Recycled Glass Commodities Exchange Material: Recycled Glass Issue: Commodity trading of agricultural
products originally began as a mechanism for producers to be able
to hedge against fluctuating markets by preselling forward contracts
on their unrealized production, thus locking in guaranteed prices. Peripheral benefits to commodities trading
of materials have been the public disclosure of the values of
commodities and the development of specifications standardizing
quality requirements for traded materials.
Commodities trading systems also ease transactions and
have mechanisms to resolve disputes between buyers and sellers
who do not know each other. Recycled
materials, although collected throughout the country and often
viewed as commodities, have not had the benefits of any organized
system of commodities trading.
Best
Practice: A
recycled commodity exchange was established in 1995 in conjunction
with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).
This exchange is now out of business.
However, the information here may be of interest.
The CBOT Recyclables Exchange is dedicated to the international trade of recyclable goods and is open to all registered users. Becoming a registered user requires that businesses provide a company profile and pay a small one-time registration fee. Sellers post sell listings in the exchange and buyers enter buy parameters into the system for the commodities in which they are interested. The system automatically delivers to buyers only, by e-mail, copies of all the matching sell listings as they are posted. Registered users can log on at any time and modify or delete their listings. The entire process is streamlined to encourage participation, so the operation takes just a few minutes. Listings remain posted until deleted by the user. Unregistered buyers and sellers can review buy/sell listings but can not view the identities of the sellers.
Sellers are charged by listings posted and buyers by
matching listings received. Charges
are incurred only when matching sell listings are delivered by
e-mail. Payment via credit card is required. All users receive a monthly statement showing
their sell listings posted and/or matching listings delivered
with related charges.
Sell listings only show information about the goods
being offered for sale. There
is no contact information for the company posting the listing.
Buying parameters, entered by interested buyers, specify
the selection criteria for the sell listings they wish to receive
automatically, by e-mail, when a match is posted by a seller. More specific buy parameters result in more
restricted searches for matches.
Searchable fields include:
·
Commodity type (Glass) or grade
·
Quality attributes
·
Price range
·
Location of goods: Country and State
The following standard glass specifications are listed
on the exchange. In order to determine whether a batch of recycled
glass meets a given specification, standard sampling and testing
specifications have been developed (see
the Sampling and Testing Procedures
for Recycled Glass CWC report).
Implementation: Businesses can register on-line
by filling out an on-line registration form to start using the
CBOT Recyclables Exchange immediately.
Non-registered users can view current Sell Listings and
Buy Positions for any commodities of interest, but must register
to receive contact information for companies that post sell listings
or buying parameters.
Benefits:
In
agreeing to the terms used to qualify listings on the exchange,
disputes resulting from commodity transactions are minimized. The buy and sell listings posted on the exchange offer the opportunity
for recycling organizations to access current pricing information
for specific grades of materials.
Application
Sites: Recyclers,
Recycled commodity brokers, Glass beneficiation facilities, Glass
container and fiberglass insulation manufacturing facilities.
Contact: for more information about this Best Practice, contact
CWC mailto:info@cwc.org.
References:
(1)
Methods for Sampling and Testing
Glass Cullet, ReTAP,
Clean Washington Center, 1996.
(2)
Global Recycling Network - CBOT exchange literature, Issue Date / Update: January 1997
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