Newsworthy

MUNICIPAL

Advanced Disposal files for $100 million IPO

ADS Waste Holdings Inc., which operates as Advanced Disposal, Ponte Vedra, Florida, has announced that it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined.

Filed Friday, Aug. 21, the company says the IPO could raise up to $100 million, according to Renaissance Capital. The global IPO investment adviser says on its website, www.renaissancecapital.com, that Advanced Disposal, which was founded in 2000 and booked $1.4 billion in sales for the 12 months ended June 30, 2015, plans to list under the symbol ADSW.

Deutsche Bank Securities, Credit Suisse and Barclays are acting as lead book-running managers in the proposed offering. Additional book-running managers are BofA Merrill Lynch, Macquarie Capital, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank. Wells Fargo Securities and First Analysis Securities Corp. are acting as co-managers in the proposed IPO.

The IPO will be made only by means of a prospectus, which can be obtained from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. by emailing prospectus.cpdg@db.com, from Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC by emailing newyork.prospectus@credit-suisse.com and from Barclays Capital Inc. by emailing barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com.

 

PAPER

WestRock plans to acquire SP Fiber Holdings for $288 million

WestRock Co., based in Norcross, Georgia, has announced it intends to acquire SP Fiber Holdings Inc., owner of SP Fiber Technologies, a producer of recycled containerboard and kraft and bag paper with mills in Dublin, Georgia, and Newberg, Oregon.

WestRock is the entity formed in July following the January 2015 merger of MeadWestVaco Corp. and Rock-Tenn Co.

The producer of paper and corrugated packaging solutions says it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SP Fiber in a transaction valued at $288.5 million. As part of the deal, WestRock also will acquire SP Fiber’s 48 percent interest in Green Power Solutions of Georgia (GPS) LLC. GPS is a renewable energy joint venture providing energy to Georgia Power and steam to the paper mill in Dublin.

“The Dublin and Newberg mills will balance the fiber mix of our mill system, and the addition of kraft and bag paper will diversify our product offering,” says Steve Voorhees, chief executive officer of WestRock. “We expect to apply our operating capabilities to improve the cost structure of both mills. As a result, our mill system will be better positioned to serve the increasing demand for lighter weight containerboard and kraft paper.”

SP Fiber produces containerboard and kraft and bag paper used in consumer and corrugated packaging. Made from 100-percent-recycled-postconsumer fiber, these products have been certified through FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), SFI (Sustainable Forest Initiative) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification), WestRock says.

“Adding this modern recycled containerboard and kraft paper production provides us with efficiencies in our mill system that will enable us to more effectively serve our customers,” says Jim Porter, president of paper solutions, WestRock.

 

METALS

Toyota Tsusho America buys Bermco Aluminum

Stout Risius Ross Inc. (SRR), Southfield, Michigan, a leading middle-market investment banking firm, has announced that it has served as exclusive financial advisor to Berman Bros. Iron & Metal Co. Inc., dba Bermco Aluminum, in its purchase by Toyota Tsusho America Inc. (TAI), with locations throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1921, Bermco Aluminum is a leader in the secondary aluminum smelting industry, converting aluminum scrap into aluminum ingot and sow, serving die-casters and foundries for use primarily in the automotive and lawn and garden industries. Bermco is based in Birmingham, Alabama, with an additional facility in Bessemer, Alabama.

Japan-based Toyota Tsusho Corp., the trading affiliate of the Toyota Group, is TAI’s parent company. TAI has seven operating divisions: automotive; chemical and electronics; consumer products; global parts and logistics; machinery, energy and project; metal; and food and agribusiness.

Steve Weinstein, president of Bermco, says, “This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Bermco. It is a unique opportunity to join one of the world’s top performing automotive-related businesses. By becoming part of TAI, the company can access the resources and reach that will help Bermco to continue to support and grow with its customers.”

Atsumasa Kubota of TAI’s nonferrous metal division says, “In recent years we have started expanding our support of other carmakers as well as nonautomotive markets. This acquisition accelerates our sales expansion in these areas and creates synergies among our subsidiaries in North America.”

MUNICIPAL

Study examines improving sorting efficiencies in MRFs

Five national trade associations representing a variety of packaging types—the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers (APR), the Carton Council of North America (CCNA), the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) and the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR)—have commissioned a study exploring ways to optimize recycling of postconsumer packaging. The “MRF Material Flow Study” examines how numerous materials flow through several different types of material recovery facilities (MRFs) with the goal of better understanding how to get more recyclables actually recycled. It looks at where packages end up in the sorting facility, why packages flow in certain ways and potential changes to the sorting processes that could improve recovery.

“The recycling facility is where the proverbial rubber meets the road when it comes to recycling,” says Derric Brown, vice president of sustainability for the CCNA and director of sustainability for Evergreen Packaging, Memphis, Tennessee. “Even in a community with a robust recycling program inclusive of many materials, such as cartons or rigid plastics, if those items do not flow efficiently through a sorting facility and to the right place, all or some of their value may be lost, and they may end up as residue, possibly in a landfill.”

He continues, “We understand that managing programs and motivating consumers to recycle is challenging enough, so we want to help by finding and communicating the study findings.”

Five U.S. MRFs representing a range of operations, including those of different sizes and those processing single- and dual-stream collected recyclables, were selected for the study. Materials, including paper and plastic cups, clamshells, containers, domes/trays, bottles, tubs, lids and gable-top and aseptic cartons, were added to the mix of standard recycling items coming in to these facilities. Materials were processed and then sample bales of paper, plastic and residue were tested, with bale contents being sorted into more than 100 categories based on where the materials flowed naturally, without intervention from the MRF operators, according to the study’s funders.

The trade associations say they look forward to applying this knowledge to increase recovery.

Resource Recycling Systems, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Reclay StewardEdge, Toronto; and Moore Recycling Associates, Sonoma, California, developed the study, which can be accessed at www.CartonOpportunities.org/MRFStudy.

 

METALS

MSA’s RMDAS adds Pittsburgh-Cleveland region

Management Science Associates (MSA) Inc., Pittsburgh, has announced that its Raw Material Data Aggregation Service™ (RMDAS) ferrous scrap pricing service has created an additional geographic region called the Pittsburgh-Cleveland Corridor.

Patrick Gallagher, vice president of MSA’s Metals and Advanced Manufacturing Division, says the new region will provide RMDAS participants with aggregated spot-market ferrous scrap prices and volume information for mills located between the Pittsburgh and Cleveland markets.

“RMDAS participants now have another relevant region in which they can comparatively review aggregated, transaction-based price and volume information for ferrous scrap commodities purchased by steel producers located within this cross-border region each month,” says Gallagher.

MSA introduced RMDAS in 2003.

RMDAS prices are published monthly in Recycling Today magazine and on the publication’s website at www.RecyclingToday.com/page/rmdas.

 

ELECTRONICS

Sage Sustainable Electronics to acquire Hugo Neu Recycling

Columbus, Ohio-based Sage Sustainable Electronics, an information technology asset disposition (ITAD) company, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Hugo Neu Recycling, an electronics recycler and subsidiary of Hugo Neu Corp. of New York.

The acquisition brings Hugo Neu customers tools such as the Sage Bluebook© and the Sage Central customer portal as well as a range of IT life cycle solutions designed to guarantee data security, reduce costs and recover value from used electronics, the companies say.

Sage’s strategy to extend reuse and delay recycling of IT equipment will benefit customers almost immediately, says Hugo Neu Recycling President Alan Ratner.

“Sage systems and methods for increasing reuse improve financial results, and our integration creates new efficiencies in recycling,” Ratner says.

The acquisition is the latest step in a close working relationship between the companies. Hugo Neu Corp. provided startup funding for Sage in 2014 and is its largest shareholder.

Sage CEO Robert Houghton says, “Hugo Neu Corp.’s equity ownership and support has made possible our innovation and rapid expansion, but it is our shared values for service and integrity that will make the integrated business truly valuable to both company’s customers.”

Wendy Neu, Hugo Neu Recycling chairman and CEO, says, “As a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher, Sage will increase the value of every computer we refurbish. Our customers also benefit because Sage’s facilities extend our reach across the country.”

Sage Sustainable Electronics joins Hugo Neu Recycling at Hugo Neu Corp.’s 130-acre industrial development in Kearny Point, New Jersey, while retaining its Columbus headquarters and its plants in Reno, Nevada; Columbus; and Baltimore.

 

METALS

Sims Metal Management earnings up in fiscal 2015

Australia’s Sims Metal Management (SMM), one of the world’s largest recycling companies, has reported lower revenue but increased profits in its annual financial report for its fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2015.

In a presentation delivered Aug. 21 and posted on the company’s website, SMM says it recorded higher earnings for the year despite lower sales volumes. The company cites strong growth in Europe and growth in global electronics recycling operations as factors in its performance for the year.

Revenue fell 11 percent to $4.6 billion, while underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased 19 percent to $104 million. The company also says its volume of materials sold fell to 10.5 million metric tons.

Underlying earnings per share (EPS) diluted increased to 36 cents, SMM reports.

Global electronics recycling EBIT increased $38 million, driven by streamlining actions and improved results in Europe and the U.S., SMM says.

SMM also says EBIT for its West Coast and East Coast North American metals operations improved by $11 million during the 2015 fiscal year, but these significant earnings improvements were offset by challenging competitive conditions in the central region.

Europe Metals EBIT increased $5.6 million because of what SMM calls increased operating efficiencies and lower costs, offsetting a 1 percent reduction in volume.

SMM adds that its 2015 earnings were negatively affected by third quarter commodity price declines, including a 24 percent drop in ferrous scrap prices and severe weather in North America.

 

PLASTICS

APR completes national mixed rigid bale composition study

A recently released study designed to determine the types of plastic material contained in mixed rigid bales will serve as the basis for the continued expansion of plastics recycling beyond traditional containers and packaging, according to the Washington-based Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers (APR), the organization that commissioned the study. Moore Recycling, Sonoma, California, conducted the study, which follows up on an initial 2011 survey to determine the composition of various types of mixed rigid plastic bales in North America.

“As recycling rates continue to grow, understanding the type and tonnage available for recycling in North America will strengthen and advance investment in nonbottle rigid recycling,” says J. Scott Saunders, general manager of KW Plastics, Troy, Alabama, and chairman of APR.

The “2015 National Mixed Rigid Bale Composition Study” focused on nontraditional bales of plastic. It was designed to demonstrate the types of plastic containers in the bales and the value of separating the material and to encourage the continued expansion of plastics recycling to include nonbottle rigid materials.

A total of 23 bales were sorted by resin and by product type at four different North American facilities. A hand-held resin ID unit was used to spot check items that were not easily identified by sight, touch or sound. In total, baled material was divided into 90 sorts, the APR notes.

The executive summary is at http://bit.ly/1OQVw6L.

 

PLASTICS

Two leading publishers and SPI partner on new recycling publication

Valley View, Ohio-based GIE Media Inc., publisher of Recycling Today magazine, and Peninsula, Ohio–based Peninsula Publishing LLC, the publisher of Plastics Machinery Magazine, have partnered to produce Plastics Recycling, a new magazine serving the rapidly developing plastics recycling marketplace. This new venture is complemented by a publishing agreement with Washington-based SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association through which the association will provide content and distribution support.

The new semiannual publication offers unmatched reach spanning the plastics industry. It will be distributed as a supplement to Recycling Today and to Plastics Machinery Magazine readers while also enjoying digital distribution to the SPI database.

In addition, each issue of Plastics Recycling will be distributed at SPI events and at many waste and recycling events throughout each calendar year.

SPI President and CEO William R. Carteaux says, “We have made SPI’s mission to move the needle on plastics recycling and pursue the goal of zero waste for the plastics industry and our products. The only way to do this in a way that has long-lasting, real-world results is by engaging the entire plastics supply chain. That’s the reason we’re supporting this new publication.”

The first issue of Plastics Recycling will be published in conjunction with the SPI Re|focus event, April 25-27, 2016, in Orlando, Florida. It offers suppliers to the plastics recycling market and those trading secondary plastics an advertising channel that reaches the entire plastics recovery, reprocessing and manufacturing supply chain, the partners say.

“We’re very excited about this new publication and the opportunity it offers to better serve the readers of Recycling Today while also serving the broader plastics industry,” says James R. Keefe, publisher of Recycling Today and executive vice president of GIE Media.

 

METALS

Constellium receives $15 million loan for West Virginia plant

Amsterdam-based Constellium N.V. has announced that the West Virginia Economic Development Authority (WVEDA) has approved partial financing of its previously announced $35 million investment at its Ravenswood, West Virginia, plant.

According to Constellium, the $15 million, 15-year loan will contribute to the installation of a new, state-of-the-art, 800,000-metric-ton furnace at the facility primarily dedicated to manufacturing advanced aluminum alloys. The company says the new equipment is due to start production mid-2016 and is expected to support its aerospace customers.

“This new pusher furnace is expected to enhance our high-quality service and product offering to aerospace customers,” says Ingrid Joerg, president of Constellium’s Aerospace and Transportation business unit.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says the financing is a win for the state. “Our willingness to partially finance Constellium’s equipment demonstrates our commitment to supporting the development of the state’s economy and to making West Virginia an even more attractive place for companies to invest. Constellium is a global leader in the aluminum business, and we’re very happy they’re continuing to invest in their Ravenswood facility,” Tomblin says. “The Ravenswood plant provides stable, good-paying jobs, and this investment will help it stay at the forefront of aluminum manufacturing for years to come.”

Buddy Stemple, CEO of Constellium Rolled Products LLC, says the pusher furnace will offer a new level of homogenization capacity. “We will significantly increase the preheating capacity, a process step required to improve the workability of aluminum structures. This will allow us to improve quality and increase output production across our entire product range.”

Constellium describes its Ravenswood plant as one of the world’s largest facilities for the manufacturing of rolled aluminum products. The plant supplies aluminum to a range of industries, including companies in the aerospace, marine vessel and military vehicle manufacturing sectors.

ELECTRONICS

Sims Recycling Solutions declines to renew e-Stewards certification

Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) Inc., West Chicago, Illinois, says “after a long and detailed review of the benefits and costs of the e-Stewards certification program,” it has decided not to renew its licensing agreement and certification to that standard at its United States operations.

The decision is effective with the expiration of current certifications.

“Sims corporate clients routinely conduct their own recycler audits and our internal control mechanisms ensure we maintain our high operating standards at all global sites,” the company says in a news release announcing the decision. “With an increased focus on corporate asset recovery, Sims will be redirecting certification resources to further improve our industry-leading data destruction and secure information management activities.”

Steve Skurnac, global president of SRS, states, “We will continue to support some of the BAN (Basel Action Network) activities on a global scale to control illegal e-scrap shipments, and our processing and recycling operations will continue to be managed at the highest level of environmental practices and in compliance with all global trade requirements.”

SRS offers IT asset disposition and mobile device refurbishment services to local, national and global customers.

 

ELECTRONICS, LEGISLATION & REGULATIONS

New report modifies illegal e-scrap trade rate

In some respects backing away from a May 2015 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) study on cross-border electronic scrap trading, a modified report from UNEP and Interpol says some two-thirds of European e-scrap is not recorded as being recycled through proper channels.

While the May report sounded an alarmist tone that most e-scrap was being shipped as “junk” to developing nations, initial reports on the August update point more to a lack of recordkeeping (potentially as a form of tax evasion) and a lack of knowledge among Europeans as to how to recycle their cellphones and computers.

An online article from Reuters summarizing the report points to low recorded recycling rates in many European nations but not to an abundance of shipping such materials to Africa or parts of Asia, which is a violation of the Basel Convention when nonworking items are shipped.

While Sweden and Norway have achieved 85 percent recordable recycling rates for their obsolete electronics, nations such as Spain, Romania and Cyprus are still in the 20 percent range, the report says.

Studying statistics available for 2012, the UNEP and Interpol concluded that about 35 percent of the items required by EU rules to be recycled (items or appliances with a plug or a battery) are being handled properly on average in the EU.

However, the report downplayed past suggestions that most of the rest gets illegally shipped to African nations.

Reuters says the new report’s recommendations include “better police cooperation, more education of consumers about recycling and a ban on cash transactions in the scrap metal trade.”

 

MUNICIPAL

Recycle Across America turns up the volume

Televised public service announcements created by Recycle Across America (RAA) were scheduled for increased airplay in August 2015, according to the nonprofit organization that describes itself as “dedicated to simplifying the act of recycling for the general public to help them recycle more and help them recycle right.”

A mid-August article from USA Today says RAA is “launching its first national TV campaign … to promote the organization’s recycling labels.”

The labels are designed to offer guidance to residential recycling program participants as to what belongs in their bins and what should stay out. The labels can also be used on recycling bins placed in public areas, such as parks, shopping centers and entertainment venues.

The 30- and 60-second TV spots feature different actors, including Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner and The Incredible Hulk from the “Avengers” movies) and Kristen Bell (the title character in the “Veronica Mars” TV series).

The recycling bin labels RAA created are designed to address a wide-scale problem facing recyclers and consumers of secondary commodities: the placement of inappropriate items into recycling bins.

In a mid-July 2015 blog post providing an update on RAA activities, the group’s founder and Executive Director Mitch Hedlund says the “standardized labels [offered by RAA] went through a year-long vetting process nationally and globally.”

Hedlund says RAA’s labels “continue to be adopted by some of the most notable brands in the world, and the standardized labels are proving to increase recycling levels 50 to 100 percent and [to] significantly decrease contamination levels.

“Additionally,” she adds, “in an independent focus group with 1,000 U.S. consumers, the standardized labels won in every category: appeal, comprehensiveness, ease [and] effectiveness and thereby helped people recycle right and recycle more than any other labels.”

 

METALS

AMI of Canada seeks to recycle spent lithium ion cathodes

American Manganese Inc. (AMI), based in Surrey, British Columbia, says it plans to adapt its patented process for recycling spent lithium ion battery materials.

AMI says it plans to partner with Kemetco Research Inc. of Richmond, British Columbia, to demonstrate that the process can successfully treat spent lithium ion battery cathode materials, producing raw materials suitable for reuse in new lithium ion batteries. The proposed testing program could be carried out at Kemetco’s laboratory in Richmond.

Funding could come from a variety of sources that will be explored, AMI says, including government research grants; a strategic alliance with a lithium ion battery, electric vehicle or materials recycling company; a joint venture with a funding group; and the sale of a royalty on future use of the AMI patented process.

According to AMI, the cathode materials in lithium ion batteries contain lithium imbedded in a base metal oxide matrix and represent the largest single materials cost in the manufacture of lithium ion cells.

Norman Chow, president of Kemetco Research Inc., says, “There is currently no known commercial technology for the large-scale recycling of cathode materials of multiple chemistries. The spent cathode materials represent an ideal resource material to be processed with American Manganese’s proprietary hydrometallurgical process.”

Larry W. Reaugh, president and chief executive officer of AMI, says successful application of the AMI process could result in lower raw material costs for battery manufacturers, lower processing costs and risks, reduced landfill waste, reduced energy consumption and reduced consumption of strategic metals.

Furthermore, he says AMI’s hydrometallurgical process is scalable and may have the potential to recycle other lithium and base metal matrix compounds.

AMI says its process is applicable to multiple lithium ion battery chemistries, including lithium cobalt, lithium nickel manganese cobalt and lithium manganese.

 

METALS

US Steel proposes closure of blast furnace, most flat-rolled finishing facilities in Alabama

On Aug. 17, 2015, United States Steel Corp. (U.S. Steel) announced its proposed intent to permanently close its blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations, along with most of the flat-rolled finishing operations, at its Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Alabama.

“We have made some difficult decisions over the last year as part of our portfolio optimization,” says Mario Longhi, U.S. Steel president and CEO. “We have determined that the permanent shutdown of the Fairfield Works blast furnace, steelmaking and most of the finishing operations is necessary to improve the overall efficiency and cost structure of our flat-rolled segment.”

Under this action, the blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations will be idled. They and the finishing operations would be permanently closed on or after Nov. 17, 2015. The facilities that would permanently close include the blast furnace and steelmaking operations, the hot strip mill, the pickle line, cold mill, annealing facility and stretch and temper line.

The slab and rounds casters, the No. 5 coating line and the Double G hot-dip galvanizing joint venture in nearby Jackson, Mississippi, would continue to operate.

The decision to close the blast furnace and most of the flat-rolling finishing facilities at the Fairfield Works does not impact Fairfield Tubular Operations or the electric arc furnace (EAF) construction project.

U.S. Steel says this proposal was initiated after careful market analysis of the company’s current and long-term global operational footprint competitiveness. The construction of the EAF at Fairfield Works in place of the facility’s existing blast furnace was included in that analysis.

U.S. Steel Corp., headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 200 company with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe and an annual raw steelmaking capability of 24.4 million net tons.

 

SAFETY, MUNICIPAL

SWANA expands safety program

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has announced that it will begin collecting safety data from municipalities about collection injuries and accidents as part of its renewed emphasis on solid waste industry worker safety.

Recognizing a need for data on the frequency of accidents and injuries among municipal solid waste (MSW) collection workers and vehicles, SWANA says it will partner with its safety leadership to develop a survey that will capture needed, relevant information.

David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO, says, “SWANA will continue to expand its safety offerings so all of the hard working men and women in this great industry return home to their families safely, every day.”

Data collection for this initiative is slated to begin in early 2016.

In other safety endeavors and programs, SWANA says it plans to host a webinar on postcollection safety issues at transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills in the fall.

SWANA is an organization of more than 8,300 public and private sector professionals committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through their shared emphasis on education, advocacy and research. SWANA serves industry professionals through technical conferences, certifications, publications and technical training courses.

More information on SWANA’s safety program is available at www.SWANA.org.

 

PAPER, INTERNATIONAL

China’s Lee & Man to add recycled containerboard production line

Valmet, an Espoo, Finland-based supplier of equipment and technology for the papermaking industry, has announced it is supplying a complete OptiConcept M containerboard production line for Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd. in China. The new production line is planned to produce high-quality containerboard grades out of 100-percent-recycled raw materials, Valmet says. Startup of the machine is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2016.

The new Lee & Man line will be the 10th OptiConcept M production line Valmet has supplied since 2012. Valmet also has delivered OptiConcept M lines in North America and Europe.

The annual production capacity of the new machine will be approximately 300,000 metric tons.

Lee & Man makes linerboard and corrugating medium, with roughly 7 million metric tons of production capacity.

 

METALS, INTERNATIONAL

China taps into its own ferrous scrap reservoir

Another step in China’s economic shift away from intensive infrastructure building may be showing up in the form of more available ferrous scrap in that nation.

Steel industry analysts have long considered China’s steel industry as operating above capacity, and in 2015 its total steel output has finally showed signs of having peaked.

In addition to needing fewer raw materials at its steel mills, China may be able to secure more scrap within its borders.

A news report on the website of The Australian quotes a securities analyst’s report that sees significant changes setting in.

The article says iron ore producer BHP Billiton has backed away from its prior forecast that China would peak at 1.1 billion metric tons of steel production and now foresees annual production of 800 million metric tons.

In addition to needing less iron ore because of reduced output, China’s steelmakers may turn more heavily to locally generated iron and steel scrap, the article’s author, John W. Miller, says.

At the same time China’s steel producers have been reducing output of finished product, the amount of ferrous scrap “available for recycling now stands far beyond the level that would be typical for an economy its size, at around 5 metric tons per capita,” Miller says, citing an analysis by Morningstar.

“In adjusted gross domestic product per capita, China now matches Japan’s level of development in 1968. At that time, the Japanese economy had 2.9 metric tons of steel per capita,” adds Miller. “And in the next decade, as the country’s consumers and businesses start recycling their first generation of [shipping] containers, cars and appliances, the steel [scrap] glut will be compounded.”