July/August 1991
At its golden anniversary convention, the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries examined the latest issues facing scrap processors and recyclers in that nation.
By Elise R. Browne
Elise R. Browne is editor of Scrap Processing and Recycling.
Returning to the site of its predecessor organization's first meeting 50 years ago, the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI) (Don Mills, Ontario) met in Ottawa in May for its golden anniversary convention.
While the location wasn't new, other aspects of the three-day event were. For the first time, the convention included a daylong public forum that brought together approximately 300 industry members, government employees, and public interest group leaders to discuss a variety of recycling-related issues-from Design for Recycling" to deinking technologies to construction and demolition scrap recycling.
Opening the special session, Stan Parker, CARI executive director, explained the program's purpose: "We conceived this program as a start to achieving a cleaner environment through open dialogue. ... We hope to emerge with a perspective on maximizing recycling through public/private partnership." Three national government officials who presented remarks at the event--Pauline Browes, Canada's new minister of state for the environment; Nonita Yap of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, a group that reports directly to the prime minister; and Peter M. Higgins, assistant deputy minister for conservation and protection services, Environment Canada--recognized the positive efforts of CARI in seeking such communication and offered praise for Canadian scrap recyclers' years of conservation accomplishments .
Examining the Past for a Future Perspective
Holding such an event is only one of a number of public outreach efforts that CARI has undertaken in recent months and represents only one of the strategies that exemplify how greatly CARI and its members have changed the way they do business over the last 50 years, CARI President Larry Kummer, London Salvage & Trading Co. Ltd. (London, Ontario), pointed out at the convention's general meeting.
In 1941, he noted, the Canadian scrap industry finalized agreements with a word and a handshake, employed little equipment beyond balers, and based quality inspections on whether materials could be processed by hand. In contrast, Kummer said, today, while most deals are still accomplished orally, many require detailed bids and contracts that place more at stake than a handshake; balers are 'only one of a variety of types of equipment that allow scrap processors to handle in one hour what took a full day to process 50 years ago; and recyclers must know the alloy of their scrap and be watchful for contaminants such as oil and radioactive material.
Expanding on Kummer's review of the changes the industry has seen in the last 50 years, Parker highlighted the association's major strategies undertaken since the previous year's convention in an effort to ensure members' business survival through changes still to come. At last year's convention, he reminded attendees, the association unveiled a plan to change its name to the Recycling Association of Canada as part of a scheme to increase its public recognition. In trying to implement that plan, however, Parker said, CARI ran into a number of bureaucratic barriers and the association's leadership decided that its efforts would be better spent on concentrating on more practical methods of raising the industry's profile. These efforts, which have included weekly visits to the Parliament and regulatory agencies in Ottawa and increased communication with activists, have paid off, he noted. "There are a lot of institutions that are looking at us in a whole new light, " he said.
"The task from here," Parker said, "is building membership." Agreeing with him, CARI Treasurer Jack Rosen, Rosen Industries Ltd. (Kitchener, Ontario), pointed out that in order for the association to continue its work "we must grow financially stronger and the only way to do this is to expand our membership base." Declining membership over the past few years, Rosen noted, has resulted in decreased revenue and increased use of cash reserves.
Gearing Up for Basel
One of the major issues that CARI has devoted and must continue to devote its energies to, said Third Vice President Max Zalev, Zalev Bros. Ltd. (Windsor, Ontario), at the convention's environmental/shredders seminar, is ensuring that Canadian implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous and Other Wastes does not impede international trade of recyclables. Because this international accord aimed at controlling international waste shipments does not implicitly exempt scrap, the regulations implementing Basel in each of the more than 50 nations that have signed the accord-and their recognition of the difference between scrap and waste-will determine how the flow of scrap in and out of each nation will be controlled. Canadian implementation of Basel will affect all of the country's scrap firms, regardless of whether they import and/or export scrap because of a potential "trickledown" effect, Parker explained.
Environment Canada's first draft of regulations to implement the convention showed no recognition of the scrap industry, Parker said, since they defined all recyclables as waste. Pressure from CARI and others concerned with the potential consequences of the draft regulations, however, convinced the agency to rethink its proposal, he said, and conduct an impact study of the scrap industry.
The agency's latest draft, released a week before the CARI meeting at a joint meeting between the Canadian government and industry representatives, holds much more promise for the scrap industry, Parker reported. The new proposal, he said, would control scrap and waste shipments under a three-tiered system: The green tier, made up of materials deemed to pose "negligible" risk to human health and the environment, would include most recyclables and would require no governmental consent to import or export. The amber tier would include items considered to pose "moderate" risk and would require tacit consent for international shipments. The most stringently controlled category, the red tier, would apply to materials deemed to pose "significant" risk and would necessitate written consent between the importing and exporting nations.
Investigating Fluff Solutions
CARI has been working with a government agency on another area of concern for scrap processors and recyclers--shredder fluff characterization and identification of disposal options--Zalev reported, noting that a joint study on shredder fluff undertaken by CARI and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment demonstrates not only the association's commitment to finding solutions for its members, but also the ministry's realization "that it must work with our industry prior to making proposals."
Detailing some of the results of the joint study, Deborah Ross of CH2M Hill (Toronto), the consulting firm that conducted the study, noted that approximately 140,000 metric tons of shredder fluff are generated annually in Ontario, which translates to roughly 440,000 cubic meters of landfill space. The problem implicit in this volume is that many Ontario landfills are banning shredder residue, she said, adding that high tipping fees at those sites still accepting fluff is making disposal even more difficult.
In addition, Ross reported, the study found that fluff is potentially hazardous and identified three contaminants of primary concern:
cadmium, possibly found in the paints and coatings on automobiles and other shredder feedstock;
lead, which may be present in 'automobile wheel weights, batteries, battery cables, engines, and exhaust systems; and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which the study estimates to be present in the capacitors of 21 percent of white goods currently being scrapped.
The good news with respect to these contaminants, she pointed out, is that the study concludes that use of cadmium, lead, and PCBs in the manufacture of new durable goods has been decreasing and, therefore, should be present in decreasing quantities of shredder feedstock-and shredder residue. Furthermore, the study found the potential hazards of fluff can be greatly reduced by careful control of the shredder feedstream to remove the items that could contain these contaminants, Ross noted.
The joint study also identified potential treatment and disposal alternatives:
stabilization and encapsulation of the hazardous elements present, which only reduces the fluff's hazardous characteristics, not its volume, Ross pointed out, and could cost $10 to $20 per metric ton; use of fluff fines in cement production, a concept whose feasibility still needs to be defined, she said; use as a landfill cover, an option that she noted requires the fluff to prove to be nonhazardous; recycling the entire fluff stream into stable plastic items, which is probably not economically feasible, Ross said; incineration; and use as a fuel supplement in cement kilns, an option that must consider proximity of the shredder to the kiln and potential new regulations, she said.
(To obtain a copy of the study, contact CARI at 416/510-1244.)
Bioremediation may be another alternative for shredder residue treatment, said Lawrence Perry, Serrener Consulting Corp. (Montreal), who reported on the development of a process that he says uses bacteria to break down the plastics and other organic components into carbon dioxide and water. According to Perry, in pilot tests, the bioremediation process reduced shredder fluff 61 percent by weight and 65 percent by volume, with inorganic materials such as metals, glass, and sand comprising the remaining material.
Focusing on Quality Concerns
While scrap processors and recyclers have no control over the slow markets and low prices they are currently experiencing, they can influence another issue that has exacerbated these market conditions, said Mark S. Pasis, MSP Metal Trading (Oakville, Ontario), moderator of the convention's commodities seminar. That issue is quality, a lack of control of which results more and more in rejections rather than downgrades, he said.
Much of the reason for this trend, according to two Noranda Inc. (Toronto) executives--Ivan Pozar of the company's CCR Refinery (Montreal East, Quebec) and Andre Crepeau of its Home Smelter (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec)--is that scrap consumers such as Noranda are increasingly emphasizing quality as it affects their environmental impact and end product.
This transition in the marketplace leaves scrap processors with two choices, said Brian K. Shine, Manitoba Corp. (Buffalo, N.Y.): Maintain the status quo of their scrap quality and sell to other processing firms that will upgrade materials to consumers' quality needs or pursue higher quality, which "requires commitment up and down the line." Manitoba, he said, has chosen the latter, implementing a quality program that involves all of the firm's employees. "We've let them know as a group and individually what we're trying to achieve," he explained, and have listened to their ideas--such as better lighting--about how to realize quality goals. This strategy extends to the company's brokering operations as well, Shine said, noting that the suppliers whose materials Manitoba brokers are informed of each consumer's needs.
Quality may be a choice for some, but, said Morris Markowski, Wise Metals Co. Inc. (Baltimore), "if you want to grow and survive, put this word over the doors of everyone in your office." A commitment to quality is vital to scrap processors that want to be around for the long term, he said, because every rejection or downgrade a firm receives puts a mark by its name that serves as a reminder to the consumer every time a shipment is offered. Furthermore, “preventing quality problems is easier than detecting and correcting them," he said.
Unacceptable quality, Markowski said, often arises because of a vague or inaccurate perception of what "quality" means and lack of a long-term quality control strategy, which should include the following essentials:
ship materials of consistent quality; ensure that all scrap meets industry standards such as those set forth in the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries's (ISRI) (Washington, D.C.) scrap specifications circular; and help consumers meet their efficiency goals by providing proper documentation--from date of delivery to material safety data sheets-with every shipment.
Quality control, environmental concerns, and impending trade restrictions are not new to Canadian scrap processors and recyclers, but today's increased emphasis on these topics demonstrates how the industry's attentions have expanded in the 50 years since Canadian scrap recyclers formed their own trade association. •
At its golden anniversary convention, the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries examined the latest issues facing scrap processors and recyclers in that nation.