Commentary AWS
Commentary
LME BRAND ALUMINUM ALLOY SMELTER
CHINA’S LEADING IMPORTER OF ALUMINUM SCRAP
CHINA’S ONGOING RECYCLING EVOLUTION
Publicly Listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange (SH 601388)
A
LLOYD WOLF
gainst the somber market news at year’s end, one bright announcement was that the Chinese government is forcing Guiyu to clean up its act. Guiyu, a town in southern China, became infamous in the early 2000s for its unsafe, environmentally damaging processing of end-of-life electronics. For years, it was the worst example of informal reclamation, showing the damage that can result when recycling isn’t done right. Now, according to news reports, the Chinese government is requiring Guiyu’s 3,000-plus electronics processors to relocate to an industrial park north of town. The Guiyu processors began moving to this new park in 2013, but China has been moving its scrap industry toward recycling parks for more than 15 years, covering all recyclables, not just electronics. Guiyu is simply the latest example of the development of China’s recycling industry. Several factors are driving China’s efforts, with environmental concerns at the top of the list. As journalist Adam Minter, an expert on China’s recycling market, explains, “Chinese President Xi Jinping is under considerable political pressure to clean up China’s environmental mess, especially the most public manifestations of it, such as Beijing’s air pollution and Guiyu’s e-waste problem.” Recycling parks give the Chinese government more environmental and operational control over the nation’s recycling entities, allowing it to enforce its regulations more effectively and make the industry more efficient and professional. That dynamic has been at work in Guiyu since the mid-2000s, when high-level Chinese officials first expressed interest in turning the town into a modern e-scrap processing center, Minter says. Of course, China’s recycling park approach doesn’t magically solve every problem in its recycling sector, with some operators reportedly continuing to use polluting methods in the parks. And small workshops—which tend to be the worst offenders—persist outside the recycling parks, posing ongoing regulatory challenges for the Chinese government. Those realities, however, don’t discount the progress China is making in its recycling industry, which is undergoing an evolution, not a revolution. Even Guiyu residents say the new recycling park has yielded noticeable improvements in the town’s environmental condition. Going forward, electronics recyclers in the developed world can encourage this progress by sharing their knowledge and technological expertise to help China and its e-recyclers continue their transition from informal to formal methods. Such a shift is certainly in China’s best interests, especially as it begins to grapple with the rising tide of its own end-of-life electronics. And, in the end, raising the industry’s standards—in Guiyu, in China as a whole, and around the world—is in all recyclers’ best interests.
NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST BUYER OF ZORBA Good Prices, Great Services & the Fastest Payments. AMERICA METAL EXPORT Subsidiary of Ye Chiu Group 1525 S. Garfield Ave., Alhambra, CA 91801 Phone: +1 (626) 281-3000 • Fax: +1 (626) 281-2510 Email: [email protected]
www.yechiu.com For Pricing Please Contact: America Metal Export Inc. (NJ) 26 Wills Way, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Phone: +1 (732) 667-5891
ALWAYS BUYING Tense Taint/Tabor Zorba Irony Alum Twitch Tale
Irony Extrusion Shredded Alum Alum Radiators Remelt Sow/Ingot Tough/Taboo (MLC) All Secondary Alum
FAS FOB CFR CERTIFIED BY:
MEMBER OF: B.I.R.
KENT KISER, PUBLISHER, SCRAP MAGAZINE www.scrap.org
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
_ Scrap _ 13
LME BRAND ALUMINUM ALLOY SMELTER
CHINA’S LEADING IMPORTER OF ALUMINUM SCRAP
CHINA’S ONGOING RECYCLING EVOLUTION
Publicly Listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange (SH 601388)
A
LLOYD WOLF
gainst the somber market news at year’s end, one bright announcement was that the Chinese government is forcing Guiyu to clean up its act. Guiyu, a town in southern China, became infamous in the early 2000s for its unsafe, environmentally damaging processing of end-of-life electronics. For years, it was the worst example of informal reclamation, showing the damage that can result when recycling isn’t done right. Now, according to news reports, the Chinese government is requiring Guiyu’s 3,000-plus electronics processors to relocate to an industrial park north of town. The Guiyu processors began moving to this new park in 2013, but China has been moving its scrap industry toward recycling parks for more than 15 years, covering all recyclables, not just electronics. Guiyu is simply the latest example of the development of China’s recycling industry. Several factors are driving China’s efforts, with environmental concerns at the top of the list. As journalist Adam Minter, an expert on China’s recycling market, explains, “Chinese President Xi Jinping is under considerable political pressure to clean up China’s environmental mess, especially the most public manifestations of it, such as Beijing’s air pollution and Guiyu’s e-waste problem.” Recycling parks give the Chinese government more environmental and operational control over the nation’s recycling entities, allowing it to enforce its regulations more effectively and make the industry more efficient and professional. That dynamic has been at work in Guiyu since the mid-2000s, when high-level Chinese officials first expressed interest in turning the town into a modern e-scrap processing center, Minter says. Of course, China’s recycling park approach doesn’t magically solve every problem in its recycling sector, with some operators reportedly continuing to use polluting methods in the parks. And small workshops—which tend to be the worst offenders—persist outside the recycling parks, posing ongoing regulatory challenges for the Chinese government. Those realities, however, don’t discount the progress China is making in its recycling industry, which is undergoing an evolution, not a revolution. Even Guiyu residents say the new recycling park has yielded noticeable improvements in the town’s environmental condition. Going forward, electronics recyclers in the developed world can encourage this progress by sharing their knowledge and technological expertise to help China and its e-recyclers continue their transition from informal to formal methods. Such a shift is certainly in China’s best interests, especially as it begins to grapple with the rising tide of its own end-of-life electronics. And, in the end, raising the industry’s standards—in Guiyu, in China as a whole, and around the world—is in all recyclers’ best interests.
NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST BUYER OF ZORBA Good Prices, Great Services & the Fastest Payments. AMERICA METAL EXPORT Subsidiary of Ye Chiu Group 1525 S. Garfield Ave., Alhambra, CA 91801 Phone: +1 (626) 281-3000 • Fax: +1 (626) 281-2510 Email: [email protected]
www.yechiu.com For Pricing Please Contact: America Metal Export Inc. (NJ) 26 Wills Way, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Phone: +1 (732) 667-5891
ALWAYS BUYING Tense Taint/Tabor Zorba Irony Alum Twitch Tale
Irony Extrusion Shredded Alum Alum Radiators Remelt Sow/Ingot Tough/Taboo (MLC) All Secondary Alum
FAS FOB CFR CERTIFIED BY:
MEMBER OF: B.I.R.
KENT KISER, PUBLISHER, SCRAP MAGAZINE www.scrap.org
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
_ Scrap _ 13
