BIR Autumn 2022: Magnifying recycling’s benefits a team effort

The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) continues to invest to spread news of the planet-protecting impacts of recycling. That effort also is front and center in decarbonization tracking by United Kingdom-based EMR Ltd. and in a documentary film series being produced by John Sacco of Sierra International Machinery, Bakersfield, California.

At the BIR Autumn Round-Tables event held in mid-October in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, communicating the importance of scrap recycling’s environmental benefits was the lead topic during “The Challenge” panel conversation.

That conversation series was started by BIR members Michael Lion (chair of the BIR International Trade Council); Mark Sellier of Hong Kong-based Global Metals Network Ltd.; and Murat Bayram, who works from Hamburg for EMR. It was created shortly after COVID-19 restrictions were introduced as a way to keep such conversations alive, though initially in a virtual format.

The October Dubai “The Challenge” conversation was able to take place in person. In addition to Lion, Sellier and Bayram, participants included Sacco, EMR CEO Chris Sheppard, and BIR staff member Michèle Noukam Kwandjeu.

Noukam Kwandjeu, who is the BIR’s communications and social media manager, told the panel she is providing an ever-increasing amount of BIR messaging content and advocacy designed to optimize recognition of the vital role of recyclers in reducing carbon emissions.

Sacco, who hosts the “Pile of Scrap” podcast, brought with him a preview trailer of his upcoming documentary series “Repurposed.” He said the series has been created to demonstrate to the public and to policy and corporate leaders that materials recycling ties into the manufacturing of everything from airplanes, trains, automobiles, airports, highways, with recycled raw materials content having established a dominant presence.

At EMR, Sheppard said that firm has been undertaking ongoing investments to reach its environmental, safety and governance (ESG) targets. Sheppard also said that in some instances outside players had distracted from the critical decarbonization goals that ESG programs should be designed to address. He also said there are profitable approaches that can facilitate environmentally progressive practices, with that strategic combination serving as his guiding principle.

Other issues also were addressed at “The Challenge” session with Bayram saying the BIR and the industry remain determined to advocate its position in response to proposed regulations and trade controls currently being considered by the EU authorities. Lion called it a troubling trend in many regions to adopt regulations that are moving trade from its healthy globalized condition to one of a narrow and damaging regionalization within the recycling sector.

Sellier said cash flow and cost anxieties tied to rising interest rates and the energy crisis in Europe are on the minds of many recyclers and traders, as is the ongoing impact that the London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel crisis has imposed on the sector’s risk management and hedging needs.

The BIR Autumn Round-Table Sessions took place at the Intercontinental Festival City in Dubai.