MRAI 2023: Coming to terms with scrap

Despite policymakers embracing the notion of a circular economy, characterizations of scrap materials as “waste” or “foreign garbage” have caused significant headaches for scrap recyclers and traders. At the 2023 Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) meeting in early February, representatives from industry trade associations discussed how to combat or change such terminology.

Robin Wiener, president of the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), said communication research it was conducting with a consultancy indicates that even the word “scrap” might plant negative connotations into the mind of policymakers and members of the public.

The research into how words are perceived is part of an ISRI program to assemble “communication tools to allow recyclers to spell out how what they do is sustainable,” Wiener said. She quoted the communications consultancy as stating in cases where people have preconceived notions, “It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear.”

Although the word “scrap” is in the institute’s name, Wiener said it may be time to acknowledge the word “does not have positive connotations.” She indicated ISRI is in the course of deemphasizing the word on its website and external communications.

There might not be one word that can replace “scrap” in the lexicon, Wiener added, saying referring to the sector as the “recycled materials industry” could be one way forward as part of wider message that recyclers “make the supply chain more sustainable” and protect natural resources.

Wiener also said that while recyclers might see sustainability when they look at zorba or other such scrap grades, the sentiment might not be universal, with those outside the industry simply seeing “waste.” It could cause the association to put more emphasis on industry “outputs,” such as recycled-content metal auto components or recycled-content paperboard boxes.

The notion that high-value scrap grades are interchangeable with waste soon could cause major headaches for recyclers in Europe. Emmanuel Katrakis of the Brussels-based European Recycling Industries Confederation (EuRIC) provided an update on proposed amendments to European Union “waste” shipment regulations that, at the very least, will result in considerable paperwork for recyclers in Europe.

The proposed changes could affect the ease with which European recyclers ship scrap metal, paper and plastic to customers in developing economies (outside of the 38 nations of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD) and across borders within the EU.

To ship outside the OECD, recyclers could need permission from the receiving party’s government, and the processors or consumers receiving material could be subject to audits designed to assure EU regulators the scrap material will be properly handled. Katrakis noted that plastic scrap shipments could be banned altogether.

Hurdles to recycling metal make little sense in a global effort to reduce CO₂ or greenhouse gas emissions, Katrakis said. No matter where in the world the melt shop is located, EuRIC cites CO₂ savings of using scrap versus virgin ores as being 92 percent in the case aluminum, 65 percent in the case of copper and 58 percent in the case of steel.

Wiener and Susie Burrage of the British Metals Recycling Association urged the EU to reconsider the wisdom of applying the restrictions to scrap metal. Burrage urged the United Kingdom not to follow suit with the EU regulation, saying she hopes the U.K. recognizes the need “for free and fair trade.” She noted that the U.K. needs an export market for some 8 million tons of ferrous scrap annually.

Wiener said from 20 percent to 30 percent of American scrap “is bound for the export markets” and recyclers around the world require the ability to “move material where it is needed most.”

Delegates from India, who heard messages predicting and endorsing the rising use of scrap metal as feedstock, told Recycling Today the EU approach is unwelcome in a market where scrap metal is gaining support as a resource rather than being scorned as a waste stream.

The 2023 MRAI International Material Recycling Conference was Feb. 3-4 at the Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty in Kochi, India.