Newsworthy

Metals, Mergers & Acquisitions

River Metals Recycling acquires Garden Street Iron & Metal’s Ohio operations

Nucor Corp., a company that operates a network of electric arc furnace steel mills, has acquired Cincinnati-based Garden Street Iron & Metal’s assets on behalf of its recycling subsidiary River Metals Recycling (RMR), headquartered in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. The assets include one feeder and one shredder yard, bringing RMR’s total number of recycling facilities to 19.

Nucor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, says the purchase is consistent with its raw materials strategy and demonstrates its commitment to expanding the regional recycling platforms supporting the company’s steel mills.

Garden Street was founded in 1958 by the Weber family, with Earl Weber Jr. serving as president of the company’s Ohio operations until the sale. Weber tells Recycling Today he has retired and left the business. However, his grandson, Tyler Weber, plans to stay on to manage operations at the Cincinnati yard, which is set on 22 acres with three nearby rail spurs in Spring Grove, Ohio. The company’s Cincinnati complex, which includes its auto shredder, serves retail and commercial customers.

Garden Street also operates a feeder yard in Harrison, Ohio, about 20 miles from its Cincinnati yard.

The 43 employees of Garden Street have been offered positions with RMR, according to Nucor.

“We are excited to welcome the Garden Street teammates to the RMR/Nucor family,” says Bob Eviston, vice president and general manager of RMR. “This key strategic acquisition will allow us to increase our supply of sustainable raw materials for our growing steelmaking capacity in the region.”

The purchase is designed to broaden RMR’s footprint in the industry. Nucor says the company will institute its best-in-class equipment, operational protocols and safety standards at the facilities, which will be rebranded under the RMR name.

In December 2021, another Nucor scrap recycling affiliate, Trademark Metals, purchased Garden Street’s recycling facilities in Fort Myers, Florida, which were owned and operated by Rob Weber, the brother of Earl Weber Jr. 

RMR says it is the largest scrap recycler in Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati area. It operates in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cincinnati-based David J. Joseph Co., a Nucor subsidiary and one of the largest scrap brokers/processors in the U.S., providing scrap brokerage, recycling and transportation services.

Paper

ISRI launches Fiber Recycling Readiness Tool

The Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has launched an online feature to help boost the recycling of paperboard packaging in the United States.

“Retail shelves across the country are filled with a growing number of fiber-based packaging, like paper, paperboard and corrugated boxes,” ISRI President Robin Wiener says. “ISRI’s new tool will provide brands, packaging developers and other stakeholders with clear guidance on whether their packaging will successfully pass through the current recycling infrastructure. This tool is a great advancement for the recycled materials industry.”

Creating the tool involved an ISRI-commissioned study by Atlanta-based Moore & Associates looking at the current material recovery facility (MRF) and paper mill infrastructure in the United States.

Currently, many brands test their packages’ recyclability by running tests at MRFs and at universities with knowledge of fiber recycling. “This tool represents a major advancement in that it captures the package design, processing and end use in one resource,” according to ISRI.

“This tool can help brands use Design for Recycling principles for creating fiber-based packaging that can flow through the current recycling infrastructure,” says Leonard Zeid, chair of the ISRI Fiber Recycling Readiness Tool and executive vice president at Moline, Illinois-based recycling company Midland Davis Corp.

Zeid says the new online resource can decrease contamination at MRFs and increase the quality of bales being sent to consuming mills.

“This is an exciting time for the fiber industry,” he adds. “I want to thank our ISRI members and staff and the ISRI Brands Leadership Council that participated in creating this valuable recycling resource.”

The Fiber Recycling Readiness Tool automatically scores a set of criteria and shares a color-coded result to determine whether the packaging meets the criteria (green), has challenges that require modifications (yellow) or does not meet the criteria (red).

The online resource also provides individualized feedback on design choices that could improve the package’s recyclability.

Metals

Federal Metal Co. opens new facility in Arkansas

Federal Metal Co., a Bedford, Ohio-headquartered producer of copper-based cast alloys, has opened a facility in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to recycle postconsumer aluminum-copper radiators.

The company announced the $17.6 million project in March and said at the time it expected to create more than 40 new jobs within the next four years. The facility, dubbed “FedMet,” is Federal Metal’s first in Arkansas and spans 165,000 square feet and has the capacity to recycle more than 3,000 metric tons of aluminum-copper radiators per month.

“Major investments in new mill, foundry and refining capacity are underway in the United States for the first time in generations, and it’s important the scrap industry here keeps pace to assure the domestic supply chain is well-fed,” Federal Metal President and CEO Peter Nagusky says in a written statement. “It is wasteful when valuable scrap like these radiators are exported [to support non-U.S. manufacturing].”

In 2020, the company developed its proprietary premelt specification aluminum products, which offer cost savings to rolling mills that would otherwise use more expensive prime aluminum or aluminum remelt secondary ingot, Federal Metal says. As well, the company will use the North Little Rock operation to generate high-grade copper to feed its furnaces in Bedford and Columbia, Pennsylvania, and supply other domestic copper product producers.

“Importantly, this strategic location is convenient for our supplier partners and close to several key customers,” Nagusky says.

“We are looking forward to a long partnership with the city of North Little Rock and the state of Arkansas. With their help and the talent available to us within a mile of downtown Little Rock, this specialized operation will quickly emerge as the most advanced of its kind in the world.”

Plastics, Legislation & regulations

Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act reintroduced

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Jared Huffman of California have reintroduced the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPA). The bill first was introduced in February 2020 by Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Rep. Alan Lowenthal of California along with Merkley and Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts.

Sponsors of the bill say it would reduce plastic production, establish recycling targets and protect frontline and fenceline communities from the burdens of toxic emissions by reducing production and changing industry incentives. The legislation also would shift the burden of cleanup to corporations that produce plastics, providing the financial motivation to end burning and dumping and establish a nationwide deposit return system to address beverage containers, support reusable and refillable systems and strengthen environmental justice protections by including the Protecting Communities from Plastics Act.

Merkley and Huffman say this version of the bill is stronger than the previous version because it adds new mandates for performance targets, including reducing single-use plastics and requiring all single-use beverage containers and packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable. It also includes stronger language for the elimination of toxic substances in beverage containers and prohibiting the use of toxic substances. Requirements for incorporating postconsumer recycled content into beverage containers have been strengthened and would exclude content generated by advanced recycling, chemical recycling, combustion, gasification, incineration, pyrolysis, solvolysis, thermal desorption, waste-to-energy, waste-to-fuel or any other chemical or molecular conversion process. Fenceline monitoring and environmental justice requirements for facilities, including community consultation, also have been reinforced.

The bill calls for 25 percent recycled content by weight and component by Jan. 1, 2032, increasing to 50 percent by weight and by plastic component by Jan. 1, 2050.

The Plastics Industry Association, Washington, opposes the bill.

“Instead of working towards compromise and common-sense policies, this new iteration of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act is even worse and less collaborative than previously, moving further from a realistic proposal,” says Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the association. 

Municipal & IC&I, Mergers & Acquisitions

Coastal Waste & Recycling makes Florida acquisitions

Boca Raton, Florida-based Coastal Waste & Recycling has completed two acquisitions that will add to its assets and operating locations in its south Florida market.

Coastal has acquired S&S Waste and In and Out Portables of Palm Beach County, Florida, the same day it also closed on its acquisition of AFS Recycling in Fort Myers, Florida.

“Both acquisitions reflect Coastal’s commitment to enhancing its portfolio with outstanding businesses that share a focus on customer service and the importance of a strong team with shared values,” according to Coastal Waste & Recycling.

S&S is a family-owned grapple truck debris removal and portable restroom company. “From its beginnings in 1987, founder Sheldon Mickelson and his team at S&S Waste have established themselves as pioneers in the grapple service business,” Coastal Waste says.

“We are excited to bring the vast experience the S&S team has in the grapple business to further enhance our customer experience in the construction and demolition hauling sector,” Coastal Waste & Recycling CEO Brendon Pantano says.

The acquisition of AFS Recycling, meanwhile, provides Coastal’s sixth material recovery facility.

“Joining these two teams will enhance opportunities to provide greater opportunities to develop recycling programs for our commercial customers,” Pantano says. “The addition of AFS Recycling allows us to internalize a significant portion of the waste collected by our team on Florida’s southwest coast.”

Privately owned and backed by a global equity fund, Coastal Waste & Recycling now has 23 locations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It offers residential, commercial, industrial and municipal waste and recycling services and has nearly 1,100 employees enacting 1.3 million service transactions each month.