Municipal

Wal-Mart’s support increases use of How2Recycle Label

The How2Recycle Label has jumped in membership numbers, thanks to retailer Wal-Mart, which has encouraged its private label suppliers to use labeling that helps consumers understand how to recycle products. By joining How2Recycle, suppliers can use the program’s on-package recycling label to communicate to consumers how to recycle various types of packaging.

Jack Pestello, senior vice president, private brands, Wal-Mart U.S., says, “We believe a best practice is to use labeling that helps customers recycle, such as the How2Recycle Label, to communicate the recyclability of a package. The How2Recycle Label is also a great conversational tool between merchants and suppliers to discuss if a package is designed with recyclability in mind.”

Consumers should expect to see the label on select Great Value and Equate products at Wal-Mart in the coming months.

“We cannot understate the importance of the support of retailers like Wal-Mart in the How2Recycle program, who are leveraging their influence in the supply chain to make a true difference to support the accuracy of recycling claims,” says Kelly Cramer, senior manager at Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the organization behind the How2Recycle Label program. “We very much look forward to welcoming more suppliers to How2Recycle in the near future,” she says.

Commercial waste franchise system in LA moves a step closer

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works recommended the awarding of franchise agreements valued at $3.5 billion to seven commercial waste hauling companies during a meeting Sept. 26.

According to local reports, if approved by city council and Mayor Eric Garcetti, each hauler would be assigned as the sole hauler for commercial and multifamily residences in one or more of 11 zones designated by the city for a 10-year period beginning July 2017.

Http://mynewsla.com reports the recommended haulers were:

• Athens Services – 21,864 accounts in West Los Angeles, Harbor and North Central zones;
• Republic Services – 16,820 accounts in the Northeast Valley and South Los Angeles zones;
• Waste Management – 15,526 accounts in the West Valley and Southeast Valley zones;
• Universal Waste Systems – 6,106 accounts located in the Northeast zone;
• NASA Services – 1,771 customers in the Downtown zone;
• Ware Disposal – 1,817 customers in the Southeast zone; and
• CalMet Services – 1,013 accounts in the East Downtown zone.

Alpine Waste & Recycling, Momentum partner for glass recycling

Alpine Waste & Recycling, Denver, has completed a retrofit to its material recovery facility (MRF) that advances its efforts to recycle glass in the Denver area.

Alpine has teamed up with Momentum Recycling, a full-service zero-waste company with offices in Salt Lake City and Broomfield, Colorado. Momentum Recycling will accept glass from Alpine’s MRF at its new facility in Broomfield, where it will be sorted optically by color and recycled for use in bottles, fiberglass insulation and other products. Alpine is among the first companies to provide material for the Momentum plant, which is set to open in November 2016. (Momentum, founded in 2008, also operates a glass recycling plant in Salt Lake City.)

Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling at Alpine, says the company invested $150,000 this past summer to retrofit its Altogether Recycling MRF in Denver to separate broken glass from the other incoming recyclables.

Alpine added two new conveyor belts and a blower, made by Machinex, Plessisville, Quebec, that releases a steady stream of air over the falling glass and paper.

“We added two conveyors and a blower to separate paper and other debris from the glass, along with a new bunker to store the glass,” says Hildebrand. “The efficiencies gleaned from separating broken glass will offset some of the expense of our recycling efforts,” he adds.

Trucks from Momentum picked up the first loads of glass from the Alpine facility Oct. 25. Trucks are expected to collect up to two loads—25 tons per load—each business day for transport to Momentum’s plant in Broomfield. Each load will save about 18 cubic yards of landfill space, Alpine says.

John Lair, president and CEO of Momentum, says, “The Front Range introduces about 10,000 tons of glass into the waste stream each month, and we’re pleased that Alpine is joining with us to reduce the amount of glass that ends up in landfills.”

Hildebrand says Colorado is a good market for recycled glass because it is home to two bottle plants: Rocky Mountain Bottle Co. in Wheat Ridge and an Owens-Illinois facility in Windsor.

Advanced Disposal debuts on NYSE

Advanced Disposal Services Inc., Ponte Vedra, Florida, announced Oct. 6, 2016, its initial public offering of 19.25 million shares of its common stock at a price of $18 per share to the public. All of the shares are being offered by the company.

The shares began trading Oct. 6 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ADSW. The underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional 2.88 million shares of common stock. The company says it intends to use the net proceeds from the shares offered to repay outstanding debt under the Term Loan B portion of its senior secured credit facilities.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. acted as lead joint book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. UBS Securities LLC also acted as a lead joint book-running manager.

The offering of these securities is being made only by means of a prospectus. A registration statement relating to these securities was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Oct. 5, 2016.

Advanced Disposal serves 2.8 million residential customers, 221,000 commercial and industrial customers and more than 800 municipal customers. In its most recent quarter, Advanced Disposal reported revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2016, of $358.2 million versus $355.2 million in the same period of the prior year.