challenge that the secondary industry has faced in the last 10 years—and will face in the next 20—is that consumers of scrap at levels above secondary smelters are both influencing our marketplace and entering our marketplace for raw materials.”

Activity in the ensuing 20 years has proven Viland correct. For domestic secondary aluminum producers, the most immediate challenge in the 2000s might have been competition for scrap from overseas secondary alloy makers. Increasingly, however, that bidding has been joined by primary producers with lofty recycled-content targets.

Statistics point to the United States being an aluminum scrap surplus nation. Buyers procuring aluminum scrap for foundries and secondary alloys facilities in the United States know that’s the case, but the pressures of securing supply do not make it seem that way.

A buyer in the Great Lakes region says only the microchip shortage slowing down auto production has kept the market somewhat in balance in 2021 and early 2022. “What is going to happen when the chip issue is behind us and the demand for vehicles is 18 million [per year]?” he asked Recycling Today in late January. “Where does that metal come from? It can’t come from NASAAC [exchange warehouses], because that is nearly empty.”

A U.S.-based buyer of used beverage cans (UBCs) comments, “Lower domestic recycling rates [for UBCs] as compared to the rest of the world creates a tighter domestic scrap supply and forces end-users to pursue scrap imports to satisfy demand.”

Aluminum scrap exports to the People’s Republic of China might have peaked last decade, but demand from overseas buyers has shifted, not ceased. According to United States Census Bureau, U.S. processors and trades shipped about 1.85 million metric tons of aluminum scrap overseas in 2020. With 11 months in the books for 2021, the U.S. had already shipped out 1.92 million metric tons.

Malaysia, India and South Korea all have surpassed China as large volume buyers of aluminum scrap as of last year. And even after a “green fence” (a curious term to use to pinch recycling activity) and a tariff war, China still purchased more than 200,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap from the U.S. in the first 11 months of 2021.

Per Viland’s prediction, the continued interest in scrap from companies once considered primary producers has gained momentum. Atlanta-based Novelis continues to pursue an aggressive recycled-content goal, as does Norway-based Hydro. Pittsburgh-based Alcoa revealed late last year its research into melting more shredded aluminum scrap, and mining firm Rio Tinto is melting scrap in Canada.

Pressure to decarbonize by these multinationals seems to indicate they are in the scrap market to stay. That new reality is not lost on the scrap buyers recently interviewed by Recycling Today.

“Consumers are moving toward matching recycled content claims made by competitors, but some are lower than industry claims or targets,” says the UBC buyer. “In the auto business (5000 series alloys), manufacturers are demanding either increased recycled content from their suppliers or certificates that scrap generated in the auto industry is recycled content.”

“As green initiatives and carbon taxes get implemented (starting in Europe and ultimately ending up in the U.S.), the primary aluminum smelters are scrambling to add secondary scrap,” the Great Lakes region buyer says. “Obviously, the billet makers and rolling mills have been doing it for years and are increasing that percentage in their mix.”

Observing the market in late January, he adds, “As the U.S. transaction price moves up (which it has been doing that past few weeks), you will see more scrap pressure on secondary smelters. This will continue to grow the gap between low-copper alloys and 380,” he predicts.

The UBC buyer—a veteran of the industry, as is the other buyer—sees several possibilities ahead. The state of the current market “forces many [furnace operators] to think about being nimble and flexible when it comes to consuming ‘alternative scrap units’ to meet increased demand,” he comments. The scrap buyer concludes, “No doubt current markets are and will continue to be dynamic, as new capacity adjusts to scrap demand. Just look at present spreads and supply versus one year ago.”