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Metal recycling

How theHow is the metals industry organized??

The recovery and recycling of metals is an old process. They are organized by material and not by origin of the waste. The PMCB metals are taken care of by sites that can be common to End of Life Vehicles (ELV), and to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

For ferrous metals, initiatives of reuse for implementation by metal manufacturers have been identified. The tonnages remain limited (a few hundred tons).

Separate collection of metals is almost systematic in all existing collection networks: public waste collection centers (metal skips in more than 90% of sites), professional waste collection centers, construction sites (sorting of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, cables), distributors (metal skips, and possibly separate cables).

These metals are then directed to the recycling networks (500 platforms). The preparation of metals is carried out on shearing sites (200 in France) and or shredding sites (50 in France for ferrous metals and 2 specialized sites for aluminum). For cables, there are about ten specialized sites. The capacities are significant and allow the processing of the flows collected.

The prepared materials must meet the purity criteria set by the final outlets, and are directed to recyclers (steel mills, refineries) in France and abroad.

The sector has already achieved high collection and recycling performance. It is the only sector that can generate economic profitability without any other external financing, thanks to the revenue generated by the sale of recycled metals.

How to Valobat intervene?

To accompany the sector, Valobat :

Implements traceability of metals from the construction sector
Develops solutions for reuse and recycling
Sets up dedicated channels for flows that need to be cleaned up