Newsworthy

METALS

Novelis invests in automotive aluminum recycling capacity

The aluminum rolling and recycling firm Novelis, headquartered in Atlanta, has completed a $48 million investment at its automotive scrap recycling facility in Oswego, New York. The company says the project expands upon its recent growth in Oswego to meet increased demand for aluminum automotive sheet in North America.

The Oswego plant produces more than 1 billion pounds of high-quality aluminum sheet each year, Novelis reports, and represents the company’s first U.S. operation and is its largest wholly owned fabrication facility in North America.

The plant is equipped for aluminum scrap remelting, ingot casting and hot and cold rolling. The Oswego facility generates premium aluminum products used primarily by the beverage can, building and construction and automotive markets, as well as in multiple industrial product applications, Novelis says.

Including the completed recycling center, over the past five years, Novelis has invested more than $400 million in Oswego and hired more than 430 new employees, with nearly 250 additional jobs planned by the year 2020, according to the company.

The recycling investment includes an 81,000-square-foot building capable of processing, sorting and storing automotive scrap aluminum generated by the Oswego aluminum production plant, the company says. Additional investments were made in infrastructure improvements, such as road and parking upgrades to handle increased truck traffic.

“As the leader in automotive closed-loop recycling, one of our top priorities is to create a sustainable supply line between Novelis and automakers, which will preserve the aluminum’s value, reduce greenhouse gases and increase economic efficiencies for our customers,” says Marco Palmieri, senior vice president, Novelis, and president, Novelis North America. “This investment will help us meet new demands of automakers as they turn toward lightweight aluminum to create more fuel-efficient vehicles.”

The recycling facility features what Novelis calls its best-in-class scrap recovery and conversion technology. The company says its recycling center has been designed to meet the needs of North American automakers. When fully operational, the facility will process as much as 10,000 metric tons of scrap per month, Novelis says.

 

MUNICIPAL

Recycling Partnership awards grant to South Carolina city

Global packaging producer Amcor, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has joined Coca Cola, Alcoa and other industry partners as the Recycling Partnership—a collaborative, industry-funded effort designed to boost residential recycling in the U.S.—officially awards its first public grant to the city of Columbia, South Carolina. The funding will support the Recycling Partnership’s inaugural project in Columbia, where the city’s residential curbside recycling program will be modernized.

Amcor and its partners have invested $300,000 in the project in Columbia.

Amcor joined the Recycling Partnership in July 2014 and made the donation through the Amcor Community Program, which it says provides partnership grants to organizations that share the company’s passion for responsible packaging and helping people in need.

The Recycling Partnership has more than $1 million in funding available for its initial investments.

The Recycling Partnership was formed in 2014 and seeks to leverage grants and technical assistance to transform the U.S. curbside recycling system. Overseen by the Curbside Value Partnership (CVP), the Recycling Partnership seeks to seed partner dollars from companies and organizations to unlock substantially larger public investments in community recycling programs.

In addition to Amcor, funding partners for the Recycling Partnership include the Alcoa Foundation, the American Forest & Paper Association, the American Chemistry Council, the Association of Plastics Recyclers, Ball Corp., the Carton Council, Coca Cola, SPI the Plastics Industry Trade Association and Sonoco.

Amcor operates a manufacturing facility in nearby Blythewood, South Carolina.

Charlie Schwarze, global sustainability manager at Amcor Rigid Plastics, adds that the Recycling Partnership thinks it is important that the city also has financing from other sources, notably city and state funding, which will help to ensure long-term success.

Columbia is one of four cities joining the Recycling Partnership’s initial launch. Two of the cities also in the program include Richmond, Virginia, and Florence, Alabama. The fourth city will be announced later in 2015, the Recycling Partnership says.

With the financing, Columbia will convert from a bin-based to a cart-based recyclables collection program. As part of the program, 34,000 households will receive 96-gallon carts, technical assistance and recycling education/outreach.

The Recycling Partnership says projections show that cities receiving Recycling Partnership grants and technical assistance could realistically increase recovery of recyclables by more than 200 percent. The city of Columbia, specifically, says it expects to see a 500 percent increase in recovered material.

 

METALS

US Steel cuts production

U.S. Steel Corp., headquartered in Pittsburgh, has announced plans to temporarily adjust operations at its Lone Star Tubular Operations in Lone Star, Texas, and at its Fairfield Tubular Operations in Fairfield, Alabama. The company’s Fairfield Works plant, the primary flat-roll supplier of rounds to its Fairfield Tubular Operations, also will adjust its operations.

U.S. Steel says it has decided to idle production at these mills in response to softening market conditions in the energy sector. With oil prices steadily declining at the start of 2015, the domestic oil industry has scaled back drilling.

The company says it routinely adjusts production at its various facilities to reflect market fluctuations. The announced adjustment is a temporary reduction in operating levels and is not a full idling of plant operations, U.S. Steel adds.

 

MUNICIPAL

Republic Services acquires City Carton

City Carton Recycling of Iowa City, Iowa, which has seven facilities and a brokerage business operating in the Midwest, has been acquired by the waste management firm Republic Services, Phoenix.

The acquisition of City Carton, which is ranked by Recycling Today as one of the 20 largest paper recycling companies in the United States, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2015.

The Ockenfels family founded City Carton Co. in 1967.

The company currently operates several recycling plants, a document and product destruction division called Document Destruction & Recycling Services (DDRS) and a used recycling equipment division.

 

ELECTRONICS

ERI participates in ‘Person in Port’ program

Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), Fresno, California, hosted and helped train guests from around the world in January as part of the “Person in Port” program. The United Nations University (UNU), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Basel Convention Coordination Centre for Africa (BCCC) in Nigeria—each members of the Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) initiative—launched the program.

The StEP partners are teaming up with ERI to gather information and data on Nigeria’s importing of used electronics and e-scrap. Nigeria is one of the main countries in West Africa through which electronic scrap flows, the partners say.

The project focuses on identifying the types and amounts of e-scrap imported; its functional status; how it is packaged, labeled and transported; its origin (exporting countries); and what will become of it once it arrives in Nigeria.

To effectively prepare the analysts from the participating organizations, ERI hosted a series of educational training sessions, demonstrating best practices for the recycling of electronics, the company says.

“We were honored to provide the training for this important initiative,” says ERI Chairman and CEO John Shegerian. “The responsible recycling of electronics is an issue that knows no national borders in terms of importance. The planet’s increasing glut of electronic waste is a global problem that’s time for resolution is now. Properly disposing of electronic waste and the environmental hazards and digital privacy issues it presents has become the touchstone for a major industry with regional, national and international implications.”

ERI claims it is the world’s largest privately held recycler of electronics. The company is e-Stewards and R2 (Responsible Recycling Practices) certified to demanufacture and recycle electronics. ERI says it processes more than 275 million pounds of electronic scrap annually at eight locations.

 

PAPER

Atlantic Packaging forms joint venture with StandFast Packaging

Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd., Toronto, has formed a joint venture sheet feeder plant that will operate in Carol Stream, Illinois. The joint venture, called BlackHawk Corrugated, will be co-owned and operated by Atlantic and its partner StandFast Packaging, Addison, Illinois, and is expected to be fully operational by late 2015, Atlantic says.

Dave Boles, president at Atlantic, says, “As a privately held company with a strong balance sheet and a history of successfully greenfielding our own paper mills and corrugated plants in Canada, Atlantic is prepared to move quickly and offer new JV opportunities to independent box plants across several U.S. regions that will create multiple profit centers for our partners and a clear path to full vertical integration that the traditional sheet feeder models simply cannot support. We are not just looking for sheet supply contracts but are also seeking to build true partnerships that will thrive and grow with us in the U.S. markets.”

Boles says the decision to form the joint venture is partly in response to the consolidation taking place in the North American corrugated packaging market.

Assisting Atlantic with the joint venture is G2Capital Advisors, Boston, which is acting as Atlantic Packaging’s exclusive strategic advisor on executing its U.S. long-term growth initiative. Atlantic says the Chicago project is the first of what it expects to be several joint venture initiatives that it is developing in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

 

ELECTRONICS

Kuusakoski completes acquisition of Vintage Tech Recyclers

Kuusakoski Recycling, the U.S. subsidiary of a Finnish recycling firm, has signed an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of its joint venture partnership from Vintage Tech Recyclers Inc., headquartered in Romeoville, Illinois. The companies say the combination will merge processes with customer service expertise.

“Vintage Tech and Kuusakoski are an excellent strategic fit for our customers with the unique combination of great brands, processes and people,” says Karrie Gibson, Vintage Tech Recyclers founder and CEO. “This is the next planned step in combining Vintage Tech’s decade of customer service expertise, best-in-class collection infrastructure, asset management and OEM services with Kuusakoski Recycling’s state-of-the-art processing and materials management system and global reach.”

In a joint news release, the two companies say they will provide customers with a wider range of products and services, including:

• operations and supply chain capabilities that will be stronger and better positioned to drive quality service and efficient materials processing;
• a one-stop global resource for the electronic recycling and refurbishing needs of customers; and
• enhanced customer relationships and responsiveness caused by combining both companies’ sales, marketing, supply chain and customer service teams.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to take the next step in our partnership and continue on our growth journey for our business and people,” says Rich Hipp, Kuusakoski U.S. president and CEO. “The U.S. market is clearly under tremendous pressure.”

Kuusakoski U.S., Plainfield, Illinois, is a part of Finland’s Kuusakoski Recycling, which was established in 1914.

Vintage Tech Recyclers offers electronics recycling services from six U.S. locations: Romeoville and Plainfield, Illinois; Rancho Cucamonga, California; Riverside, Missouri; Canton, Michigan; and Philadelphia.

 

PLASTICS

Chinese company buys Wellman Plastics Recycling

Shanghai Pret Composites Co. Ltd., based in China, has announced plans to acquire Wellman Plastics Recycling LLC, Johnsonville, South Carolina, in an all-cash deal valued at more than $70 million.

The purchase includes all shares of Wellman Engineering Resins and DC Foam Recycle Inc.

According to several news reports, Pret Composites valued Wellman’s assets at $73.6 million, including $14.8 million in net assets, as of Sept. 27, 2014. The company’s sales reached $162 million in 2012, climbed to $164 million in 2013 and were $124 million for the first three quarters of 2014. Net profit was $7.6 million in 2013 and $6.1 million for the first three quarters of 2014.

Pret Composites, which was founded in 1993, manufactures composite materials for the automotive industry. According to an article in The State (Columbia, South Carolina), the company acquired Wellman Plastics in an effort to secure a presence in the U.S. auto compounding market.

The company owns three subsidiaries: Shanghai Pret New Chemical Material Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Pret New Material Co. Ltd. and Chongqing Pret New Material Co. Ltd., all located in China.

 

MUNICIPAL

GBB assists Fayetteville, North Carolina, with solid waste management study

The environmental consulting firm Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), Fairfax, Virginia, has been selected by the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of its solid waste management services. The contract includes a waste characterization study and a review of a potential waste-to-energy (WTE) project in Cumberland County.

GBB says it will perform an in-depth analysis comparing the city’s waste hauling services with neighboring municipal solid waste services and regional private waste hauling services. The analysis will include operational and equipment costs, services, efficiencies and customer service. A waste characterization study will identify the components of the waste sent for disposal and the materials source separated by residents for recycling.

The assignment will review potential regional waste programs, including regional collection efforts and estimated costs and institutional issues related to developing a WTE project with nearby jurisdictions. A mixed-waste-processing facility, which could serve to extract more recyclables from garbage while preparing a high-heating-value fuel for a WTE facility, also will be analyzed.

Fayetteville’s Environmental Services Department operates the collection of residential garbage, yard waste, bulky items, dead animals, cart repair and delivery and manages a curbside residential recycling collection contract. The city currently serves 61,000 single-family residential households, with private haulers serving commercial and multifamily community collections.

“Communities all across the U.S. have tremendous opportunities to seize synergies in their waste disposal activities. GBB will help the city of Fayetteville become one of them, through the development of sustainable, cost-effective waste disposal approaches that increase the city’s efficiency and its environmental stewardship,” says Bob Brickner, GBB executive vice president and project manager for the project.

“GBB has an interesting combination of national expertise and understanding of the solid waste management landscape in North Carolina,” says Jerry Dietzen, Fayetteville environmental services director. “They will provide analysis and recommendations to help the city make informed, long-term solid waste planning decisions regarding future sustainable solid waste programs, partnerships and operations.”

 

METALS

Nucor, Big River Steel go to court

Nucor Corp., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt construction of the Big River Steel (BRS) electric arc furnace steel mill being built in Osceola, Arkansas, which also is the company’s headquarters. The steel company says its complaint centers on the way BRS obtained an air permit for the project.

In its suit, Nucor claims that BRS failed to follow proper permitting requirements in obtaining the air permit and that emissions from the plant will hurt Nucor’s employees. Nucor operates a steel minimill in Blytheville, Arkansas, less than 20 miles from BRS’ site in Osceola.

BRS has filed a motion to dismiss Nucor’s suit.

According to an article by NPR affiliate KASU, State University, Arkansas, attorneys for BRS have filed a 50-page reply memorandum in support of a motion to dismiss the suit against BRS that argues that Nucor has already lost the case at the state permit level.

Martin Booher, a partner with the law firm Baker Hostetler, which represents BRS in the case, says, “Big River Steel has a valid permit and is proceeding with its construction activities as planned.”

 

METALS

Upstate Shredding CEO takes large stake in Metalico

Adam Weitsman, CEO of Upstate Shredding, an Owego, New York-based scrap metal processing firm, has purchased roughly 5.6 million shares of stock in Metalico Inc., a Cranford, New Jersey-based scrap metal processing company. With the purchase, Weitsman has a 9.5 percent stake in the company, making him the largest single shareholder.

Weitsman began purchasing shares in Metalico Jan. 6, 2015, buying 829 shares at a price of 29 cents per share. He continued to make purchases of Metalico stock on the open market, with the largest purchase, roughly 1.63 million shares, on Jan. 16 at a price of 50 cents per share.

Metalico has struggled with profitability over the past year. Reflecting these challenges, during comments made in conjunction with the release of the company’s third quarter 2014 results Nov. 14, 2014, Carlos Aguero, CEO of Metalico, said financial constraints had led the company to restructure some of its debt, resulting in some note holders having their debt converted into Metalico common stock.

Upstate Shredding, which Weitsman has grown into one of the largest privately owned scrap metal companies in the United States, has a significant presence in the Northeast, an area in which Metalico also has a substantial presence.

Upstate recently announced plans to build a heavy media plant at its Owego yard that will be housed in a new 20,000-square-foot building. The company says it expects the plant to be operational in mid-2015.

The heavy media plant will further process zorba, a shredded mix of nonferrous metals consisting primarily of aluminum generated by an eddy current separator or other segregation techniques, to separate the aluminum from other materials.

 

PAPER

RockTenn, MeadWestvaco announce merger

RockTenn Co., based in Norcross, Georgia, and MeadWestvaco Corp. (MWV), headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, have announced plans to merge their operations. The resulting consumer and corrugated packaging firm could be valued at $16 billion, the companies say.

The merger, announced Jan. 26, 2015, has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors and shareholders are expected to vote on the proposed merger, the companies say, with the deal to be completed by the end of the second quarter of this year. The name of the new company will be announced prior to the completion of the deal.

Under terms of the agreement, MWV stockholders will receive 0.78 shares of the newly formed company for each share of MWV presently held. RockTenn shareholders will be entitled to elect to receive either one share in the new company or the cash in an amount equal to the volume-weighted average price of RockTenn common stock during a five-day period ending three trading days prior to closing for each share of RockTenn held.

Steven Voorhees, RockTenn CEO, says, “This transaction brings together two highly complementary organizations to create a new, more powerful company with leadership positions in the global consumer and corrugated packaging markets.”

Voorhees will serve as CEO and president of the combined company; John Luke Jr., chairman and CEO of MWV, will become nonexecutive chairman of the board of directors. The merged company’s board of directors will comprise eight directors from RockTenn and six directors from MWV. Other key executives will be appointed and named prior to closing, the companies say. The combined company will maintain its principal executive offices in Richmond and will have operating offices in Norcross.

RockTenn operates 14 container plants, seven coated paper mills and four specialty mills. Additionally, the company operates roughly 30 recycling facilities, including trading offices in the United State and Europe. The company operates primarily in the North American market.

MWV is geographically diversified, with a sizable presence outside North America. The company, which has nearly 125 offices and facilities throughout the world, operates in 30 countries and earns about 30 percent of its revenue from emerging markets.

 

ELECTRONICS

Call2Recycle reaches new record in 2014

Call2Recycle Inc., a consumer battery stewardship organization based in Atlanta, reports that it has increased its total weight of material collected in 2014 for an 18th consecutive year.

Nearly 12 million pounds of batteries and cellphones were collected through Call2Recycle’s network in the United States and Canada in 2014. Last year’s amount contributed to the 100 million pound milestone achieved by Call2Recycle since its collection efforts first began in 1996.

According to Call2Recycle, its growth record confirms that residents on both sides of the border not only understand the importance of battery recycling but also are taking action. In fact, Canadians recycled more batteries in the first 10 months of 2014 than in all of 2013, the organization says. Meanwhile, the state of California, which collected more than 1 million pounds of batteries in 2014, led U.S. collections.

Among businesses, the manufacturing industry led in terms of collection, as Call2Recycle’s industry stewards participation (those who fund the program but also participate as collectors) were key drivers of growth in this segment, the group says.

Call2Recycle says it ensures that batteries and cellphones, which can contain valuable resources, are responsibly recycled to create new batteries and other products, thereby keeping potentially hazardous materials from entering the waste stream.

“Since we measure our success by weight, this latest year of growth is even more impressive given that consumer batteries are getting smaller, lighter and lasting longer than in previous years,” says Carl Smith, CEO and president of Call2Recycle.

Call2Recycle says educating consumers on the ease and importance of recycling batteries will continue to be a central theme this year. Approximately 90 percent of U.S. and Canadian residents live within 10 miles of one of Call2Recycle’s 34,000 drop-off locations.

The organization says that even as more batteries remain in products, such as laptops, for their full life cycle it has the framework in place to adapt to changes in the tech marketplace and to ensure that batteries of all shapes and life spans are properly recovered and processed.

 

MUNICIPAL, LEGISLATION & REGULATIONS

Maryland governor issues waste reduction goals

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has issued an executive order affirming statewide waste reduction goals, directing state government to increase recycling, composting and waste diversion and limiting new or expanded landfills to help drive innovation and achieve those goals.

“While we know that climate change is real, and Maryland is vulnerable, we also know that we can take steps to ensure the sustainability of our Maryland communities and our environment,” says O’Malley. “Today’s action is the right thing to do for our environment—and it creates opportunities for the jobs and business activity that we need to ensure the environmental and financial health of our communities. By limiting sources of waste, and by recycling, reusing and composting the remaining waste, we are creating a more sustainable world for our children and their children.”

The executive order, effective immediately, states:

• Maryland shall ensure that all waste generated in the state is increasingly reduced and reused rather than discarded in a manner adversely affecting residents’ health and the environment.
• Maryland shall have a goal of 85 percent waste diversion and 80 percent recycling by 2040. To ensure progress toward these statewide goals, state government shall have a mandatory recycling rate of 65 percent by 2020 and shall divert at least 60 percent of its organic waste through recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion by 2020.
• Maryland’s Department of the Environment (MDE) will create a source reduction checklist to track and encourage waste reduction. Additionally, in accordance with Maryland’s Green Purchasing Guidelines, state government shall consider source reduction in procurement, including by avoiding unnecessary packaging and returning reusable packaging to vendors.
• Except for permit applications submitted to the MDE before Jan. 19, 2015, the department will not issue a permit for any new municipal or land clearing debris landfill capacity in the state.
• MDE will provide local governments with information on alternatives to landfilling.

“This executive order will lead to a marked increase in the environmentally and economically productive reuse of solid waste in Maryland,” says David Costello, MDE acting secretary.

The order cites the steps and goals included in “Zero Waste Maryland: Maryland’s Plan to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Nearly All Waste Generated in Maryland by 2040.”

Statewide, an estimated 36 years of municipal landfill capacity remain at current disposal rates.

Composting of organic materials, including land clearing debris, is preferable to disposal because it generates a valuable product that improves soil quality and helps to control erosion, says the state.

Diverting material from disposal to reuse, recycling and composting results in more jobs—with more than 1 million additional jobs nationwide if the United States meets a recycling rate of 75 percent by 2030—according to the governor’s office.

The state’s zero-waste plan is available at www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Marylander/Documents/Zero_Waste_Plan_Draft_12.15.14.pdf.

 

METALS

Rexam partners with Indiana brewery

Rexam Beverage Can North America (Rexam BCNA), headquartered in Chicago, has partnered with Tin Man Brewing Co., based in Evansville, Indiana, to package the brewer’s craft beer in Rexam BCNA’s aluminum cans.

Tin Man Brewing says it is passionate about packaging its beers in aluminum cans. On the company’s hosted website, www.cansarebetter.com, Tin Man Brewing describes four reasons why the brewery packages its products in aluminum cans. When compared with glass packaging, according to Tin Man’s website, aluminum cans offer better protection from sunlight; are cheaper to ship because they are one-tenth the weight of glass bottles; can be distributed at more public events because they are unbreakable; and are cheaper to produce.

Rexam BCNA, a global beverage can manufacturer, operates 55 aluminum can plants in more than 20 countries worldwide.

 

METALS, ASSOCIATIONS

Metro Alloys joins ISRI’s Circle of Safety Excellence

The metals recycling company Metro Alloys Inc., East Point, Georgia, has been added to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Circle of Safety Excellence, an industry initiative focused on improving operational safety for recycling companies.

ISRI says the key to the new initiative is the establishment of a platform through which like-minded companies voluntarily come forward to share safety data and best practices for the betterment of their own operations. By taking this step, companies such as Metro Alloys are being recognized by ISRI for their commitment to safety.

Companies must apply annually for membership in the Circle of Safety Excellence.

“Employee safety must be embedded in a recycler’s day-to-day operations to be effective and its importance simply cannot be overstated,” says Neil Berman, president of Metro Alloys. “Our management team is always on top of safety issues and finding ways to improve how our employees can elevate their safety performance.”

In acknowledging the company’s safety record, Berman highlights Fleet and Safety Director Bobby Woljevach, who has been with Metro Alloys for more than 25 years. “He’s done a superb job working with our managers and employees.”