CRT processor signs deals with two smelters

Jared Paben

5 years ago

NovoTec has already begun shipping glass to the new destinations. | HomeArt/Shutterstock

NovoTec Recycling finalized contracts to ship CRT glass to smelters in British Columbia and South Korea. The total glass capacity is greater than what NovoTec sent to Glencore’s now-closed smelter.

Tom Bolon, CEO of Columbus, Ohio-based NovoTec confirmed his company has signed contracts to supply leaded glass to Teck in Trail, British Columbia and Korea Zinc in Ulsan, South Korea. Canada and South Korea have both given his company import approval, he said.

NovoTec prepared and shipped about 12 million pounds of CRT glass each year to Glencore’s smelter in Belledune, New Brunswick. But NovoTec lost that downstream option when Glencore shut down the facility late last year. Glencore said the facility had become a money-loser in recent years.

Because of non-disclosure agreements, Bolon said, he couldn’t disclose the weight the Teck and Korea Zinc contracts call for his company to send. “But I can say the capacities we have now are greater than the capacities we had previously,” he said.

NovoTec pursued contracts with two smelters this time to provide a diversity of downstreams, Bolon said.

For shipments to Teck, NovoTec sends bags of glass in enclosed rail cars – a Norfolk Southern Railroad line comes right into NovoTec’s processing facility. For shipments to Korea Zinc, trains take containers of glass to a port, where they’re loaded onto ships bound for South Korea. Bolon said NovoTec has already begun shipping glass to the new destinations. As was the case with Glencore, NovoTec pays the smelters to take the material.

Because of the greater distances involved with shipping to Teck and Korea Zinc, NovoTec’s costs have gone up, Bolon said, adding that the company is doing its best to maintain the lowest pricing it can for clients and still operate a healthy company.

After the announcement of Glencore’s New Brunswick closure, KC Recycling announced it was doubling its glass-processing capacity. The company prepares CRT glass for Teck’s furnaces, which are just down the road from KC Recycling in Trail, British Columbia.

KC Recycling has processed about 16 million pounds of glass a year, but, with the Glencore New Brunswick closure, additional glass from eastern Canada will likely add another 12 million to 16 million pounds, the CEO previously told E-Scrap News.

It’s unknown how much U.S. CRT glass is making its way to Teck or Korea Zinc. U.S. EPA approval is not required for exports of processed CRT glass (EPA approval is required for whole or broken devices, or for unprocessed glass), so nationwide data is not available on glass exports.

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