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BIR: The Global Scrap Industry Is Booming Posted: 26 Feb 2008 02:12 AM CST The global recycling industry is booming, reports the Bureau of International Recycling, which says the industry as a whole, including metal, plastics, rubber, and paper, has an annual turnover of more than $160 billion. The industry processes more than 500 million tons of scrap annually, of which 400 tons is metal, and employs more than 1.5 million people worldwide. In 2006, the recycling industry in the United States was worth $65 billion, and ISRI says the United States annually recycles more than 90 million tons of ferrous and nonferrous metals. In 2006, scrap was the second-largest U.S. export to China in monetary terms, behind only electronic components. The high level of demand for scrap metal is being driven by several factors, including a strong market for metal and a growing concern for the global environment. As areas such as China, India, and the Far East continue to rapidly develop, demand for iron, steel, copper, aluminum, and special alloy metals will remain high. Scrap metal is particularly valuable because the energy required to reprocess scrap is significantly lower than that required to process virgin ore. The energy savings from recycling are even greater for aluminum and copper. Recovering precious metals from discarded equipment can also generate significant revenues. The Defense Department's Precious Metals Recovery Program saved the government $250 million from 1975 to 2005.

Florida: Scrap tires tread new ground as powder Posted: 26 Feb 2008 02:12 AM CST Lehigh Technologies in Naples, Fla., pulverizes used tires and factory scrap into a fine rubber powder that is used in products that benefit from the durability of rubber, such as longer-lasting paint, UV-resistant plastics, and more elastic sealants. "What makes a tire so difficult to dispose of--it doesn't want to break down, it lasts forever," says Lehigh founder Tony Cialone, noting that his company brings those attributes to new products. Lehigh's powder can also be used to make new tires, which may become an increasingly attractive option to tire manufacturers as the price of synthetic rubber and natural rubber continues to rise. Cialone developed the process for creating the ultra-fine rubber powder after visiting a company in Germany that did precision-grinding of pharmaceuticals for time-release capsules. Cialone bought the company and put the process to work in 2006 in a plant in suburban Atlanta. Lehigh uses scrap rubber from tire manufacturers and rubber chips from tire recyclers that have already removed the steel and fiber. The rubber is cut into smaller pieces and frozen with liquid nitrogen to make it extremely brittle. The frozen pieces are then shaken, crushed, and ground to any level of fineness, depending on the customer's needs. The plant can grind up to 100 million pounds of powder per year, and the company plans to build another facility in 2008. [url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/02/01/solutions.powdered.tires/#cnnSTCVideo] watch the video[/url]

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