Plastic Film Recycling Sets Record
North American recovery of postconsumer plastic film in 2011 rose 4 percent year on year, surpassing 1 billion pounds for the first time, Moore Recycling Associates (Sonoma, Calif.) says in a new report for the American Chemistry Council (Washington, D.C.). Domestic consumers used about 583 million pounds, or 58 percent, of the collected material, with the remaining 427 million pounds going to export markets, according to the 2011 National Postconsumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report. The composite lumber industry constituted 55 percent of domestic demand for postconsumer film, while the film and sheet sector claimed 16 percent and other markets—such as crates, buckets, and piping—used the remaining 29 percent, the report says. The majority of collected material was clear commercial film, though its recovery rate is slowing compared with mixed film, curbside film, and other film categories, all of which increased in 2011. The average scrap value of postconsumer film increased slightly in 2011 over its value in 2010, though prices declined at the end of the year, the report notes. Moore Recycling Associates based the report on a survey of 19 U.S. and three Canadian processors and 37 companies that export postconsumer film, which includes plastic bags, product wraps, and commercial shrink film.
North American recovery of postconsumer plastic film in 2011 rose 4 percent year on year, surpassing 1 billion pounds for the first time, Moore Recycling Associates (Sonoma, Calif.) says in a new report for the American Chemistry Council (Washington, D.C.). Domestic consumers used about 583 million pounds, or 58 percent, of the collected material, with the remaining 427 million pounds going to export markets, according to the 2011 National Postconsumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report. The composite lumber industry constituted 55 percent of domestic demand for postconsumer film, while the film and sheet sector claimed 16 percent and other markets—such as crates, buckets, and piping—used the remaining 29 percent, the report says. The majority of collected material was clear commercial film, though its recovery rate is slowing compared with mixed film, curbside film, and other film categories, all of which increased in 2011. The average scrap value of postconsumer film increased slightly in 2011 over its value in 2010, though prices declined at the end of the year, the report notes. Moore Recycling Associates based the report on a survey of 19 U.S. and three Canadian processors and 37 companies that export postconsumer film, which includes plastic bags, product wraps, and commercial shrink film.
Visit www.plastics.americanchemistry.com/Education-Resources/Publications.
Global Steel Production Inches Up
World crude steel production reached a record 1.55 billion mt in 2012, up 1.2 percent from 2011, the World Steel Association (Brussels) reports. Producers in Asia and North America accounted for most of the growth while production in the European Union and South America declined.
Asia produced 1.01 billion mt of crude steel in 2012, up 2.6 percent year on year, increasing its share of global production from 64.5 to 65.4 percent. China remained the world’s top steelmaker, producing 716.5 million mt, 3.1 percent more than its 2011 output, which boosted its market share from 45.4 to 46.3 percent, worldsteel says. Japan, the world’s second-largest producer, made 107.2 million mt of steel, down 0.3 percent, and South Korea’s production grew 1.2 percent, to 69.3 million mt.
The EU’s 2012 steel output dropped 4.7 percent from 2011, ending at 169.4 million mt. Germany—Europe’s largest steelmaker—saw its production decrease 3.7 percent, to 42.7 million mt, while Italy made 27.2 million mt, down 5.2 percent, and France produced 15.6 million mt, 1.1 percent lower than its 2011 production, worldsteel reports. Of the top 20 global producers, Spain had the largest year-on-year percentage decline—12.1 percent—with its output ending 2012 at 13.6 million mt.
In contrast with European production, North American crude steel output increased to 121.9 million mt in 2012, up 2.5 percent, as U.S. production reached 88.6 million mt, also a 2.5-percent gain. Though production in the Commonwealth of Independent States declined 1.2 percent, to 111.3 million mt, Russia’s output grew 2.5 percent, to 70.6 million mt, worldsteel says. South America’s 2012 production was 46.9 million mt, down 3 percent, with Brazil’s output decreasing 1.5 percent to 34.7 mil-lion mt. Visit www.worldsteel.org .
World crude steel production reached a record 1.55 billion mt in 2012, up 1.2 percent from 2011, the World Steel Association (Brussels) reports. Producers in Asia and North America accounted for most of the growth while production in the European Union and South America declined.
Asia produced 1.01 billion mt of crude steel in 2012, up 2.6 percent year on year, increasing its share of global production from 64.5 to 65.4 percent. China remained the world’s top steelmaker, producing 716.5 million mt, 3.1 percent more than its 2011 output, which boosted its market share from 45.4 to 46.3 percent, worldsteel says. Japan, the world’s second-largest producer, made 107.2 million mt of steel, down 0.3 percent, and South Korea’s production grew 1.2 percent, to 69.3 million mt.
The EU’s 2012 steel output dropped 4.7 percent from 2011, ending at 169.4 million mt. Germany—Europe’s largest steelmaker—saw its production decrease 3.7 percent, to 42.7 million mt, while Italy made 27.2 million mt, down 5.2 percent, and France produced 15.6 million mt, 1.1 percent lower than its 2011 production, worldsteel reports. Of the top 20 global producers, Spain had the largest year-on-year percentage decline—12.1 percent—with its output ending 2012 at 13.6 million mt.
In contrast with European production, North American crude steel output increased to 121.9 million mt in 2012, up 2.5 percent, as U.S. production reached 88.6 million mt, also a 2.5-percent gain. Though production in the Commonwealth of Independent States declined 1.2 percent, to 111.3 million mt, Russia’s output grew 2.5 percent, to 70.6 million mt, worldsteel says. South America’s 2012 production was 46.9 million mt, down 3 percent, with Brazil’s output decreasing 1.5 percent to 34.7 mil-lion mt. Visit www.worldsteel.org .
Carton Recycling Reaches More U.S. Households
Access to carton recycling in the United States has grown from 21 million households, or 18 percent of the country, in 2009 to more than 47.9 million households, or 40 percent, in 2012—a 128-percent increase in three years, the Carton Council (Vernon Hills, Ill.) reports. By adding shelf-stable and refrigerated cartons to recycling programs, municipalities can divert more material from the waste stream, increase tonnage for materials recovery facilities, and generate revenue, mainly due to the product’s high-quality, virgin fiber content, the group says. Visit www.recyclecartons.com/40 .
Access to carton recycling in the United States has grown from 21 million households, or 18 percent of the country, in 2009 to more than 47.9 million households, or 40 percent, in 2012—a 128-percent increase in three years, the Carton Council (Vernon Hills, Ill.) reports. By adding shelf-stable and refrigerated cartons to recycling programs, municipalities can divert more material from the waste stream, increase tonnage for materials recovery facilities, and generate revenue, mainly due to the product’s high-quality, virgin fiber content, the group says. Visit www.recyclecartons.com/40 .
Study Examines Textbook Recycling
Nearly 40 percent of K-12 and higher education institutions store or throw away dated, damaged, or other end-of-life textbooks, pointing to the need for more education about the benefits of textbook recycling, the National Wildlife Federation (Reston, Va.) concludes in A Research Study on Textbook Recycling in America: Recommendations for Proper Disposal and Repurposing at the End of a Textbook’s Useful Life. The study reviews the life cycle of textbooks from production through disposal and provides information and recommendations on how to establish a textbook recycling program in schools and communities. Textbook recycling takes discipline, structure, organization, and an outlet for their processing, the report says, adding that public education about textbook recycling could help change behavior. The report, part of a collaborative effort among NWF, McGraw-Hill Co. (Columbus, Ohio), and NewPage Corp. (Miamisburg, Ohio), also highlights pilot textbook recycling programs at universities and colleges, including those at the University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyo.), Columbia College (Chicago), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The fiber recovered from books typically is used in tissue, cardboard, linerboard, boxboard, or insulation, the study says. In addition to sponsoring this study, the three organizations are supporting a pilot textbook recycling project and developing best practices to increase textbook recycling. Visit www.nwf.org/textbookrecycling , www.mcgraw-hill.com , or www.newpagecorp.com .
Nearly 40 percent of K-12 and higher education institutions store or throw away dated, damaged, or other end-of-life textbooks, pointing to the need for more education about the benefits of textbook recycling, the National Wildlife Federation (Reston, Va.) concludes in A Research Study on Textbook Recycling in America: Recommendations for Proper Disposal and Repurposing at the End of a Textbook’s Useful Life. The study reviews the life cycle of textbooks from production through disposal and provides information and recommendations on how to establish a textbook recycling program in schools and communities. Textbook recycling takes discipline, structure, organization, and an outlet for their processing, the report says, adding that public education about textbook recycling could help change behavior. The report, part of a collaborative effort among NWF, McGraw-Hill Co. (Columbus, Ohio), and NewPage Corp. (Miamisburg, Ohio), also highlights pilot textbook recycling programs at universities and colleges, including those at the University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyo.), Columbia College (Chicago), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The fiber recovered from books typically is used in tissue, cardboard, linerboard, boxboard, or insulation, the study says. In addition to sponsoring this study, the three organizations are supporting a pilot textbook recycling project and developing best practices to increase textbook recycling. Visit www.nwf.org/textbookrecycling , www.mcgraw-hill.com , or www.newpagecorp.com .
School Recycling Competition Recovers 4.5 Million Pounds
Taylor Primary School (Kokomo, Ind.) won top honors in the first “Recycle-Bowl,” a recycling competition for primary and secondary school students in the United States. The contest challenged participating schools to recycle as much material as possible from Oct. 15 to Nov. 9, 2012. Taylor Primary won by recycling 47 pounds of material per student. All participants combined—from schools serving more than 900,000 students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia—collected 4.5 million pounds of recyclables in the contest period. The school in each state that collected the most recyclables per student earned a $1,000 prize, with the national champion receiving an additional $1,000 as well as a $2,500 credit toward recycling bins from Busch Systems International (Barrie, Ontario). Keep America Beautiful (Stamford, Conn.) managed the competition, which Nestlé Waters North America (Breinigsville, Pa.) sponsored. Visit www.recycle-bowl.org , www.kab.org , or www.nestle-watersna.com .
Taylor Primary School (Kokomo, Ind.) won top honors in the first “Recycle-Bowl,” a recycling competition for primary and secondary school students in the United States. The contest challenged participating schools to recycle as much material as possible from Oct. 15 to Nov. 9, 2012. Taylor Primary won by recycling 47 pounds of material per student. All participants combined—from schools serving more than 900,000 students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia—collected 4.5 million pounds of recyclables in the contest period. The school in each state that collected the most recyclables per student earned a $1,000 prize, with the national champion receiving an additional $1,000 as well as a $2,500 credit toward recycling bins from Busch Systems International (Barrie, Ontario). Keep America Beautiful (Stamford, Conn.) managed the competition, which Nestlé Waters North America (Breinigsville, Pa.) sponsored. Visit www.recycle-bowl.org , www.kab.org , or www.nestle-watersna.com .
Group Weighs Solutions for PET Bottle Sleeves
A consortium of companies is exploring ways to resolve the problems of recycling polyethylene terephthalate containers with full-wrap labels while allowing product manufacturers to continue using the labels. The consortium, which Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.) assembled last year, says the solution will require a combination of tactics such as labels that float or are perforated to ease their removal, de-labeling equipment at recycling facilities, and encouraging consumers to remove labels prior to recycling. An estimated 80 percent of full-wrap labels in North America are on PET containers, but the labels can cause problems in recycling operations and lead to downgrades of recovered PET bottles. The consortium, which has met three times since August 2012, will continue to assess short- and long-term solutions that will benefit all stakeholders, Eastman Chemical says. Visit www.eastman.com .
A consortium of companies is exploring ways to resolve the problems of recycling polyethylene terephthalate containers with full-wrap labels while allowing product manufacturers to continue using the labels. The consortium, which Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.) assembled last year, says the solution will require a combination of tactics such as labels that float or are perforated to ease their removal, de-labeling equipment at recycling facilities, and encouraging consumers to remove labels prior to recycling. An estimated 80 percent of full-wrap labels in North America are on PET containers, but the labels can cause problems in recycling operations and lead to downgrades of recovered PET bottles. The consortium, which has met three times since August 2012, will continue to assess short- and long-term solutions that will benefit all stakeholders, Eastman Chemical says. Visit www.eastman.com .
Mergers and Acquisitions
--Gerdau Long Steel North America (Tampa, Fla.) has purchased certain operating assets of Cycle Systems (Roanoke, Va.), which has nine locations in central and western Virginia. In addition to its Roanoke headquarters, the company has operations or feeder yards in Charlottesville, Covington, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Pulaski, South Boston, and Stuarts Draft, Va. Cycle Systems, which operates an automobile shredder at its Lynchburg facility, processed about 185,000 tons of scrap in 2011. This acquisition expands Gerdau’s presence in the Mid-Atlantic market and supports its goal of having scrap sources closer to its steel mills, such as its facility in Petersburg, Va., the company reports. Visit www.gerdau.com/longsteel or www.cyclesystems.com .
--Upstate Shredding-Ben Weitsman & Son (Owego, N.Y.) has purchased the land and buildings of Ferrotech Corp. (New Castle, Pa.) at bankruptcy auction for $2.2 million. The company plans to invest approximately $6 million to renovate the more than 10-acre site, which will include tearing down existing structures, building a 3,000-square-foot office and 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot warehouse, hard surfacing the operating area, and replacing old equipment, according to news reports. The business, which expects to hire about 30 employees, will reopen as Ben Weitsman of New Castle. Visit www.upstateshredding.com or www.ferrotech.net .
--Allmetal Recycling (Wichita, Kan.) has purchased Kamen Recycling, another Wichita-based recycling company, which has a 10-acre facility less than a mile from Allmetal’s processing operation. In addition to boosting its nonferrous scrap volume, the acquisition gives Allmetal access to a rail siding on the Kamen property, the company says. It plans to construct a new building and consolidate the two companies’ offices at an off-site location, and it eventually will replace the Kamen corporate name with Allmetal Recycling, according to news reports. Visit www.allmetal-recycling.com .
--Georgia-Pacific (Atlanta) has purchased the Temple-Inland Building Products division of International Paper (Memphis, Tenn.) for $750 million in cash. The acquisition includes 16 manufacturing facilities—five solid wood mills, four particleboard plants, two medium-density fiberboard operations, a fiberboard facility, and four gypsum wallboard plants—in eight states, primarily in the Southeast and East. IP says it will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt. Visit www.internationalpaper.com or www.gp.com .
--Catalyst Paper (Richmond, British Columbia) has sold the assets of its paper mill in Snowflake, Ariz., and its shares of Apache Railway—a short-line railroad also based in Snowflake—for approximately $13.5 million and other nonmonetary consideration to an acquisition group of Hackman Capital (Los Angeles) and its affiliates. The sale will help Catalyst reduce its interest obligations and improve its overall liquidity, the company says. Visit www.catalystpaper.com .
--Trelleborg Wheel Systems Industrial Tires (Trelleborg, Sweden) has purchased Maine Industrial Tire (Wakefield, Mass.), a 650-employee company with annual sales of approximately $93 million and production facilities in Red Lion, Pa., and Xingtai, China. The acquisition strengthens Trelleborg’s position in the solid-tire market and expands its presence into the large, solid off-the-road tire sector, it says. Visit www.trelleborg.com or www.industrialtires.com .
--Bulk Handling Systems (Eugene, Ore.) has acquired Nihot Recycling Technology (Amsterdam), which designs and manufactures air sorting and separation equipment for the recycling and other industries. BHS and Nihot, which previously worked as partners on equipment projects, will combine their technology, product offerings, global resources, and expertise to offer customers integrated solutions, BHS says. Visit www.bulkhandlingsystems.com or www.nihot.nl .
--Wastebuilt Environmental Solutions, a new entity of Millbrook Capital Management (New York), has acquired Stepp Equipment Co., an equipment, parts, and service company with locations in Summit, Ill., and Menomonee Falls, Wis., and GalFab (Winamac, Ind.), a manufacturer of cable roll-off hoists, open-top roll-off containers, self-dumping hoppers, and other equipment. The companies, which will continue operating from their current locations, have about $40 million of combined annual revenue. Visit www.millbrookllc.com ,www.steppequipment.com , or www.galfab.com .
--Palfinger North America (Niagara Falls, Ontario) has purchased the Tiffin, Ohio, property and building it previously leased for Tiffin Loader Crane, its U.S. corporate base. Palfinger acquired Tiffin’s business operations in 2000, and the site continues to serve as the manufacturing base of the new Palfinger GT truck-mounted forklifts. Visit www.palfinger.com orwww.tiffincrane.com .
--Gerdau Long Steel North America (Tampa, Fla.) has purchased certain operating assets of Cycle Systems (Roanoke, Va.), which has nine locations in central and western Virginia. In addition to its Roanoke headquarters, the company has operations or feeder yards in Charlottesville, Covington, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Pulaski, South Boston, and Stuarts Draft, Va. Cycle Systems, which operates an automobile shredder at its Lynchburg facility, processed about 185,000 tons of scrap in 2011. This acquisition expands Gerdau’s presence in the Mid-Atlantic market and supports its goal of having scrap sources closer to its steel mills, such as its facility in Petersburg, Va., the company reports. Visit www.gerdau.com/longsteel or www.cyclesystems.com .
--Upstate Shredding-Ben Weitsman & Son (Owego, N.Y.) has purchased the land and buildings of Ferrotech Corp. (New Castle, Pa.) at bankruptcy auction for $2.2 million. The company plans to invest approximately $6 million to renovate the more than 10-acre site, which will include tearing down existing structures, building a 3,000-square-foot office and 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot warehouse, hard surfacing the operating area, and replacing old equipment, according to news reports. The business, which expects to hire about 30 employees, will reopen as Ben Weitsman of New Castle. Visit www.upstateshredding.com or www.ferrotech.net .
--Allmetal Recycling (Wichita, Kan.) has purchased Kamen Recycling, another Wichita-based recycling company, which has a 10-acre facility less than a mile from Allmetal’s processing operation. In addition to boosting its nonferrous scrap volume, the acquisition gives Allmetal access to a rail siding on the Kamen property, the company says. It plans to construct a new building and consolidate the two companies’ offices at an off-site location, and it eventually will replace the Kamen corporate name with Allmetal Recycling, according to news reports. Visit www.allmetal-recycling.com .
--Georgia-Pacific (Atlanta) has purchased the Temple-Inland Building Products division of International Paper (Memphis, Tenn.) for $750 million in cash. The acquisition includes 16 manufacturing facilities—five solid wood mills, four particleboard plants, two medium-density fiberboard operations, a fiberboard facility, and four gypsum wallboard plants—in eight states, primarily in the Southeast and East. IP says it will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its debt. Visit www.internationalpaper.com or www.gp.com .
--Catalyst Paper (Richmond, British Columbia) has sold the assets of its paper mill in Snowflake, Ariz., and its shares of Apache Railway—a short-line railroad also based in Snowflake—for approximately $13.5 million and other nonmonetary consideration to an acquisition group of Hackman Capital (Los Angeles) and its affiliates. The sale will help Catalyst reduce its interest obligations and improve its overall liquidity, the company says. Visit www.catalystpaper.com .
--Trelleborg Wheel Systems Industrial Tires (Trelleborg, Sweden) has purchased Maine Industrial Tire (Wakefield, Mass.), a 650-employee company with annual sales of approximately $93 million and production facilities in Red Lion, Pa., and Xingtai, China. The acquisition strengthens Trelleborg’s position in the solid-tire market and expands its presence into the large, solid off-the-road tire sector, it says. Visit www.trelleborg.com or www.industrialtires.com .
--Bulk Handling Systems (Eugene, Ore.) has acquired Nihot Recycling Technology (Amsterdam), which designs and manufactures air sorting and separation equipment for the recycling and other industries. BHS and Nihot, which previously worked as partners on equipment projects, will combine their technology, product offerings, global resources, and expertise to offer customers integrated solutions, BHS says. Visit www.bulkhandlingsystems.com or www.nihot.nl .
--Wastebuilt Environmental Solutions, a new entity of Millbrook Capital Management (New York), has acquired Stepp Equipment Co., an equipment, parts, and service company with locations in Summit, Ill., and Menomonee Falls, Wis., and GalFab (Winamac, Ind.), a manufacturer of cable roll-off hoists, open-top roll-off containers, self-dumping hoppers, and other equipment. The companies, which will continue operating from their current locations, have about $40 million of combined annual revenue. Visit www.millbrookllc.com ,www.steppequipment.com , or www.galfab.com .
--Palfinger North America (Niagara Falls, Ontario) has purchased the Tiffin, Ohio, property and building it previously leased for Tiffin Loader Crane, its U.S. corporate base. Palfinger acquired Tiffin’s business operations in 2000, and the site continues to serve as the manufacturing base of the new Palfinger GT truck-mounted forklifts. Visit www.palfinger.com orwww.tiffincrane.com .
Openings and Expansions
--Fritz Enterprises (Trenton, Mich.) has opened a ferrous and nonferrous scrap recycling center in Midland, Mich., adding to its five existing Michigan facilities in Alpena, Detroit, Kalkaska, Luzerne, and Roscommon. Those operations supply scrap to the company’s automobile shredders in Taylor and Flint, Mich. The new recycling center is at 4203 E. Ashman St., Midland, MI 48642. Visit www.fritzinc.com .
--HDi Plastics (Minnetonka, Minn.) has signed a development agreement with Eastland Economic Development (Eastland, Texas) to build a 50,000-square-foot plastics recycling facility—expandable to 150,000 square feet—and “potential” manufacturing plant on 20 acres in Eastland Industrial Park. The company, which processes postconsumer and postindustrial thermoplastic scrap, initially plans to invest about $4 million in the facility, including roughly $2.9 million for machinery and equipment. The company expects to have about $300,000 in inventory the first year—increasing to $1.1 million in 10 years—and expects to hire 75 employees during the project’s first phase and up to 235 within 10 years. Visit www.hdiplastics.com .
--Axion Polymers (Salford, England) has invested another $1.5 million to improve the recovery of materials from automobile shredder aggregate at its purpose-built plant in Trafford Park, England. The plant, which opened in January 2011, can process 200,000 mt of shredder aggregate annually, equivalent to the nonmetallic portion of approximately 800,000 cars, the company says. The operation can recover about 95 percent of materials in the aggregate through a combination of plastics recycling, the creation of a fuel used as a coal substitute, and the production of products for the construction industry, the company says. Axion takes the recovered plastic concentrate to its Salford plant, where it processes the material into a range of plastic products. The firm’s in-house engineering team designed, built, and operates the recovery plant with S. Norton & Co. (Liverpool, England), a ferrous and nonferrous metal recycler. Visit www.axionpolymers.com or www.s-norton.com .
--CDI Corp. (Philadelphia) and Tenova HYL (Milan) are working with Nucor Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.) to develop its direct-reduced iron facility in St. James Parish, La. The companies expect the $750 million plant, on a 4,000-acre site along the Mississippi River, to produce 2.5 million mt of DRI annually. CDI engineers will provide civil, electrical, mechanical, process, and structural engineering; pipe routing and modeling; and stress analysis for the facility’s DRI core area, while Tenova will provide electrical and mechanical equipment materials in the core area and water plant as well as all material handling requirements. They expect the operation, slated to open by mid-2013, to create more than 600 construction jobs and 150 permanent, full-time jobs. A second phase of the facility could include a second DRI plant, coke plant, blast furnace, pellet plant, and steel mill. Visit www.cdicorp.com ,www.hyltechnologies.com , or www.nucor.com .
--TMS International Corp. (Glassport, Pa.) has secured new mill-service contracts worth more than $266 million in revenue over the life of the contracts, the company says. The first deal—one of its largest single contracts—marks the firm’s first mill-service operation in Poland, encompassing transportation, processing, and sales of slag as well as scrap handling, receiving, inventory control, loading, and delivery to the mill’s charge buckets. Services under the contract will begin in March, with full implementation scheduled for the second quarter of 2014. The company also will provide additional services to existing mill customers in Belgium and the United States, and it has purchased a noncontrolling interest in a joint venture that will provide mill services, including metal recovery and slag processing and sales, to one of Malaysia’s largest steelmakers. Visit www.tmsinternationalcorp.com .
--Machinex Technologies, the U.S. subsidiary of Machinex Group (Plessisville, Québec), has opened a sales office and warehouse in High Point, N.C., allowing it to expand its customer support through greater parts inventory and after-sales service. This marks the company’s third U.S. office, complementing its operations in Chicago and Roseville, Calif. Visit www.machinextechnologies.com .
--Best Process Solutions (Cleveland) is a new company that specializes in bulk material handling equipment and services for recycling operations. The firm has launched a line of vibratory equipment for use in various parts of shredder downstream systems, such as the undermill, magnet, eddy current, and nonferrous separation units. The company offers replacement isolation springs, pans, liners, and drives for vibratory equipment as well as engineering assistance, service, and spare components for water-injection systems, shredder isolation spring components, and control systems. The firm also offers custom-designed solutions. Visit www.bpsvibes.com .
--The Automobile Recyclers Association (Manassas, Va.) has expanded its operations by leasing office space in Washington, D.C., near the U.S. Capitol, to help it advance its policy and industry-related agendas, the association says. Visit www.a-r-a.org .
--More than 40 recycling companies in North Carolina have formed the Recycling Association of North Carolina (Wilmington, N.C.) to work with legislators, law-enforcement officials, residents, and the recycling industry to combat materials theft and improve the industry’s public image. The group’s long-term goals include providing educational resources, improving industry standards, and positively affecting communities and the state, it says. Visit www.ncrecyclingassociation.org .
--Fritz Enterprises (Trenton, Mich.) has opened a ferrous and nonferrous scrap recycling center in Midland, Mich., adding to its five existing Michigan facilities in Alpena, Detroit, Kalkaska, Luzerne, and Roscommon. Those operations supply scrap to the company’s automobile shredders in Taylor and Flint, Mich. The new recycling center is at 4203 E. Ashman St., Midland, MI 48642. Visit www.fritzinc.com .
--HDi Plastics (Minnetonka, Minn.) has signed a development agreement with Eastland Economic Development (Eastland, Texas) to build a 50,000-square-foot plastics recycling facility—expandable to 150,000 square feet—and “potential” manufacturing plant on 20 acres in Eastland Industrial Park. The company, which processes postconsumer and postindustrial thermoplastic scrap, initially plans to invest about $4 million in the facility, including roughly $2.9 million for machinery and equipment. The company expects to have about $300,000 in inventory the first year—increasing to $1.1 million in 10 years—and expects to hire 75 employees during the project’s first phase and up to 235 within 10 years. Visit www.hdiplastics.com .
--Axion Polymers (Salford, England) has invested another $1.5 million to improve the recovery of materials from automobile shredder aggregate at its purpose-built plant in Trafford Park, England. The plant, which opened in January 2011, can process 200,000 mt of shredder aggregate annually, equivalent to the nonmetallic portion of approximately 800,000 cars, the company says. The operation can recover about 95 percent of materials in the aggregate through a combination of plastics recycling, the creation of a fuel used as a coal substitute, and the production of products for the construction industry, the company says. Axion takes the recovered plastic concentrate to its Salford plant, where it processes the material into a range of plastic products. The firm’s in-house engineering team designed, built, and operates the recovery plant with S. Norton & Co. (Liverpool, England), a ferrous and nonferrous metal recycler. Visit www.axionpolymers.com or www.s-norton.com .
--CDI Corp. (Philadelphia) and Tenova HYL (Milan) are working with Nucor Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.) to develop its direct-reduced iron facility in St. James Parish, La. The companies expect the $750 million plant, on a 4,000-acre site along the Mississippi River, to produce 2.5 million mt of DRI annually. CDI engineers will provide civil, electrical, mechanical, process, and structural engineering; pipe routing and modeling; and stress analysis for the facility’s DRI core area, while Tenova will provide electrical and mechanical equipment materials in the core area and water plant as well as all material handling requirements. They expect the operation, slated to open by mid-2013, to create more than 600 construction jobs and 150 permanent, full-time jobs. A second phase of the facility could include a second DRI plant, coke plant, blast furnace, pellet plant, and steel mill. Visit www.cdicorp.com ,www.hyltechnologies.com , or www.nucor.com .
--TMS International Corp. (Glassport, Pa.) has secured new mill-service contracts worth more than $266 million in revenue over the life of the contracts, the company says. The first deal—one of its largest single contracts—marks the firm’s first mill-service operation in Poland, encompassing transportation, processing, and sales of slag as well as scrap handling, receiving, inventory control, loading, and delivery to the mill’s charge buckets. Services under the contract will begin in March, with full implementation scheduled for the second quarter of 2014. The company also will provide additional services to existing mill customers in Belgium and the United States, and it has purchased a noncontrolling interest in a joint venture that will provide mill services, including metal recovery and slag processing and sales, to one of Malaysia’s largest steelmakers. Visit www.tmsinternationalcorp.com .
--Machinex Technologies, the U.S. subsidiary of Machinex Group (Plessisville, Québec), has opened a sales office and warehouse in High Point, N.C., allowing it to expand its customer support through greater parts inventory and after-sales service. This marks the company’s third U.S. office, complementing its operations in Chicago and Roseville, Calif. Visit www.machinextechnologies.com .
--Best Process Solutions (Cleveland) is a new company that specializes in bulk material handling equipment and services for recycling operations. The firm has launched a line of vibratory equipment for use in various parts of shredder downstream systems, such as the undermill, magnet, eddy current, and nonferrous separation units. The company offers replacement isolation springs, pans, liners, and drives for vibratory equipment as well as engineering assistance, service, and spare components for water-injection systems, shredder isolation spring components, and control systems. The firm also offers custom-designed solutions. Visit www.bpsvibes.com .
--The Automobile Recyclers Association (Manassas, Va.) has expanded its operations by leasing office space in Washington, D.C., near the U.S. Capitol, to help it advance its policy and industry-related agendas, the association says. Visit www.a-r-a.org .
--More than 40 recycling companies in North Carolina have formed the Recycling Association of North Carolina (Wilmington, N.C.) to work with legislators, law-enforcement officials, residents, and the recycling industry to combat materials theft and improve the industry’s public image. The group’s long-term goals include providing educational resources, improving industry standards, and positively affecting communities and the state, it says. Visit www.ncrecyclingassociation.org .
Equipment Sales and Installations
--Gershow Recycling (Medford, N.Y.) worked with Ferrex Engineering (Ajax, Ontario) to make several upgrades to the automobile shredder at its Medford facility, including replacing the natural-gas-powered engines with an 8,000-hp electric motor and installing a new operator’s pulpit, control chair, and Allen-Bradley ControlLogix programmable logic controller. Gershow also added Ferrex’s Shredder Optimizer, which uses a recycling data logger and dynamic shred control to track data that can help operators improve their shredder performance. Under an additional consulting agreement, Ferrex is helping Gershow analyze its shredding data. Visit www.gershow.com or www.ferrexeng.com .
--Enaptive (Jacksonville, Fla.), creator of the ScrapRunner asset and logistics management system, has installed the system at West Virginia Cashin Recyclables (Nitro, W.Va.), Ferrous Processing & Trading Co. (Detroit), Mervis Industries (Danville, Ill.), and Scrap Systems (Orlando, Fla.). ScrapRunner’s automated driver and trip management feature and bar-coded container tracking system integrate with a recycler’s existing accounting software, Enaptive says. Visit www.enaptive.com , www.scraprunner.com , www.wvcashin.com ,www.fptscrap.com , www.mervis.com , or www.scrapsystems.net .
--OneSteel Recycling Asia (Hong Kong) will use software from Brady (London) to manage the physical trading and risk requirements of its base metal business in Hong Kong. The solution will allow OneSteel to manage its physical and futures trading and the associated logistics requirements. The company also will use Brady’s accounting program for budgetary control and financial reporting. In related news, Sadoff Iron & Metal Co. (Fond du Lac, Wis.) is installing the Commodity Recycling Enterprise Solution software system from Brady Recycling-SAI (Maumee, Ohio)—Brady’s new division from its acquisition of Systems Alternatives International—to manage operations at its six Wisconsin and two Nebraska facilities. Visit www.onesteel.com , www.sadoff.com , or www.bradyplc.com .
--Hanbury Plastic Recycling (Stoke-on-Trent, England) has installed a Redwave three-way, sensor-based sorting machine from BT-Wolfgang Binder (Gleisdorf, Austria) to separate transparent from pigmented high-density polyethylene bottles. The recycler also will use the sorter—which handles up to 6 mt an hour—to separate high-grade from low-grade PET materials. HPR sorts into distinct polymer streams about 40,000 mt a year of commingled commercial, industrial, and postconsumer plastic scrap, it says. Visit www.redwave.at ,www.btw-binder.com , or www.hanburyplasticsrecycling.com .
--Always Buying Scrap (Durham, N.C.) has installed an ARCA 2600 automated cash dispenser from ARCA (Mebane, N.C.). The system offers a secure, safe, easy-load design; small footprint; quiet operation; and fast, accurate performance, the vendor says. Visit www.arcatechsystems.com or www.alwaysbuyingscrap.com .
--SITA Finland (Helsinki) has purchased two robotic sorters for construction and demolition scrap from ZenRobotics, also in Helsinki. The ZRR Heavy Picker is designed for sorting objects weighing up to 44 pounds, while the ZRR Fast Picker can sort hand-sized material that weighs up to 11 pounds. In 2011, SITA began using a ZRR test system, which it says increased its recycling rate from 70 to 90 percent. Visit www.sita.fi or www.zenrobotics.com .
--MagneGas Corp. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) will supply its hydrogen-based fuel for torching operations to the six Florida facilities of Allied Recycling (Fort Myers, Fla.). MagneGas converts liquid waste into a metal-cutting fuel and natural gas alternative. Visit www.magnegas.com or www.alliedrecyclingfl.com .
--Gershow Recycling (Medford, N.Y.) worked with Ferrex Engineering (Ajax, Ontario) to make several upgrades to the automobile shredder at its Medford facility, including replacing the natural-gas-powered engines with an 8,000-hp electric motor and installing a new operator’s pulpit, control chair, and Allen-Bradley ControlLogix programmable logic controller. Gershow also added Ferrex’s Shredder Optimizer, which uses a recycling data logger and dynamic shred control to track data that can help operators improve their shredder performance. Under an additional consulting agreement, Ferrex is helping Gershow analyze its shredding data. Visit www.gershow.com or www.ferrexeng.com .
--Enaptive (Jacksonville, Fla.), creator of the ScrapRunner asset and logistics management system, has installed the system at West Virginia Cashin Recyclables (Nitro, W.Va.), Ferrous Processing & Trading Co. (Detroit), Mervis Industries (Danville, Ill.), and Scrap Systems (Orlando, Fla.). ScrapRunner’s automated driver and trip management feature and bar-coded container tracking system integrate with a recycler’s existing accounting software, Enaptive says. Visit www.enaptive.com , www.scraprunner.com , www.wvcashin.com ,www.fptscrap.com , www.mervis.com , or www.scrapsystems.net .
--OneSteel Recycling Asia (Hong Kong) will use software from Brady (London) to manage the physical trading and risk requirements of its base metal business in Hong Kong. The solution will allow OneSteel to manage its physical and futures trading and the associated logistics requirements. The company also will use Brady’s accounting program for budgetary control and financial reporting. In related news, Sadoff Iron & Metal Co. (Fond du Lac, Wis.) is installing the Commodity Recycling Enterprise Solution software system from Brady Recycling-SAI (Maumee, Ohio)—Brady’s new division from its acquisition of Systems Alternatives International—to manage operations at its six Wisconsin and two Nebraska facilities. Visit www.onesteel.com , www.sadoff.com , or www.bradyplc.com .
--Hanbury Plastic Recycling (Stoke-on-Trent, England) has installed a Redwave three-way, sensor-based sorting machine from BT-Wolfgang Binder (Gleisdorf, Austria) to separate transparent from pigmented high-density polyethylene bottles. The recycler also will use the sorter—which handles up to 6 mt an hour—to separate high-grade from low-grade PET materials. HPR sorts into distinct polymer streams about 40,000 mt a year of commingled commercial, industrial, and postconsumer plastic scrap, it says. Visit www.redwave.at ,www.btw-binder.com , or www.hanburyplasticsrecycling.com .
--Always Buying Scrap (Durham, N.C.) has installed an ARCA 2600 automated cash dispenser from ARCA (Mebane, N.C.). The system offers a secure, safe, easy-load design; small footprint; quiet operation; and fast, accurate performance, the vendor says. Visit www.arcatechsystems.com or www.alwaysbuyingscrap.com .
--SITA Finland (Helsinki) has purchased two robotic sorters for construction and demolition scrap from ZenRobotics, also in Helsinki. The ZRR Heavy Picker is designed for sorting objects weighing up to 44 pounds, while the ZRR Fast Picker can sort hand-sized material that weighs up to 11 pounds. In 2011, SITA began using a ZRR test system, which it says increased its recycling rate from 70 to 90 percent. Visit www.sita.fi or www.zenrobotics.com .
--MagneGas Corp. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) will supply its hydrogen-based fuel for torching operations to the six Florida facilities of Allied Recycling (Fort Myers, Fla.). MagneGas converts liquid waste into a metal-cutting fuel and natural gas alternative. Visit www.magnegas.com or www.alliedrecyclingfl.com .
Awards and Milestones
--Guangzhou GISE-MBA New Plastics Technology Co., the Guangzhou, China-based joint venture of Guangzhou Iron & Steel Enterprises Group Co. and MBA Polymers (Richmond, Calif.), has achieved certification to the ISO 14001:2004 environmental management standard. The plastic recycling operation also has received a cleaner production certificate and recognition from Guangdong province for being the outstanding clean plant for 2012. The company began the audit process for the latter achievement in November 2010, and a panel of experts reviewed the site to verify its cleaner production audit report. The operation implemented 25 low-cost and six high-cost improvements—such as reconfiguring its energy-saving heater system, improving waste gas disposal facilities, and installing a gas separation system—to complete the process and meet national and local laws and regulations. Visitwww.mbapolymers.com .
--Germany’s minister of economics has recognized Accurec Recycling (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany) with the German Raw Materials Efficiency Award for its continuous innovative achievements in recovering metal from end-of-life products. Visit www.accurec.de .
--Corporate Knights (Toronto), a media, research, and financial products company, ranked Umicore (Brussels), Sims Metal Management (North Sydney, Australia), and Atlas Copco (Stockholm) first, 15th, and 18th in its list of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. Umicore, a materials technology and recycling company, achieved first place based on its “strong, across-the-board sustainability performance,” reaching top-quartile performance on six of 12 indicators such as carbon and water productivity as well as employee turnover, Corporate Knights says. Sims and Atlas Copco made the list for the fifth and seventh consecutive years, respectively. Visit www.umicore.com , www.simsmm.com ,www.atlascopco.com , or www.corporateknights.com/global100 .
--Liberty Tire Recycling (Pittsburgh) is the first company to achieve GreenGuard synthetic turf certification from the GreenGuard Environmental Institute (Marietta, Ga.), an independent organization that seeks to reduce chemical exposure and improve indoor air quality, the firm says. To achieve certification, products must undergo a series of chemical emissions standards tests based on criteria from public health agencies. Liberty Tire’s crumb rubber production plants in Calhoun, Ga.; Braddock, Pa.; Salt Lake City; Des Moines, Iowa; Port St. Lucie, Fla.; and Brunner, Ontario, already were GreenGuard certified, but now its remaining two facilities—which operate as Western Rubber in Delta, British Columbia, and Lockport, N.Y.—also are certified. Visit www.libertytire.com or www.greenguard.org .
--Guangzhou GISE-MBA New Plastics Technology Co., the Guangzhou, China-based joint venture of Guangzhou Iron & Steel Enterprises Group Co. and MBA Polymers (Richmond, Calif.), has achieved certification to the ISO 14001:2004 environmental management standard. The plastic recycling operation also has received a cleaner production certificate and recognition from Guangdong province for being the outstanding clean plant for 2012. The company began the audit process for the latter achievement in November 2010, and a panel of experts reviewed the site to verify its cleaner production audit report. The operation implemented 25 low-cost and six high-cost improvements—such as reconfiguring its energy-saving heater system, improving waste gas disposal facilities, and installing a gas separation system—to complete the process and meet national and local laws and regulations. Visitwww.mbapolymers.com .
--Germany’s minister of economics has recognized Accurec Recycling (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany) with the German Raw Materials Efficiency Award for its continuous innovative achievements in recovering metal from end-of-life products. Visit www.accurec.de .
--Corporate Knights (Toronto), a media, research, and financial products company, ranked Umicore (Brussels), Sims Metal Management (North Sydney, Australia), and Atlas Copco (Stockholm) first, 15th, and 18th in its list of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. Umicore, a materials technology and recycling company, achieved first place based on its “strong, across-the-board sustainability performance,” reaching top-quartile performance on six of 12 indicators such as carbon and water productivity as well as employee turnover, Corporate Knights says. Sims and Atlas Copco made the list for the fifth and seventh consecutive years, respectively. Visit www.umicore.com , www.simsmm.com ,www.atlascopco.com , or www.corporateknights.com/global100 .
--Liberty Tire Recycling (Pittsburgh) is the first company to achieve GreenGuard synthetic turf certification from the GreenGuard Environmental Institute (Marietta, Ga.), an independent organization that seeks to reduce chemical exposure and improve indoor air quality, the firm says. To achieve certification, products must undergo a series of chemical emissions standards tests based on criteria from public health agencies. Liberty Tire’s crumb rubber production plants in Calhoun, Ga.; Braddock, Pa.; Salt Lake City; Des Moines, Iowa; Port St. Lucie, Fla.; and Brunner, Ontario, already were GreenGuard certified, but now its remaining two facilities—which operate as Western Rubber in Delta, British Columbia, and Lockport, N.Y.—also are certified. Visit www.libertytire.com or www.greenguard.org .
NASCO-OP Returns Dividend
Members of the National Association Supply Cooperative (New Philadelphia, Ohio) received a 2-percent patronage dividend for 2012, with the dividend amount varying based on their purchases through NASCO-OP during the year. Members of ISRI, the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (Ajax, Ontario), the Automotive Recyclers Association (Manassas, Va.), and the National Demolition Association (Doylestown, Pa.) can join the purchasing co-op for free. Visit www.nascoop.com .
Members of the National Association Supply Cooperative (New Philadelphia, Ohio) received a 2-percent patronage dividend for 2012, with the dividend amount varying based on their purchases through NASCO-OP during the year. Members of ISRI, the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (Ajax, Ontario), the Automotive Recyclers Association (Manassas, Va.), and the National Demolition Association (Doylestown, Pa.) can join the purchasing co-op for free. Visit www.nascoop.com .
Electronics Recycling Roundup
--Sims Group Recycling Solutions Canada (Mississauga, Ontario) has opened a 55,000-square-foot facility in Laval, Québec, adding to its two electronics recycling operations in Ontario and one in British Columbia. The company established this new facility in response to Québec’s electronics recycling legislation—the Regulation Respecting the Recovery and Reclamation of Products by Enterprises—which took effect July 14, 2012. The company expects to process at least 25,000 mt of end-of-life electronics annually based on volumes generated from similar regulations in other provinces, it says. Visit www.simsrecycling.ca .
--The Irving, Texas, headquarters facility of eRecyclingCorps, a wireless device trade-in provider, has achieved certification to the R2/RIOS standard, which combines the Responsible Recycling (R2) practices and the Recycling Industry Operating Standard management
system standards. Visit www.erecyclingcorps.com , www.r2solutions.org , or
www.certifymerecycling.org .
--Wistron GreenTech Corp. (Grapevine, Texas) is opening a U.S. electronics recycling campus in McKinney, Texas. The $21 million project—which it will implement in three phases—will occupy a 209,000-square-foot facility and is expected to create up to 120 jobs in the next two years. The operation will provide information-technology asset recovery services and recycle and refine circuitboards and batteries. Visit www.wistron.com .
--Greene Lyon Group (Amesbury, Mass.) has sold its interest in eVOLV, a technology that recovers precious metals and components from printed circuitboards, to its development partner, ATMI (Danbury, Conn.), a global specialty-materials and materials-packaging company. The eVOLV process, based on “green” chemistry and engineering principles, is more efficient and cost-effective than other circuitboard processing approaches, Greene Lyon says. Visit www.greenelyon.com , www.atmi-evolv.com , or www.atmi.com .
--Goodwill Industries of Western New York (Buffalo, N.Y.) has selected Sunnking (Brockport, N.Y.) to recycle its large-scale donations of electronics, which come to the location from its donation centers and other sites for sorting and packaging. Goodwill’s Western New York branch collects from consumers about 42,000 pounds a month of electronics, including computer components, printers, televisions, and telephones, it says. Visit www.goodwillwny.org or www.sunnking.com .
--Inc. magazine (New York) listed electronics recycler Dynamic Recycling (La Crosse, Wis.) in its 2012 Inc. 5000 list as the fastest-growing company in Wisconsin, the second-fastest-
growing environmental services company nationwide, and the 79th-fastest-growing company nationwide. Visit www.dynamicrecycling.com or www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2012 .
--YouChange Holdings Corp. has changed its name to Infinity Resources Holdings Corp. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and merged with Earth911, also in Scottsdale, which will continue operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Infinity. Visit www.infinityresourcescorp.com or www.earth911.com .
--The United States could add up to 42,000 jobs—21,000 full-time-equivalent recycling jobs and 21,000 additional indirect jobs—with a corresponding payroll of more than $1 billion if U.S. electronic recyclers processed the 3.6 billion pounds of electronic scrap currently being exported, landfilled, or otherwise processed, the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling says in a recent study. According to the Jobs Through Electronics Recycling study, every additional 172,000 pounds of electronics processed in the United States would create one new direct job, with indirect and induced jobs added in kind. DSM Environmental Services (Windsor, Vt.) conducted the study based on a survey of 21 of CAER’s 67 members engaged in electronics recycling, encompassing 89 physical locations. Visit www.americanerecycling.org or www.dsmenvironmental.com .
--4th Bin (New York) has achieved certification to the e-Stewards® Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment, making it the first electronics recycling company in New York City to hold that distinction. In related news, Akamai Technologies (Cambridge, Mass.) and Napa, Calif., each have become an e-Stewards Enterprise, which obligates them to use companies certified to the e-Stewards standard when disposing of end-of-life electronics. Visit www.4thbin.com , www.akamai.com , or www.cityofnapa.org .
--Sims Group Recycling Solutions Canada (Mississauga, Ontario) has opened a 55,000-square-foot facility in Laval, Québec, adding to its two electronics recycling operations in Ontario and one in British Columbia. The company established this new facility in response to Québec’s electronics recycling legislation—the Regulation Respecting the Recovery and Reclamation of Products by Enterprises—which took effect July 14, 2012. The company expects to process at least 25,000 mt of end-of-life electronics annually based on volumes generated from similar regulations in other provinces, it says. Visit www.simsrecycling.ca .
--The Irving, Texas, headquarters facility of eRecyclingCorps, a wireless device trade-in provider, has achieved certification to the R2/RIOS standard, which combines the Responsible Recycling (R2) practices and the Recycling Industry Operating Standard management
system standards. Visit www.erecyclingcorps.com , www.r2solutions.org , or
www.certifymerecycling.org .
--Wistron GreenTech Corp. (Grapevine, Texas) is opening a U.S. electronics recycling campus in McKinney, Texas. The $21 million project—which it will implement in three phases—will occupy a 209,000-square-foot facility and is expected to create up to 120 jobs in the next two years. The operation will provide information-technology asset recovery services and recycle and refine circuitboards and batteries. Visit www.wistron.com .
--Greene Lyon Group (Amesbury, Mass.) has sold its interest in eVOLV, a technology that recovers precious metals and components from printed circuitboards, to its development partner, ATMI (Danbury, Conn.), a global specialty-materials and materials-packaging company. The eVOLV process, based on “green” chemistry and engineering principles, is more efficient and cost-effective than other circuitboard processing approaches, Greene Lyon says. Visit www.greenelyon.com , www.atmi-evolv.com , or www.atmi.com .
--Goodwill Industries of Western New York (Buffalo, N.Y.) has selected Sunnking (Brockport, N.Y.) to recycle its large-scale donations of electronics, which come to the location from its donation centers and other sites for sorting and packaging. Goodwill’s Western New York branch collects from consumers about 42,000 pounds a month of electronics, including computer components, printers, televisions, and telephones, it says. Visit www.goodwillwny.org or www.sunnking.com .
--Inc. magazine (New York) listed electronics recycler Dynamic Recycling (La Crosse, Wis.) in its 2012 Inc. 5000 list as the fastest-growing company in Wisconsin, the second-fastest-
growing environmental services company nationwide, and the 79th-fastest-growing company nationwide. Visit www.dynamicrecycling.com or www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2012 .
--YouChange Holdings Corp. has changed its name to Infinity Resources Holdings Corp. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and merged with Earth911, also in Scottsdale, which will continue operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Infinity. Visit www.infinityresourcescorp.com or www.earth911.com .
--The United States could add up to 42,000 jobs—21,000 full-time-equivalent recycling jobs and 21,000 additional indirect jobs—with a corresponding payroll of more than $1 billion if U.S. electronic recyclers processed the 3.6 billion pounds of electronic scrap currently being exported, landfilled, or otherwise processed, the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling says in a recent study. According to the Jobs Through Electronics Recycling study, every additional 172,000 pounds of electronics processed in the United States would create one new direct job, with indirect and induced jobs added in kind. DSM Environmental Services (Windsor, Vt.) conducted the study based on a survey of 21 of CAER’s 67 members engaged in electronics recycling, encompassing 89 physical locations. Visit www.americanerecycling.org or www.dsmenvironmental.com .
--4th Bin (New York) has achieved certification to the e-Stewards® Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment, making it the first electronics recycling company in New York City to hold that distinction. In related news, Akamai Technologies (Cambridge, Mass.) and Napa, Calif., each have become an e-Stewards Enterprise, which obligates them to use companies certified to the e-Stewards standard when disposing of end-of-life electronics. Visit www.4thbin.com , www.akamai.com , or www.cityofnapa.org .
Manufacturers Add New Distributors
--Harris Waste Management Group (Tyrone, Ga.) has selected Rise Equipment (Waco, Texas) to offer equipment, parts, and service for its vertical, horizontal, and two-ram balers—including its Centurion/HRB brand balers—in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Visit www.harrisequip.com or www.riseequipment.com .
--SSI Shredding Systems (Wilsonville, Ore.) has signed a new distribution and service agreement with Challenger Group (Hull, England) to sell and provide service for its line of slow-speed, high-torque shredders throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Visit www.ssiworld.com or www.challenger-group.co.uk .
--Cannon Truck Equipment (Shelby Township, Mich.) will represent Palfinger Pal Pro mechanic trucks, PSC telescopic service cranes, lift gates, and hoists in Michigan for Omaha Standard Palfinger (Council Bluffs, Iowa). In related news, Palfinger North America (Niagara Falls, Ontario) has named Scelzi Enterprises, based in Fresno and Azusa, Calif., a dealer for its line of truck-mounted cranes in California. Visit www.cannontruckequipment.com , www.seinc.com , or www.palfinger.com .
--Harris Waste Management Group (Tyrone, Ga.) has selected Rise Equipment (Waco, Texas) to offer equipment, parts, and service for its vertical, horizontal, and two-ram balers—including its Centurion/HRB brand balers—in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Visit www.harrisequip.com or www.riseequipment.com .
--SSI Shredding Systems (Wilsonville, Ore.) has signed a new distribution and service agreement with Challenger Group (Hull, England) to sell and provide service for its line of slow-speed, high-torque shredders throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Visit www.ssiworld.com or www.challenger-group.co.uk .
--Cannon Truck Equipment (Shelby Township, Mich.) will represent Palfinger Pal Pro mechanic trucks, PSC telescopic service cranes, lift gates, and hoists in Michigan for Omaha Standard Palfinger (Council Bluffs, Iowa). In related news, Palfinger North America (Niagara Falls, Ontario) has named Scelzi Enterprises, based in Fresno and Azusa, Calif., a dealer for its line of truck-mounted cranes in California. Visit www.cannontruckequipment.com , www.seinc.com , or www.palfinger.com .
Group Changes Name, Brand Identity
U.S. Holdings (Miami) has renamed itself Eagle Manufacturing Group and has launched new brands for its four subsidiaries: Eagle Metal Processing & Recycling (Medley, Fla.); U.S. Foundry and Manufacturing Corp., also in Medley; USF Fabrication (Hialeah, Fla.); and United Concrete Products, with locations in Hialeah and West Palm Beach, Fla. Each entity unveiled a new company logo that features an eagle head and introduced an updated website. Visit www.eaglemanufacturinggroup.com , www.eaglemetalprocessing.com ,www.usfoundry.com , www.usffab.com , or www.unitedconcreteproducts.com .
U.S. Holdings (Miami) has renamed itself Eagle Manufacturing Group and has launched new brands for its four subsidiaries: Eagle Metal Processing & Recycling (Medley, Fla.); U.S. Foundry and Manufacturing Corp., also in Medley; USF Fabrication (Hialeah, Fla.); and United Concrete Products, with locations in Hialeah and West Palm Beach, Fla. Each entity unveiled a new company logo that features an eagle head and introduced an updated website. Visit www.eaglemanufacturinggroup.com , www.eaglemetalprocessing.com ,www.usfoundry.com , www.usffab.com , or www.unitedconcreteproducts.com .
Resources
--Brass and bronze ingotmaker I. Schumann & Co. (Bedford, Ohio) has launched a new website for information on its products, services, resources, recycling, and environmental stewardship. Visit www.ischumann.com .
--The International Scrap Directory 2012 from Metal Bulletin (London) lists more than 1,200 nonferrous and ferrous recycling companies and scrap traders, providing information such as office address and contact information, names of key managers, year established, corporate ownership, business activities, types of processing, metals handled, and trade association memberships. Purchase the directory for $849 from www.metalbulletinstore.com .
--The White Book of Steel from the World Steel Association (Brussels) offers a historical review of steel’s development, examining its effect on mankind to date and its potential for the future. In 53 pages and five chapters, the book reviews steel’s progress through the centuries, beginning prior to the 18th century and ending in today’s steel industry, with a look at what could be ahead for the metal. Download the book for free as a PDF or e-book from
www.worldsteel.org/publications/bookshop.html . For more on the history of steel, visit worldsteel’s new Steel Story microsite at www.worldsteel.org/steelstory .
--The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (Milwaukee) has published an e-book of its Hydraulic Excavator Safety Manual for equipment operators to access on mobile devices. The e-book, available only in English, complements the manual’s print version, giving operators another way to access the information. The electronic version features user-friendly options such as variable type, bookmarks, content searching, a low-light reading format, and the ability to embed and e-mail notes. The book is $3.99 on Apple’s iBookstore for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. Visit www.itunes.apple.com/us/book/hydraulic-excavator-safety/id564243053?mt=11 . For the print edition, visit www.shop.aem.org .
--The EPS Industry Alliance (Crofton, Md.) has developed an interactive, Google-powered map to help consumers and businesses locate facilities that accept expanded polystyrene packaging for reuse or recycling. The map identifies drop-off centers for loose-fill EPS with a red icon and those that accept other EPS packaging with a blue icon. Users can filter the more than 1,050 nationwide EPS drop-off locations by ZIP code and type of packaging. The alliance has created business cards with a QR code that links to the new reuse and recycling map. Loose-fill reuse centers can insert the cards in packages that contain loose-fill EPS so that customers who receive the material can scan the code with a smartphone or tablet to find a drop-off location near them. The alliance also developed a window sticker that locations can display to show their participation in the drop-off program. Visitwww.epspackaging.org or www.epsindustry.org .
--The American Forest & Paper Association (Washington, D.C.) has redesigned its website to offer additional interactive features, videos, links to Facebook and Twitter, and a new blog. Visit www.afandpa.org .
--The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has added two cleared over-the counter swaps contracts—one for Turkish scrap imports and one for North European hot-rolled coil. The Turkish contract trades in U.S. dollars per mt, with lot sizes of 20 mt. It clears against The Steel Index’s daily scrap index for heavy-melt scrap No. 1 and No. 2 in an 80:20 mix c.f.r. Turkey’s Iskenderun port. The North European HRC contract trades in euros per mt, with lot sizes of 20 mt. It clears against TSI’s daily index for North European HRC priced ex-mill. Both contracts clear through CME Clearing Europe (London), and both are cash-settled monthly, using the average of TSI’s published daily reference prices in the expiring calendar month. Visit www.cmeclearingeurope.com/products/otc-commodity-derivatives.html .
--Brass and bronze ingotmaker I. Schumann & Co. (Bedford, Ohio) has launched a new website for information on its products, services, resources, recycling, and environmental stewardship. Visit www.ischumann.com .
--The International Scrap Directory 2012 from Metal Bulletin (London) lists more than 1,200 nonferrous and ferrous recycling companies and scrap traders, providing information such as office address and contact information, names of key managers, year established, corporate ownership, business activities, types of processing, metals handled, and trade association memberships. Purchase the directory for $849 from www.metalbulletinstore.com .
--The White Book of Steel from the World Steel Association (Brussels) offers a historical review of steel’s development, examining its effect on mankind to date and its potential for the future. In 53 pages and five chapters, the book reviews steel’s progress through the centuries, beginning prior to the 18th century and ending in today’s steel industry, with a look at what could be ahead for the metal. Download the book for free as a PDF or e-book from
www.worldsteel.org/publications/bookshop.html . For more on the history of steel, visit worldsteel’s new Steel Story microsite at www.worldsteel.org/steelstory .
--The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (Milwaukee) has published an e-book of its Hydraulic Excavator Safety Manual for equipment operators to access on mobile devices. The e-book, available only in English, complements the manual’s print version, giving operators another way to access the information. The electronic version features user-friendly options such as variable type, bookmarks, content searching, a low-light reading format, and the ability to embed and e-mail notes. The book is $3.99 on Apple’s iBookstore for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. Visit www.itunes.apple.com/us/book/hydraulic-excavator-safety/id564243053?mt=11 . For the print edition, visit www.shop.aem.org .
--The EPS Industry Alliance (Crofton, Md.) has developed an interactive, Google-powered map to help consumers and businesses locate facilities that accept expanded polystyrene packaging for reuse or recycling. The map identifies drop-off centers for loose-fill EPS with a red icon and those that accept other EPS packaging with a blue icon. Users can filter the more than 1,050 nationwide EPS drop-off locations by ZIP code and type of packaging. The alliance has created business cards with a QR code that links to the new reuse and recycling map. Loose-fill reuse centers can insert the cards in packages that contain loose-fill EPS so that customers who receive the material can scan the code with a smartphone or tablet to find a drop-off location near them. The alliance also developed a window sticker that locations can display to show their participation in the drop-off program. Visitwww.epspackaging.org or www.epsindustry.org .
--The American Forest & Paper Association (Washington, D.C.) has redesigned its website to offer additional interactive features, videos, links to Facebook and Twitter, and a new blog. Visit www.afandpa.org .
--The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has added two cleared over-the counter swaps contracts—one for Turkish scrap imports and one for North European hot-rolled coil. The Turkish contract trades in U.S. dollars per mt, with lot sizes of 20 mt. It clears against The Steel Index’s daily scrap index for heavy-melt scrap No. 1 and No. 2 in an 80:20 mix c.f.r. Turkey’s Iskenderun port. The North European HRC contract trades in euros per mt, with lot sizes of 20 mt. It clears against TSI’s daily index for North European HRC priced ex-mill. Both contracts clear through CME Clearing Europe (London), and both are cash-settled monthly, using the average of TSI’s published daily reference prices in the expiring calendar month. Visit www.cmeclearingeurope.com/products/otc-commodity-derivatives.html .
Recycled Plastic Demand to Grow, Study Says
U.S. demand for postconsumer recycled plastics will grow 6.5 percent a year to reach 3.5 billion pounds in 2016, The Freedonia Group (Cleveland) says in its new Recycled Plastics study. Factors driving this growth include a growing emphasis on sustainability among packaging and consumer product manufacturers, advancements in processing and sorting technologies, and improved collection infrastructure, the 236-page study says. Government support at the local, state, and federal levels will boost plastics collection, processing, and product demand. Packaging will remain the leading end-use market for recycled plastic in 2016, and bottles will continue as the leading source of plastic scrap, constituting more than half of all plastic collected, the study says.
The overall U.S. plastic recycling rate will remain low—meeting less than 7 percent of total plastic demand in 2016—due to several challenges, including recycling obstacles in several major plastic markets, the study says. Contamination levels of collected plastics will remain high, and the United States will continue to export a “substantial portion” of its plastic scrap, primarily to China. As a result, only about half of collected plastics will end up in products manufactured in the United States, the study notes.
Growing levels of recycled content in beverage bottles and thermoformed containers will mean above-average gains in demand for polyethylene terephthalate, while “subpar” increases in the recovery of high-density polyethylene will limit the availability of HDPE recycled resin, the study says. It also forecasts rapid growth for recycled low-density polyethylene and polypropylene. Smaller-volume resins such as nylon and polystyrene also will see gains thanks to rising collection of products such as carpet, plastic foam, and consumer electronics for recycling. The study is available for $5,100 from www.freedoniagroup.com .
U.S. demand for postconsumer recycled plastics will grow 6.5 percent a year to reach 3.5 billion pounds in 2016, The Freedonia Group (Cleveland) says in its new Recycled Plastics study. Factors driving this growth include a growing emphasis on sustainability among packaging and consumer product manufacturers, advancements in processing and sorting technologies, and improved collection infrastructure, the 236-page study says. Government support at the local, state, and federal levels will boost plastics collection, processing, and product demand. Packaging will remain the leading end-use market for recycled plastic in 2016, and bottles will continue as the leading source of plastic scrap, constituting more than half of all plastic collected, the study says.
The overall U.S. plastic recycling rate will remain low—meeting less than 7 percent of total plastic demand in 2016—due to several challenges, including recycling obstacles in several major plastic markets, the study says. Contamination levels of collected plastics will remain high, and the United States will continue to export a “substantial portion” of its plastic scrap, primarily to China. As a result, only about half of collected plastics will end up in products manufactured in the United States, the study notes.
Growing levels of recycled content in beverage bottles and thermoformed containers will mean above-average gains in demand for polyethylene terephthalate, while “subpar” increases in the recovery of high-density polyethylene will limit the availability of HDPE recycled resin, the study says. It also forecasts rapid growth for recycled low-density polyethylene and polypropylene. Smaller-volume resins such as nylon and polystyrene also will see gains thanks to rising collection of products such as carpet, plastic foam, and consumer electronics for recycling. The study is available for $5,100 from www.freedoniagroup.com .
Recycler, Tobacco Firm Snuff Out Cigarette Litter
Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. (Santa Fe, N.M.), a subsidiary of cigarette producer Reynolds American (Winston-Salem, N.C.), has launched the Cigarette Waste Brigade program, a national initiative to recover and recycle cigarette butts. In the program, TerraCycle (Trenton, N.J.) will compost the paper and tobacco of collected cigarette butts and recycle the filters into pellets for use in products such as park benches, railroad ties, and shipping pallets. Organizations and individuals age 21 or older can ship collected cigarette butts to Terracycle using a prepaid shipping label. For every pound collected—about 1,000 butts—participants will earn a $1 credit that goes to Keep America Beautiful (Stamford, Conn.). Cigarette butts, which contain ash, cellulose acetate, paper, and tobacco, reportedly create about 135 million pounds of U.S. roadway litter each year. Visit www.sfntc.com , www.terracycle.com , orwww.kab.org .
Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. (Santa Fe, N.M.), a subsidiary of cigarette producer Reynolds American (Winston-Salem, N.C.), has launched the Cigarette Waste Brigade program, a national initiative to recover and recycle cigarette butts. In the program, TerraCycle (Trenton, N.J.) will compost the paper and tobacco of collected cigarette butts and recycle the filters into pellets for use in products such as park benches, railroad ties, and shipping pallets. Organizations and individuals age 21 or older can ship collected cigarette butts to Terracycle using a prepaid shipping label. For every pound collected—about 1,000 butts—participants will earn a $1 credit that goes to Keep America Beautiful (Stamford, Conn.). Cigarette butts, which contain ash, cellulose acetate, paper, and tobacco, reportedly create about 135 million pounds of U.S. roadway litter each year. Visit www.sfntc.com , www.terracycle.com , orwww.kab.org .
Making Recycling Fashionable
H&M Hennes & Mauritz (Stockholm) has launched a global garment recycling initiative as part of its sustainability efforts to reduce the environmental impact of old clothes throughout their life cycle. Under the program, customers can bring bags of old clothing—from any brand and in any condition—to any of H&M’s more than 2,800 stores worldwide and receive a voucher for 15 percent off the next H&M item they purchase. Each customer can drop off a maximum of two shopping bags of clothes per day, and the company will donate about 3 cents per pound of clothes collected to a local charity, H&M says on its website. In the United States, Global Green USA (Santa Monica, Calif.) is the exclusive recipient of the collected garments and H&M donations. It plans to use the funds to support its work on green building projects and rebuilding communities affected by climate change and environmental degradation. Visit www.hm.com or www.globalgreen.org .
H&M Hennes & Mauritz (Stockholm) has launched a global garment recycling initiative as part of its sustainability efforts to reduce the environmental impact of old clothes throughout their life cycle. Under the program, customers can bring bags of old clothing—from any brand and in any condition—to any of H&M’s more than 2,800 stores worldwide and receive a voucher for 15 percent off the next H&M item they purchase. Each customer can drop off a maximum of two shopping bags of clothes per day, and the company will donate about 3 cents per pound of clothes collected to a local charity, H&M says on its website. In the United States, Global Green USA (Santa Monica, Calif.) is the exclusive recipient of the collected garments and H&M donations. It plans to use the funds to support its work on green building projects and rebuilding communities affected by climate change and environmental degradation. Visit www.hm.com or www.globalgreen.org .
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