David Luu on the Dynamic World of Metal Recycling: Challenges, Trends, and RSR's Vision

In the ever-evolving landscape of the metal recycling industry, professionals like David Luu find themselves at the forefront of a dynamic and challenging sector. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with David to gain insights into what makes this industry so exciting, unique, and the driving forces that are shaping its future. Here's a glimpse into our conversation.

Embracing the Excitement of Metal Recycling

For David, the metal recycling industry's allure lies in its constant state of flux. With variables like domestic and export prices, buy prices, currency rates, product quality, and recovery always in flux, every day is a new puzzle to solve. The thrill comes from making decisions on when to buy or sell, negotiating the best prices, optimising product choices, and strategically considering logistics. It's a dynamic environment where even the slightest change can have far-reaching implications for a business, both in the short term and the long run.

The Unique Culture of Trust

One unique aspect of working in the metal recycling industry is the unwavering emphasis on trust and integrity. David emphasises that your word is your bond in this business. When you make a deal, you honour it. This dedication to honesty and keeping one's commitments is not just good practice; it's essential because personal reputation is paramount in this close-knit global community. It's an industry where people from all over the world meet and collaborate, creating a sense of global camaraderie.

Winds of Change: What's Transforming the Industry?

Over the past decade, several factors have significantly impacted the metal recycling industry. Market news and information are now more accessible to everyone, allowing for greater transparency and informed decision-making. Investments in Safety, Health, Environment, and Community (SHEC) have seen substantial growth, reflecting an industry-wide commitment to responsible operations. However, one of the most noteworthy changes has been the increasing capital costs required to operate efficiently, a shift that has reshaped the industry's landscape.

Future Trends: The Path Ahead

Looking ahead, David foresees increased consolidation within the industry. Family-owned businesses may gradually give way to corporations due to the capital costs associated with modern equipment, essential for improving efficiency and reducing operating costs. These changes are a response to the evolving landscape of the industry, driven by a quest for competitiveness and sustainability.

The Hidden Power of Metal Recycling

Not many are aware that metal recycling produces secondary metals, requiring significantly less energy than mining ore concentrates to produce primary metals. This eco-friendly aspect of the industry underscores its contribution to environmental conservation.

The Challenges That Lie Ahead

Challenges are part and parcel of any industry, and the metal recycling sector is no exception. A significant challenge is finding a workforce willing to engage in physical labour, as the industry competes for talent with social media and the high-tech sector. Additionally, the cyclical nature of the metal market poses a perennial challenge. While recent years have seen prosperity, the economic climate is currently shifting, presenting new hurdles.

RSR's Vision: A Look Into the Future

For David, the future holds both challenges and opportunities. Rather than resting on past achievements, the focus should be on what lies ahead. In these economic conditions, it's more prudent to prioritise margins and profitability over volume and market share growth. This adaptive approach will ensure that when the right opportunity arises, RSR is poised to shift gears and seize it.

RSR's Industry Leadership

Richmond Steel Recycling stands out as an industry leader due to its long-standing reputation and financial stability. Suppliers feel secure knowing that RSR has the resources to fulfil its commitments. While the business deals are a significant part of the equation, it's the dedication and exceptional customer service provided by RSR's team that fosters supplier loyalty. Strong relationships also enable RSR to procure materials at competitive rates, ensuring a mutually beneficial partnership.

Leveraging Technology for Improved Operations

RSR's commitment to excellence is reflected in its investments. For instance, technology investments have enhanced the recovery of non-ferrous (NF) materials from the dense non-ferrous (DNF) stream, leading to a cleaner product and less waste going to landfills. These innovations have not only improved environmental sustainability but also added positively to the bottom line.

Embracing Data and Analytics

Data and analytics have a growing role in optimising operations. David highlights the importance of conducting yield tests on supplier materials to understand their quality and value after shredding. This data-driven approach ensures that material quality is reflected in pricing, recognizing that not all materials are of the same quality and should be valued accordingly.

In conclusion, the metal recycling industry is an ever-evolving and exciting realm where challenges are met with ingenuity and opportunities are seized with resilience. The vision for Richmond Steel Recycling and the industry as a whole is to adapt, evolve, and continue providing sustainable solutions in a world that increasingly values environmental responsibility. David Luu's unique insights provide a glimpse into this ever-changing landscape.

The circular economy: Do aluminum cans really last forever?

If you ever feel like your life resembles Groundhog Day, as you repeat the same things over and over and over again, then maybe you have more in common with aluminum cans than you imagined.

Singer Joni Mitchell pitched life as going “round and round and round in the circle game”, but if it’s the “the carousel of time” that people get stuck on, the repeated journey of the aluminum can is from store shelf to aluminum recycling center, back to the beverage company and returned to the store shelves, over and over again.

And while Mitchell’s song is The Circle Game, it is the circular economy that aluminum cans are considered the star player of.

So much so, Friends of the Earth estimates that about 75% of the aluminum that has ever been used since the 1940s - around 540 million tons of the metal - is still around in some form today.

Earlier this year, Molson Coors celebrated 60 years since Bill Coors first used aluminum to package beers.

While recycling companies such as Richmond Steel Recycling, which has locations throughout BC, pay scrap prices, Molson’s cans sold in Canada are collected by the company and it wants 100% of all its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025 - meaning it can use the metal over and over again.

It was in 1964 that The Aluminum Association says aluminum cans first entered the soft drinks market - with Royal Crown Cola selling one million cases in its first year.

These days aluminum packages a vast array of energy drinks, sodas, soft drinks, waters and a growing range of craft beers.

And if cats can proudly claim they have nine lives, they have nothing on the durability of aluminum, which can basically last forever.

Coca-Cola said that in Canada, the “miracle metal” which is “infinitely recyclable” can be back on the shelves within 60 days of being chucked in the garbage bin.

That’s just two months, so it’s feasible that aluminum from a soft drink you consume tomorrow, could form part of another five containers within a year.

And for those aluminum cans first used by Bill Coors in 1959, if they had been going round and round the circular economy the whole time since they could potentially have been used to form part of about 300 other beverage cans.

So how does this carousel of aluminum cans keep moving around work? Well, according to The Recycling Guide, after you drink from it and throw it in the garbage, it is collected and sorted from other waste, before being taken to a recycling center, where aluminum scrap prices are paid.

It is then taken to a treatment plant, where it is cleaned and then melted, with all coatings, inks and remnants of its past life as say a Fanta or Mountain Dew container removed.

And it doesn’t go through this process alone - in fact, up to 1.6 million aluminum cans can be melted together and turned into large ingots, before being rolled to give greater flexibility.

The can recycling process is then almost complete, as new containers are pressed and sent back to the beverage companies.

With recycled aluminum cans taking just 5% of the energy needed for primary production of drinks cans, its merits make it a key component of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Package.

And its never-ending life cycle is providing inspiration as governments and organizations look at how to deal with other garbage such as plastics, papers, cardboard and glass.

In 2020, Ottawa hosts the World Circular Economy Forum, with the minister of environment and climate change Catherine McKenna calling for innovation and to look at ways of giving other materials longer lifespans, just like aluminum.

“Let’s work together and turn that trash into cash,” she said.

To learn more about Richmond Steel Recycling efforts towards environmental sustainability or more information about scrap metal recycling please contact your local facility.

Could the benefits of aluminum recycling help cans replace plastic bottles in Canada?

The Canadian government wants to ban harmful, single use plastic by 2021, which could lead to a huge increase in aluminum recycling and a change in how we buy water, Coca Cola, Pepsi and other soft drinks.

There are many problems with plastic. Unlike aluminum, which is collected by companies such as Richmond Steel Recycling and processed at the scrap yard, less than 10% of the three million tons of plastic Canadians throw away each year is recycled.

The plastic bottles you throw away could end up literally anywhere. In fact, Greenpeace research found 100,618 tons left Canada’s shores for China in 2017. But after the Asian country banned imports, our bottles have turned up in countries such as South Korea, Pakistan and Turkey.

While this may surprise you, some have ended up at a far more harmful destination - the ocean, with Greenpeace also finding 12 million tons enter the world’s waters each year from around the globe, threatening birds, fish and other creatures that can get caught up in it or eat the small particles.

There can be creative solutions to what we do with the mountain of plastic waste we produce - Nova Scotia-based company JD Composites recently made a house from 600,000 plastic bottles.

But novel ideas aside, aluminum metal recycling provides a far more sustainable route for our garbage - for a start, plastic can potentially be recycled seven times before losing its quality, while aluminum can be recycled over and over and has an infinite lifespan.

The Aluminum Association pointed out that five million tons is recycled in Canada and the US each year, with about 75% of all aluminum produced when it first entered the product market as foil and packaging in the early 1900s still in use today in some form.

Its value as a commodity is also far greater than the metal price paid at the scrap yard, with the organization saying it can have environmental benefits - for example, a 10% increase in aluminum recycling is capable of decreasing the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions by 15%.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he has taken inspiration from the European Union, which decided last year to outlaw single use plastics - such as straws, plates, cutlery and cotton swabs in its member states.

It has not yet been decided what items will be the focus of Canada’s ban, but selling Coca Cola, Pepsi, and particularly water solely in aluminum cans would represent a culture shift for many consumers.

This was successfully tried at the Glastonbury festival in the UK this year - with plastic bottles banned from sale to the 200,000 revellers. All drinks were sold in aluminum cans and volunteers collected 45 tons of aluminum at the end for recycling.

Some festivals have gone further, with Thailand’s Wonderfruit going carbon neutral and even bypassing aluminum recycling by urging visitors to bring their own steel or bamboo flasks for drinks.

But as long as the will is there and we can get the metal to the scrap yard, aluminum recycling can be easy.

In 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made aluminum a key focus of “a greener Apple” and wanted to increase the use of recycled aluminum in its products from 9% in 2006 to 28% in 2010 - in fact, the company achieved 66% by 2009.

Learn more about Richmond Steel Recycling’s core values and for more information about scrap metal recycling please contact your local facility.