GARWER WasteXchange News

Car industry faces urgent recycling challenge Posted: 21 Feb 2008 11:08 AM CST More vehicles will be produced in the next 25 years than in the entire history of the motor industry - posing a major worldwide recycling challenge, according to a study from the UK-based DRIVENet network for the design for dismantling, reuse and recycling of road vehicles. Research shows the number of vehicles on the world's roads is likely to increase 65% to 1.48 billion by 2030, with each vehicle accounting for an average of 1.85 tonnes of waste in its lifetime. According to researchers at Oxford Brookes University (OBU) in the UK, 3.65 billion tonnes of vehicle scrap will be generated worldwide between now and 2030. This dramatic increase is attributed to a number of factors such as world population growth, affordability, the desire for replacement vehicles in the developed world, and increasing demand in the growing economies of China, India, Russia, Eastern Europe and the rest of the developing world. Currently, around 75% of a vehicle is recycled - mainly the metal content. The other 25% including plastics, rubber, glass, fabrics and other materials are generally sent to landfill. OBU's Professor Allan Hutchinson says: 'Our report shows that the recycling challenge is not a concern for the distant future … it is with us now, and will become even greater with every year that passes.' According to DRIVENet, this is the first study of its kind to: quantify past and future levels of waste generated by the motor industry worldwide; and focus on the total amount of waste produced by a vehicle over its whole lifetime - from manufacture and routine servicing through to end of life.

New Australian technology for refining scrap metal waste Posted: 21 Feb 2008 11:01 AM CST New technology pioneered in Australia for refining scrap metal waste is to be put to the test in northern Tasmania. The Tasmanian government has granted approval for Sydney-based Intec Ltd to build a plant at its Hellyer mill in Burnie to refine zinc dust from the electric arc furnace. Construction will start in the first half of this year and the project is due to come on stream in 2009. Intec's Managing Director Phillip Wood comments: 'We are taking this industrial waste and recycling it to produce zinc product and totally stable residue. 'We are producing a valuable product and a completely safe residue, so it's a technology breakthrough which is also making money.' Mr Wood wants to export the environmentally-friendly process to other countries in the near future. 'Obviously, we expect to be able to take the technology far afield to North America and Europe and Eastern Asia in the next few years.' Intec Hellyer Metals Pty Ltd is also in the process of implementing the first commercial project utilising the Intec process - a patented Australian hydrometallurgical technology for the recovery of base and precious metals from a range of different feedstocks.

EU: Commissioner Piebalgs underlines importance of common rules for waste management Posted: 21 Feb 2008 10:58 AM CST Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has met with the first chairman of the European High Level Group (HLG) on Nuclear Safety and Waste Management, Mr Andrej Stritar, in Brussels. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss nuclear safety and waste management issues, particularly the establishment of common European rules in the field, ahead of the HLG's third meeting in April. 'Citizens main concerns in the field of nuclear energy are nuclear safety and the radioactive waste management. The Commission's foremost priorities in the field aim at addressing these concerns. It is essential that the member's of the HLG agree on common principles governing nuclear safety, which will ensure a solid basis for the Group's future activities' said Commissioner Piebalgs after meeting with Mr. Stritar. Mr Piebalgs said he expects that the work of the Group, being based on the national experience and competence of its high-level members, will help identify the areas where common EU nuclear safety standards would increase safety and public confidence. The High Level Group was created by the European Commission in order to develop common understanding and reinforce common approaches in the fields of nuclear safety and waste management. It is composed of senior officials from national regulatory or nuclear safety authorities, who will help the Commission to identify priority safety issues, as well as advise and assist it in progressively developing European rules regarding the safety of nuclear installations and the safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste. The European Council of 8-9 March endorsed the Commission's proposal to create the European High Level Group on Nuclear Safety and Waste management. With the support of various other EU institutions for this idea, the European Commission established the group in July 2007. The group will meet for the third time on 21 April 2008 (first meeting took place in October 2007). It should adopt its work programme, as well as the terms of reference for three working parties to deal respectively with the safety of nuclear installations, radioactive waste management and communication and transparency. Mr Andrej Stritar is Director of Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration. From 1977 to 1992, he worked as a researcher at the Josef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, where he also held the position of Head of the Nuclear Training Centre from 1993 to 2002. From 1991 to 2002, Mr Stritar was President of the Nuclear Society of Slovenia, and from 2002 to 2003 - President of European Nuclear Society (ENS, a non-governmental organisation promoting and contributing to scientific progress and engineering in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy). He received his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Maribor, Slovenia, in 1986.

Malaysian company to build tyre recycling plants in US at cost of $50m Posted: 21 Feb 2008 10:56 AM CST Malaysian company Octagon Consolidated has signed heads of agreement with KK Incinerator Engineering & Construction Co Ltd (KKIEC) of South Korea and Canadian Carbon Converters LP (CCC) covering the setting-up of a joint venture company with the aim of developing rubber and scrap tyre pyrolysis projects in North America. In a statement, Octagon says the parties aim to become the dominant player in North America through the use of a more efficient, innovative and environmentally-friendly technology. The joint venture will handle the simultaneous roll-out of three continuous-process pyrolysis plants in North America, each with a capacity of around 40 tonnes per day. Estimated cost will be US$ 50 million (Euro 34 million). Pyrolysis is the process of decomposing organic materials by heating in the absence of oxygen. In view of the huge potential of the North American market, the joint venture will have the potential to grow into a company with a market capitalisation of US$ 1 billion over the next five to seven years, according to Octagon. The signing ceremony was held in conjunction with the launch of a 10-tonnes-per-day continuous-process pyrolysis plant at Busan in South Korea, a project which is supported by the Korean government. This marks Octagon's second overseas venture after its subsidiary, Green Energy and Technology Sdn Bhd (GET), entered into an agreement to design, engineer, construct, commission and operate a US$ 115 million (Euro 78 million) waste-to-energy plant with a capacity of 200 tonnes per day for Sri Lanka's Colombo Renewable Energy (Private) Ltd.

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