TIGHTER environmental laws reduced 2021 us wastepaper exports 9.4 per cent, but an Asian manufacturing surge has increased demand for scrap metals, reports IHS Media.
Overall recyclable export declines masked increases in ferrous scrap, up 57.2 per cent, aluminum up 18.6 per cent and copper, up 27 per cent.
Total US recyclables exports fell 4.7 per cent to 1.3 million TEU last year, the fifth year-on-year decline in six years and a 24.8 per cent drop from 2015 volumes, according to PIERS data.
That overall decline, driven by a 9.4 per cent decrease in paper waste, by far the largest segment of US recyclables exports, masked double-digit percentage increases in ferrous scrap (57.2 per cent), aluminum (18.6 per cent), and copper (27 per cent).
'There is especially strong demand for ferrous scrap,' said Joe Pickard, chief economist and director of commodities at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).
Shipments of scrap paper and paperboard, which still accounted for 61.9 per cent of total recyclables exports in 2021, have fallen 33.3 per cent since peaking at 1.3 million TEU in 2016 after China imposed restrictions on such imports under its Green Sword policy in 2017.
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Overall recyclable export declines masked increases in ferrous scrap, up 57.2 per cent, aluminum up 18.6 per cent and copper, up 27 per cent.
Total US recyclables exports fell 4.7 per cent to 1.3 million TEU last year, the fifth year-on-year decline in six years and a 24.8 per cent drop from 2015 volumes, according to PIERS data.
That overall decline, driven by a 9.4 per cent decrease in paper waste, by far the largest segment of US recyclables exports, masked double-digit percentage increases in ferrous scrap (57.2 per cent), aluminum (18.6 per cent), and copper (27 per cent).
'There is especially strong demand for ferrous scrap,' said Joe Pickard, chief economist and director of commodities at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).
Shipments of scrap paper and paperboard, which still accounted for 61.9 per cent of total recyclables exports in 2021, have fallen 33.3 per cent since peaking at 1.3 million TEU in 2016 after China imposed restrictions on such imports under its Green Sword policy in 2017.
SeaNews Turkey