Prompt scrap purchased in two U.S. regions averaged $500 per ton in January.

The soaring ferrous scrap market portrayed by Fastmarkets AMM early January surveys has continued into the month, based on spot transaction pricing collected by Pittsburgh-based MSA Inc. for its Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS).

RMDAS collects United States transaction pricing throughout the month that is accessible to its customers. It releases a 30-day snapshot on the 20th of each month. Its January index figures for spot pricing (covering Dec. 21, 2020 to Jan. 20, 2021) show mill buyers in the South paid an average of $502 per ton for prompt scrap, and in the RMDAS North Midwest region the price averaged $504 per ton.

National RMDAS averages for January showed a $70 spread between No. 1 heavy melting scrap (HMS), at $429 per ton, and prompt grades, at $499 per ton. Shredded scrap was positioned in between with a national average of $460 per ton.

Mill buyers looking for a bargain would have had to settle for the $415 per ton being paid for No. 1 HMS scrap in the South. The same grade averaged $440 in the North Midwest, which aggregates spot buying in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.

Ferrous scrap values rose by from $80 to $111 per ton in January, depending on the grade and region, according to RMDAS. That follows jumps in the $75 to $85 per ton range during the RMDAS December buying period.

Traders and processors are not convinced the momentum will continue into February. Recent reports from traders indicate an absence of bulk purchases being booked by overseas buyers at U.S. ports. China, which buys little U.S. scrap but makes half the world’s steel in any given month, is preparing to go on low idle for the Feb. 12 Chinese New Year holiday, an annual event that typically causes ripples throughout the global supply chain.

On the supply side, higher scale prices have increased flows into many scrap yards in the U.S., bringing out inventory that some speculators may have been holding for several months.

A nonferrous wire and cable processor tells Recycling Today his inflow was notably reduced in December and early January. He suspects a lot of the smaller dealers who usually supply him with nonferrous material “were too busy moving scrap iron at these incredible levels.”

Pan Era Group added a new plastic recycling plant in Cikande, Indonesia, to recycle polyethylene.

Pan Era Group, a North Jakarta, Indonesia-based recycler of polyethylene (PE) and a manufacturer of carrier bags and packaging supplies, has invested in a recycling line from Austria-based Maschinen und Angenbau Schulz GmbH (MAS), an extrusion technology company. The MAS extruding technology is distributed by Efactor3, which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Efactor3 offers a variety of preshredding, shredding, granulating, conveying, separation, extrusion, continuous disc filtration and dry cleaning equipment, systems integration and installation services.

Pan Era Group recycles postconsumer plastic scrap, which it then processes into film products. To date, more than 95 percent of the plastic bags produced and sold by Pan Era Group are made using at least 80 percent recycled material, according to a news release from Efactor3 on the Indonesian firm’s investment in extruding technology.

Currently, Pan Era Group is working to build a new plastic recycling plant in Cikande, Indonesia. Efactor3 reports that the new facility is projected to be one of the largest PE recycling plants in Southeast Asia. For the new plant, Pan Era Group has ordered the MAS ES-compound extrusion line with an output of 1,000 kilograms of PE per hour.

Efactor3 reports that the MAS extrusion technology features conical, co-rotating twin-screw extruders. MAS is available in six sizes, from the MAS 24 laboratory extruder with an hourly output of 10 kilograms of PE to an hourly output of 2,000 kilograms of PE. Efactor3 says the range is supplemented by MAS’ state-of-the-art continuous disc filter (CDF) melt filters that use rotating disc filters and the double rotor disc- (DRD-) centrifugal cleaners for the pretreatment of input materials, particularly for drying and the waterless separation of solids.

Based on MAS’ conical, co-rotating twin-screw design, the MAS extruders offer a property profile that makes them ideal for complex recycling and compounding tasks, Efactor3 says. The company adds that one of the most important characteristics is the uniform plasticization at a low to medium pressure and shear level, documented by measurements of physical end-product characteristics. The qualities of input material stay minimally degraded during processing, which is important in compounding and recycling applications. Efactor3 says the screws can also be quickly fine-tuned to specific tasks by interchanging individual screw segments.

The extruder also includes a large feed opening, which allows for the feeding of low-bulk-density material such as film flakes or fibrous and powdery additives in compounding applications.

Pan Era Group wanted the ability to produce a one-stage process, leading to an odorless and particle-free high-density polyethylene (HDPE) quality in different colors from preselected postconsumer scrap that can be directly reprocessed for film and bottling applications.

“The challenge was to correctly assess the input material in terms of its composition and degree of soiling and the system design required for processing,” says Juergen Morosz, area sales manager for MAS. “In close cooperation with the customer, after a series of representative material tests, we have found a process technology solution that optimally uses the potential of the MAS extruder. The ideal solution was, respectively is, a system concept derived from our ES compounder extruder cascade. It consists of a single-screw extruder for melting and plasticizing the washed and dried PE flakes and a subsequent CDF 500-D twin disc filter unit from our supply program, where particles with a fineness of 130 μm are retained and segregated. The thus cleaned material stream is then fed to the conical MAS twin-screw extruder by side feeding in the area of the feed zone.”

Morosz says more cleaning was required on the extruder, though. He adds, “There were still printing ink residues and odor emissions in the melt. In order to remove these contaminations, we have added a vacuum unit to the specifically large intake opening of the twin-screw extruder and converted it into a degassing zone, where the volatile melt components can be sucked off efficiently. From there, the polymer melt is conveyed further, compressed gently and homogenized until it finally reaches a second degassing zone for a second cleansing. Passing a [melt flow indexer] measuring station, it finally reaches the granulating unit. Since a suitable single-screw extruder was already available in the customer’s plant, we only had to adapt and integrate our filter unit and the MAS extruder to the existing premises and merge the control technology. It was our contribution to the best possible use of the investment budget.”

With the new technology, Efactor3 says Pan Era Group has opportunity to expand its recycled HDPE range to include material variants for technical applications.

European packaging firm starts up what it calls specialty kraft paper machine in Czech Republic.

United Kingdom-based Mondi Group says it has started up a new paper machine at its mill in Štětí, Czech Republic, that is dedicated to producing 100-percent-recyclable specialty kraft paper for shopping bags. The paper is made “using a combination of fresh and recycled fibers to prioritize sustainability without compromising on strength,” the packaging and paper producer says.

The company says the 67 million euros ($81.3 million) investment in the machine had led to “Europe’s first dedicated paper machine for specialty kraft paper grades made out of fresh and recycled fiber for retail and online shopping bags.”

The paper machine will produce up to 130,000 metric tons of paper per year, “meaning Mondi will have the largest product portfolio for consumer shopping bags in Europe,” according to the firm.

The EcoVantage two-ply paper produced on the new machine will be part of a European specialty kraft paper market that is expected to grow steadily, driven by legislation to eliminate discarded plastic shopping bags and consumer preferences to move away from single-use plastic, Mondi says.

“We want to offer converters and brand owners sustainable, 100-percent-recyclable paper-based products for their retail and online shopping packaging,” says Kalle Taari, head of strategy and product management, kraft paper, at Mondi. “The papers produced on this machine will offer recycled fiber-based products with a natural look, great printability and strength properties, all prerequisites for consumer shopping bags.”

Mondi manages forests and produces pulp, paper and plastic films and develops and makes industrial and consumer packaging. In 2019, Mondi had revenue of 7.27 billion euros ($8.82 billion).

Providers of rubber recycling technology say they can help tire makers meet sustainability goals.

Miami-based EW Polymer Group says the Genesis Evolution Catalyst (GEC) scrap tires-to-rubber compound technology it is helping to market can help tire producing companies “recycle their own products in an open or closed loop system, meeting emerging regulatory demand on companies to be responsible for disposition of their own products.” The catalyst works with any crumb rubber, according to the firm.

The GEC technology has been developed over the course of more than a decade, in part by Howard Boever and Minnesota-based TC Rubber. Helena Nelson, chief financial officer of EW Polymer Group, says the two firms are working “as one team to bring the GEC technology to the market.”

Nelson says “the time has come for this technology. For many reasons—climate change, consumer change, political change—we believe the market is finally ready for this shift.”

In a three-page document written to support GEC technology, EW Polymer Group writes, “GEC can recycle any rubber (styrene-butadiene rubber [SBR], ethylene propylene diene monomer [EPDM], polybutadiene rubber [PBR], isoprene rubber [IR], butyl and natural rubber), and products made with GEC can be re-recycled at least 10 times, addressing the ‘kicking the can down the road’ issue.”

Adds the firm, “The GEC rubber compounding process is readily integrated into existing rubber compounding. GEC catalyst uses standard industry equipment, requires no new capital investment, and the cost is at par with or below virgin rubber. And unlike other rubber recycling processes, the recycled rubber does not need to be de-vulcanized since GEC uses a reactivation bonding mechanism.”

Regarding tire performance concerns, EW Polymer Group writes, “GEC recycled rubber performs like standard rubber compound because it is standard rubber compound. It has been tested extensively in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The performance even exceeds virgin rubber for tire production.”

On the energy savings front, the catalyst’s advocates say the compound, when used in tire production, “cuts fossil fuel use for synthetic rubber production in half.” A compound made via the GEC method can replace up to 50 percent of virgin rubber with recycled rubber, “equaling a 50 percent reduction in virgin synthetic rubber production and a 50 percent reduction of fossil fuel use. Testing also shows promise that later generations GEC technology will increase the recycled content even further,” writes EW Polymer Group. 

Concludes the Florida-based company, “The GEC catalyst is currently manufactured in Minnesota and available for use by rubber producers in the U.S. and global market.”

The presence of metal balers and shears is keeping pace with the growing scrap recycling sector in Mexico.

Mexico has had a growing manufacturing sector for several decades, providing one reason why its ferrous and nonferrous scrap generation volumes nurture a market for successful and growing recycling companies.

In particular, Monterrey, considered Mexico’s third-largest metropolitan area, has benefitted from the presence of “maquiladoras,” or factories and assembly plants established there by multinational companies to be near the border with the United States.

“Monterrey has successfully attracted a diversified commercial base, including international companies from the aerospace, automobile, electronics, medical device and industrial [sectors],” says the MaquilaReference.com website.

Two scrap companies based in or near Monterrey that have enjoyed access to the sizable industrial base each have invested in baling capacity to help them prepare and ship the steady stream of scrap metal in the northern Mexico region.

Dimeca Metals in Monterrey operates an 800-ton shear/baler from Lefort America, the Florida-based business unit of Belgium-based Lefort S.A. The installation of the Lefort SB800 marked the third and largest Lefort shear/baler operated by Dimeca in Mexico.

The SB800 shear baler features a loading hopper, 800 tons of shearing force, a 23-foot charge box and a 230-kilowatt electric motor powering Bosch Rexroth pumps and a Lefort-engineered hydraulic system.

According to a news release from Lefort America, the model joins a Lefort SB660 track mounted shear/baler used at Dimeca’s facility in Guadalajara, and a Lefort SB770 used at Dimeca’s yard in the steelmaking city of Saltillo.

Of the new SB800, Dimeca CEO Ricardo de la Pena says, “We are very happy with this machine.” He indicates the production rate has exceeded his expectations and that Dimeca is able to cut and bale types of scrap that it had previously not been able to process before the machine’s installation.

Nonferrous scrap recycling has played a larger role in the growth of RIISA, which is based near Monterrey. Family business RIISA operates four locations in Mexico and has been loyal to balers made by Spain-based Imabe Iberica LLC.

According to RIISA’s Mauricio Llaguno Garza, who provided information to Recycling Today for an Imabe of America custom-content project, RIISA has 12 balers in its processing fleet. The firm’s website lists Imabe and United States-based Harris as its baler suppliers.

RIISA has its origins in secondary aluminum smelting, but it has grown to handle (and bale) a wide variety of scrap metals. In addition to aluminum scrap grades, RIISA now buys and processes red metal, ferrous, stainless steel, zinc and plastic scrap. “We are always in the search for new materials and markets,” states the firm on its website.

Llaguno Garza says the machines RIISA has acquired from Florida-based Imabe of America are “dependable, worry-free and very easy to operate.”

The Mexican economy is facing the same challenges as others around the world in seeking to regain momentum lost from COVID-19-related disruptions.

The nation has a stable regional trading regimen in place in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and its current government has initiated considerable infrastructure spending. Ideally, the economic circumstances will keep Mexico’s metal baling and shearing equipment—and the recycling companies that operate them—humming throughout 2021.