Germany to recycle high tinplate volumes, despite new system

Factiva: "The entry of a new player in the field of tinplate recycling in Germany has caused some disruption to the collection of the material, according to industry observers, but they are confident the country’s high level of recycling will be maintained."

Collection of tinplate scrap has until recently largely been organised by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Weissblechrecycling (DWR), set up by Germany’s only tinplate producer, Rasselstein. However, this year, Duales System Deutschland (DSD), which organises collection and recycling of all types of waste packaging on behalf of industrial and retail clients, also entered the field.

Its entry is “a consequence of 2008, when we were talking about €400/tonne for some scrap grades, which of course spurred ambitions,” DWR’s managing director, Edmund van Dyck, remarks.

Also this year, DSD changed its operating system, and some glitches in the new system have led to interruptions in the flow of tinplate scrap, Steel Business Briefing understands. Volumes of collected scrap were not correctly forwarded at various stages along the recycling chain. DSD has decided to return to its original operating system next year.

Tinplate recycling in Germany reached a high in 2008 of 94% of the volume of tin cans in circulation, which is estimated at 400,000-450,000 tonnes. While figures for 2009 are not yet available, DWR expects this level to be sustained in 2009 and beyond.

SBB Forecaster - Iron Ore

SBB Forecaster: "With the rapid rise of China's steel output impacting mills globally and the breakdown of the traditional benchmark pricing system, knowing about iron ore demand, supply, pricing and trading has become crucial for anyone with an interest in the steel industry."

Negotiations settled to increase tinplate price/ Up 20 thousand yen for domestic users

Factiva: "Nippon Steel Corp., JFE Steel Corp. and Toyo Kohan Co., Ltd., these tinplate manufacturers, which held negotiations to 'increase tinplate price' because of soaring costs of raw materials, have settled them at an increase of 20 thousand yen per ton from the previous year. The increases are equivalent to 10-15%. Increased by 20 thousand yen this time, the tinplate price reached a record-high level."

Tesco-led sustainability language project publishes first report

packagingnews.co.uk: "The Global Packaging Project (GPP) has published a first report on its work to deliver a common language for packaging sustainability that sets out a number of indicators and metrics for improved dialogue.

The Consumer Goods Forum's sustainability group that is sponsored by Tesco and Unilever is running GPP to 'deliver a common framework and measurement system for better decision making on packaging and sustainability'.

The report – A Global Language for Packaging and Sustainability – looks at 52 indicators for the retail and packaging supply chain such as packaged product wastage, water usage and recycled content.
The project is being led by Tesco head of packaging Sonia Raja and starts from the principle of optimising the amount of packaging used without risk of increased product waste."

Massive effort needed to reach 65 percent recycling rate in UK

The Canmaker: "The UK’s aluminium can recycling organisation says that to achieve a 65 percent recovery rate would require 'massive effort'.

Announcing that the recycling rate for aluminium drinks cans had reached 55 percent last year, Alupro’s executive director Rick Hindley told Packaging News magazine: 'Our work shows that with the current infrastructure a 65 percent recycling rate can be achieved by 2020; to go beyond this will require a massive effort and significant infrastructure changes

Schemes for collecting cans consumed away from home and using the aluminium from energy-from-waste facilities would need to be developed, he said."

Tuna cans that save on tinplate costs

The Canmaker: "Savings in the weight of tuna cans of almost a fifth could be made using new draw-redraw technology developed in the US by Alfons Haar Inc

The tooling and press manufacturer based in Springboro, Ohio, has designed a can aimed at the seafood and tuna market that is made from double-reduced 0.14mm DR8 tinplate.

Currently, tuna cans are usually made from tinplate with a gauge of either 0.16mm or 0.17mm. Customers would achieve a saving in tinplate of at least 12.5 percent with the new design, which uses vertical beading in the walls to improve stability with the thinner material.

Reducing the gauge from the thicker material would provide a 17.7 percent saving. Typically an 83mm diameter x 43.5mm high can weighs 24 grams. So canmakers could save 4.24 tonnes of tinplate for every million cans produced. At current prices that would mean a cost saving of around US$4,500."

Can plates including tinplate/ Global demand continues to increase

Factiva: "Market to reach 18 million tons due to growth in Asia/ Quality requirement hinders new entry

Global market of can plates such as tinplate and its material blackplate continues to expand. The era of 15 million-ton market consisted of the three major markets of Asia, America and Europe with 5 million tons each, has been continuing for a long period. As the demand increases in Asia including China and Southeast Asia, the global market is expected to soon increase to over 18 million tons. We have reviewed and examined the global market of can plates."