As the name already suggests, the Global Recycling Day is of highest importance for the SECONTRADE team as well as for all traders. Initiated by the Bureau of International Recycling, the Global Recycling Day aims to raise public awareness for the reuse of raw materials. This year, on 18th of March 2019 was the second anniversary of the Global Recycling Day. The aim was to draw the attention of young people on recycling and the scarcity of natural resources.
RECYCLING IN AUSTRIA
Like most other countries in Europe, Austria relies on imports of raw materials. With prices for natural resources rising as a result of scarcity, the recycling of raw materials from old electrical appliances, discarded tyres and scrap metal in general is becoming increasingly important. Compared with international standards, recycling rates in Austria are very high. However, according to the VOEB (Association of Austrian Disposal Companies), there is still catching up to do in the disposal of end-of-life vehicles: Only about 20% of end-of-life vehicles are disposed of in a proper and environmentally friendly manner. The remaining 80% disappear abroad – although far more than 200 kg of recyclable materials could be recovered from the defective vehicles.
SECONTRADE AS A CONNECTION BETWEEN VENDORS AND BUYERS
“Changes can and have to start now. For example, we need cross-border recycling. Especially more specialised recycling processes are expensive and need input material. There cannot be any obstructive notification procedures within the EU,” explains Petra Zieringer, President of the VDM (Association of German Metal Distributors). This is exactly where SECONTRADE approaches the issue and serves as a connection between vendors and buyers of secondary raw materials. “With our B2B platform for verified raw material traders, buyers of secondary raw materials throughout Europe have a considerably larger choice of secondary raw materials,” Brigitte Reich, Managing Director of Secontrade, is convinced. “By using our platform, the transhipment of secondary raw materials and therefore their return to the economic cycle is considerably accelerated.” In order to make this offer even more attractive for SECONTRADE users, the SECONTRADE team is currently working on acquisitions in Northern European countries to network the European raw materials market even more widely and strongly and therefore advance recycling in general.
