A Word About Recycling with Ollie Maier
We normally don’t hear to much about recycling in the country just south of us, so this item in the Recycling Today newsletter caught my attention.
“The Secretariat of Environment of the Mexican state of Coahuila will reportedly carry out a paper collection and recycling campaign, emulating an effort that has taken place in the state’s largest city of Saltillo,” the article said.
"The campaign will be similar to one that has been conducted in the Mexican state of Saltillo, with a goal of collecting as much material as possible.”
The effort will involve helping universities and companies by showing them how to provide and operate collection centers. A large paper producer, based in the neighboring state of Durango, will also be included.
Great to read something about the recycling efforts in Mexico instead of reports about drugs or smugglers. Speaking of drugs – how’s that for a transition? – here’s another item from that same newsletter. It also involves recycling, but for a somewhat different reason.
It started, “Drug enforcement investigators in Colombia discovered an estimated $210 million worth of cocaine on Oct. 19 in a shipment of scrap metal that had been bound for Spain.” The shipment had an estimate of 6 million metric tons of cocaine – that’s no small amount.
It appears 20 pallets with boxes full of scrap metal also contained the illegal drug cocaine. The report states the drugs belonged to a paramilitary and a drug trafficking organization in Colombia. Not surprised, but disappointed to hear recycling is sometimes also being used for illegal purposes.
Switching subjects to something I like more to read, I found another item in a Recycling Today.
“Atlanta-based Novelis has announced it will supply its Advanz recycled-content aluminum to be used in Jaguar’s new I-PACE electric vehicle (EV). The aluminum producer says its product’s use in Jaguar’s first all-electric vehicle will help reduce the I-PACE’s overall weight and increase its battery range up to 470 kilometers (292 miles) ‘while delivering superior driving dynamics and safety.'”
As a spokesperson for the Zurich, Switzerland-based Novelis Europe explained, “Lightweighting is one of the key success factors for electrification, and the new I-PACE is a major milestone in car body engineering, placing Jaguar at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution.”
And one of the nicest things about this is since 2013, the Novelis facility in Latchford, U.K., has provided the British car manufacturer with a closed-loop system by converting the car maker’s aluminum production scrap metal into new automotive sheet material.
We find that Novelis Inc.is the world’s largest recycler of aluminum. This company operates in 10 countries, has approximately 11,000 employees and had $11.5 billion in revenue in its 2018 fiscal year.
It provides aluminum sheet and foil products to transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics markets in North America, Europe, Asia and South America.
Till next week, do have a great one and I hope you feel the right people were elected this past week – if not, there's always 2020,
--
Ollie is a local citizen concerned with the environment and helping others. A retired Air Force fighter and instructor pilot, he is a graduate of Leadership San Marcos and received his degrees at Texas State University where he worked on staff before totally retiring. For questions or comments, he invites you to call him at 512-353-7432 or e-mail omaier@txstate.edu.
