The BIR Academy is the video training platform of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), the global recycling federation. Its ‘More Knowledge Together’ series launched in January 2026 with an introductory video, and its first themed episode, scheduled for February, is devoted to the London Metal Exchange (LME), the exchange that sets the benchmark price for non-ferrous metals in Europe and much of the world.
If you work with scrap, understanding the LME isn’t an academic exercise. It’s the basis for buying prices for copper, aluminium, zinc and lead, for supplier agreements and for price hedging. Francisco Alberich, S.A. has been a member of the BIR since 1960, which is why we’re following this initiative closely.
What is the BIR?
The Bureau of International Recycling is a non-profit association founded in 1948 and based in Brussels that represents the recycling industry internationally. By its own figures, it brings together more than 760 private companies and 36 national associations from more than 70 countries, which makes it the largest recycling federation in the world. In Spain, FER (the Spanish Recycling Federation) is one of its national member associations.
Its work has two sides. Externally, it represents the industry to governments and regulators, champions free trade in recyclable materials and explains the economic and environmental contribution of recycling. Internally, it offers members an international forum, an arbitration service for settling trade disputes, market data and training. It is organised into divisions and committees by material: ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, stainless steel and special alloys, paper, textiles, plastics, tyres and e-scrap.
What is the BIR Academy?
It’s the BIR’s initiative for professional training within the industry. It is co-led by Murat Bayram and Caroline Craenhals, and its aim is to bring expert knowledge to any recycling professional, wherever they are and however long they’ve been in the trade. The content is published on its official page.
BIR President Susie Burrage OBE has explained that the idea is to offer material that strengthens members’ training by making use of video, which is now the usual way people share knowledge and learn. The series rests on three principles:
- Experts in their real setting: the interviews are filmed where the industry’s decisions are made, not in a studio.
- Accessible rigour: the content is useful to experienced professionals, but newcomers can follow it too.
- Progressive topics: over the course of 2026 the series will cover market structures, regulatory frameworks, trading mechanisms, sustainability and trends.
What does the LME video cover?
It makes sense that the BIR chose the LME to open the series: it is the mechanism that sets the benchmark price of non-ferrous metals for the entire recycling chain. The video brings together three senior figures from the exchange itself, interviewed by Murat Bayram:
| Expert | Role at the LME | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Christian Mildner | Head of Corporate Client Development | Relationships with corporate clients |
| James Macdonald | Head of Trading Operations | Trading operations and how the market works |
| Yang Liu | Head of China Client Development | The Asian market and global supply and demand dynamics |
The aim is to give recyclers, who operate in an increasingly complex and volatile market, a practical explanation of how the exchange works.
How does the LME work and why does it matter for recycling?
The London Metal Exchange was founded in 1877, rooted in overseas metal trading. When British manufacturers bought copper from Chile, the metal took around three months to arrive by ship, and they needed to secure the price for that period. That is the origin of the structure the LME still has today: a cash price and a three-month price.
Since 2012 the LME has been owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), a reflection of Asia’s weight in commodity trading. Its contracts are physically settled: behind each one there is metal that can be delivered to a network of LME-approved warehouses in several countries. Companies in the industry access the market through LME members, who act as intermediaries.
These are the concepts that matter most if you buy or sell scrap:
| Concept | What it means for recycling |
|---|---|
| Cash and three-month prices | The two price references for each metal |
| Priced in US dollars | In Europe, the euro–dollar exchange rate is one more source of price variation |
| Hedging | Lets you lock in today the price at which metal will be sold in a few months’ time |
| Buying benchmark | Buying prices for non-ferrous metals are built on the LME price |
We explain what moves those prices in why metal prices fluctuate, and how they feed through to scrap prices in our guides to copper recycling and scrap aluminium prices.
What is Alberich’s connection with the BIR and the LME?
Alberich has been a member of the BIR since 1960. That year, when Pedro Alberich Larguier joined the business, the company expanded into demolition and into industrial dismantling and shipbreaking, and began to play a part in the industry’s international development. Today we are also members of FER and of the Gremi de Recuperació de Catalunya (the Catalan recycling trade association).
The LME is the benchmark our sales team uses to value the non-ferrous metals we buy, such as copper, aluminium, brass, lead and zinc. That is why our buying prices track the LME price, and with customers who supply us on a regular basis we work with LME-linked prices.
That connection with the market, together with our own machinery and technology to sort each metal, is what allows us to explain to every supplier what the price of their material is based on. You can find out more about us and see which materials we buy.
Why does the BIR Academy matter to industrial companies?
Because it professionalises a part of the business that is often treated as a black box. A company that generates metal waste and understands how the LME works can read market movements, ask its waste management company what lies behind the price it is being offered, and decide with better judgement when and how to have its material collected. Training like the BIR Academy’s makes that information accessible to the whole industry.
Frequently asked questions
Where can you watch the BIR Academy videos?
The introductory video is on the BIR’s YouTube channel, and the rest of the episodes will be released over the course of 2026. All the content is collected on the official BIR Academy page, on the BIR website.
Which metals are traded on the LME?
The main non-ferrous metals: copper, aluminium, zinc, nickel, lead and tin. The LME also has contracts for other metals, such as cobalt, and for steel products.
Is the LME price what you get paid for scrap?
No. The LME prices refined metal, in dollars per tonne. Scrap starts from that benchmark, but its value is adjusted for the grade, cleanliness, quantity and logistics of each lot.
If you’d like to know how the LME price is reflected in the value of the metals your company generates, tell us what materials you have.
