A federal lawmaker has introduced the "Intergovernmental Critical Minerals Task Force Act," seeking to diminish U.S. reliance on China for critical minerals via domestic mining, recycling and finding other trade partners.
Officials in Malaysia and Thailand seized containers with hundreds of tons of e-scrap illegally imported from the United States earlier this month after tips from the U.S. nonprofit Basel Action Network.
After many weeks of shifting narratives and uncertainty, participants in recycled polymer markets are working to navigate a constantly shifting tariff environment, in which buyers and sellers as well as customs officials struggle to align federal mandates with on-the-ground implementation.
On the heels of high-profile illegal e-scrap import claims and updates to the Basel Convention, Malaysian officials said they would be tightening operating procedures.
The power struggle between South Korean smelting company Korea Zinc and a private equity firm that wants to seize control of the company is continuing, with both using press conferences and statements to publicly attack the other's business decisions.
As technology trade tensions between China and the U.S. escalate, bans on trading minerals used in producing LED screens, semiconductors, chips and batteries are again putting the recycling sector in the spotlight.
The Basel Action Network alerted Thai and South African regulators to the possibility of illegal shipments containing toxic electric arc steel furnace dust collected from pollution control filters in Albania.
Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University-Singapore have come up with a novel product idea for recycled ABS – cell cultures that can be used to grow test tumors.
The Malaysian government inspected more than 300 shipping containers and found that about one-third contained e-scrap illegally imported from the U.S., officials said during a June 26 press conference in Klang, Malaysia.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office has extended tariff exemptions that cover certain shredder components imported from China, drawing praise from the Recycled Materials Association.