Politics
New contaminants thresholds for China confirmed
| BIR has been informed that China has officially notified the WTO of its intent to adopt the GB 16487 Environmental Protection Control standards for a certain number of wastes.
Ambitious push measures need to be accompanied by pull measures
| In view of the upcoming trilogue meeting on the Circular Economy Package on 25 October, FEAD members call on the EU institutions to maintain the ambitious legally binding targets for recycling and landfill diversion, which are a central part of the revised package.
BIR: No health risk from crumb rubber
| “Extremely negative” publicity continues to surround the use of tyre-derived crumb rubber in synthetic turf despite all studies worldwide having arrived at the conclusion that there is no risk to human health.
Vote on renewable energy confirms commitment to circular economy
| According to Zero Waste Europe, with yesterday's vote on the Renewable Energy proposal, the ENVI Committee took an important step to realign renewable energy policy with the EU waste legislation, and reconfirmed its commitment to achieve ambitious circular economy targets.
One dead in South Asia shipbreaking
| There were a total of 227 ships broken in the third quarter of 2017. Of these, 124 ships ended up on beaches in South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking [1]. Between July and September, one worker lost his life at a shipbreaking yard in Alang, India. Another worker was reported seriously injured in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
BIR: China needs to understand “we are the good guys”
| BIR’s International Environment Council (IEC) meeting in New Delhi was devoted almost entirely to the issue that is preoccupying great swathes of the recycling industry: China’s import ban affecting certain secondary raw materials.
Paper recycling with quality issues
| China’s proposed import restrictions on lower grades of recovered fibre will require major investments by suppliers in quality control processes and technology, according to Andreas Uriel.
Aluminium recycling in India has a great future
| India’s demand for secondary aluminium will increase by 8-10% per year, mainly boosted by the country’s rapidly-growing automotive industry, according to Akshay Agarwal.
Textiles recycling: Rising pressure on India’s recyclers
| India’s textiles recycling sector employs more than one million people and, each year, turns over around US$ 2 billion in processing some 5 million tonnes of material
Uncertainties persist despite improved market conditions
| India ranks as the world’s number one importer and consumer of stainless steel scrap not only because of the amount of stainless steel produced in India (it is second only to China) but also because of the very high proportion of scrap to primary use in its production mix, it was underlined at the latest meeting of the BIR Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee.
Exporters catch “pneumonia” over China import ban
| The plastics recycling industry had become “insanely dependent” on China and so its recently-announced import ban has left suppliers in other parts of the world not so much with a cold but rather with “pneumonia”, argued BIR Plastics Committee Chairman Surendra Borad Patawari of Gemini Corporation at its latest meeting, held in New Delhi.
Leading role for recycling sector in India
| The Indian government aims to set up scrap-based steel mills in the north and west of the country, it was announced at the BIR World Recycling Convention in New Delhi on October 14 by India’s Minister of Steel, Dr Chaudhary Birender Singh.
Launch of global recycling day website
| The countdown has started to a new international awareness day taking place on 18 March 2018 which is dedicated to securing the future of the planet through recycling.
New plan for waste-free Ontario
| The new Waste-Free Ontario Act sets an ambitious goal of a circular economy that sends zero waste to landfill.
