Newsworthy

> PLASTICS

Mohawk Industries to Expand Georgia Recycling Plant
The floor covering manufacturer Mohawk Industries, based in Calhoun, Ga., has announced plans to expand its Summerville, Ga., PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling plant. The company says it expects to add 500 jobs at the plant during the next five years.

“Mohawk is one of Georgia’s flagship Fortune 500 companies, and we are pleased to see its continued investments in our state leading to the creation of meaningful jobs in Summerville and other communities,” Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal says. “This expansion is a great indicator of the resilience of the carpet and floor covering industry.”

At its Summerville plant, Mohawk recycles billions of reclaimed plastic bottles and containers into polyester fiber that is used to produce carpet. Through the expansion project, Mohawk says it will improve the efficiencies of its recycling and manufacturing processes to produce more fiber to meet consumer demand.

Mark Dye, Mohawk vice president of recycling, says, “The men and women at our Summerville facility contribute significantly to the company’s success. We continue to invest in leading-edge technologies because of our confidence in the skills and dedication of our people. We anticipate the initial phase of the expansion will be operational in 2013 and we expect the manufacturing improvements to yield new, innovative products that will provide even more value to our customers.”

Dye adds, “We appreciate the support of leaders in the city of Summerville, Chattooga County and the state of Georgia that helped to make this expansion possible.”

 

> MUNICIPAL

Republic Services Opens MRF in Northern Florida
Republic Services, based in Phoenix, has opened its newest material recovery facility (MRF) in Jacksonville, Fla.

The facility has been designed to serve residents and businesses throughout a multi-county area, including Duval, St. Johns and west to Alachua and beyond, as well as areas of southern Georgia, the company says.

The Jacksonville MRF includes advanced sorting capabilities, such as magnets, screens and optical sorters, that are designed to allow the company to identify and separate different types of recyclables.

“This represents Republic Services’ commitment to Jacksonville and north Florida and our commitment to planet-friendly solutions,” says Andrew King, general manager of Republic Services. “Making recycling easy for residents and businesses means higher participation across the region and overall cost savings for the taxpayers and business owners.”

The 70,000-square-foot facility will be able to process more than 65,000 tons of recyclables per year. The facility was designed to allow for ease of expansion, according to Republic Services.

 

> METALS

Senator Calls for Safety Investigation into Railcars Transporting Loose Debris
New York Sen. Charles Schumer has called on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to launch a safety investigation into reports that uncovered freight cars are transporting loose debris on Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks that has damaged automobiles and ended up on private property.

Schumer calls for the FRA to require freight cars traveling through densely populated urban and suburban communities to cover cars carrying loose debris.

“The safety implications of uncovered debris traveling on commuter transit lines are too numerous to count,” Schumer says. “Whether it is damage to private property surrounding the tracks or potential obstruction on commuter rail lines that carry hundreds of thousands of people in and out of New York City every day, carrying loose debris uncovered in freight cars is a dangerous recipe for disaster and it must be stopped now.”

Schumer notes reports of at least two automobiles that were damaged by scrap metal that appeared to have been transported on LIRR tracks by freight train operators using uncovered cars.

He is calling on New York and Atlantic Railways to immediately enact a voluntary policy of covering open freight cars when traveling in highly populated areas. If the carrier refuses, Schumer wants the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the LIRR to require railcar covers as a requisite for continued use of the MTA’s rail lines.

 

> PAPER

RISI Acquires “Yellow Sheet”
RISI, a Boston-based global forest products industry information provider, has announced an agreement with Questex Media, Newton, Mass., to take over publishing of Official Board Markets (OBM, or the “Yellow Sheet”) from Questex. As well, RISI has announced it will take over the price benchmarking service (Bench$mart) and forecasting service (Fore$ight) from the consulting firm Moore & Associates, based in Atlanta.

“Bringing these products together under one roof with RISI’s existing forecast and price-reporting capabilities creates an opportunity for us to help the North American recovered paper and containerboard markets operate more efficiently through better market information and price reporting,” RISI CEO Mike Coffey says. “On the recovered paper side, we are working together with industry expert Bill Moore to analyze current challenges and conduct an industry dialogue to ensure a healthy system for reporting prices.”

Moore, president of Moore & Associates, says, “No company is better equipped than RISI to bring about the changes that are needed in this market. Their track record for independence, professionalism and transparency are what led me to partner with them to help build a better price reporting system.”

Moore also points to RISI’s global presence. “RISI has a global reach, and that was attractive to me. RISI can help improve our already strong benchmarking service and bring an improved product to the market.”

RISI operates offices throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.

RISI says that it will not make immediate changes to OBM, Bench$mart or Fore$ight but will instead initiate a dialog within the recovered paper and containerboard industries on how price and cost reporting can be improved, says Todd Petracek, RISI vice president of news, markets and prices.

“We are bringing an unprecedented group of resources to bear to help make our price coverage more transparent, accurate and reliable,” Petracek says. “Over the next three months we will solicit the feedback of players in the industry on our plans. We will then announce the final plan and a timetable for implementing our improvements.”

Those seeking more information or wishing to participate in the dialog on recovered paper and containerboard price discovery can visit www.risi.com/rcp-ctb.

Along with OBM, a weekly publication that includes news and prices for the containerboard, boxboard, recovered paper and corrugated sheets markets, RISI also is taking over the quarterly magazine Paperboard Packaging from Questex.

Fore$ight is a quarterly price forecasting service for old corrugated containers (OCC)/mixed paper (MP), No. 7/8 old newspapers (ONP)/No. 10 old magazines (OMG) and sorted office papers (SOP)/coated book stock (CBS). Bench$mart is a twice-yearly program that aggregates actual mill recovered paper purchase prices into regional averages and ranges that enable individual mills to benchmark their procurement performance.

RISI publishes the magazines Pulp & Paper and Pulp & Paper International. It’s parent company, London-based UBM, is a global media and business-to-business communications, marketing service and data provider.

 

> METALS

CMI Reports Success of its Annual Great American Can Roundup
The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), Washington, D.C., has reported that more than 4.5 million metal cans (UBCs) were collected for recycling by schools participating in the association’s Second Annual Great American Can Roundup.

The CMI is a national association of the metal can manufacturing industry. Combined, CMI members operate nearly 150 plants in 36 states.

More than 790 schools participated in the event, raising $100,591 for school activities and local charities. The program runs from Nov. 15 (America Recycles Day) to April 22 (Earth Day).

The CMI says approximately 66,000 students ran collection projects that recycled nearly 131,200 pounds of UBCs. CMI awarded $1,000 to the top school in each state that fulfilled all contest requirements. The national champion received an additional grand prize of $5,000.

Schools were judged on a per capita basis, comparing the number of cans recycled with the number of students participating. With a recycling rate of 70.49 pounds, Expedition Academy in Green River, Wyo., was the national champion for the second year running. Two Montana schools rounded up the top three: Fromberg High School, Fromberg, placed second, and Cascade High School, Cascade, placed third.

 

> MUNICIPAL

Aluminum Association Applauds Maryland Recycling Law
The Aluminum Association, Arlington, Va., is applauding a bill that Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law May 2, 2012, that aims to increase access to recycling for multifamily dwellings in the state.

Under the law, an apartment building or condominium containing more than 10 dwellings is required to make recycling available to residents.

Heidi Brock, president of the Aluminum Association, says, “Recycling is the easiest way for everyone to ‘go green’ in their daily lives, and we applaud those involved in the passage of this law. Access to recycling in multifamily units has been a regular challenge for recycling experts; this law will certainly increase the recycling rate and the long-term sustainability of Maryland.”

The measure was introduced in the Maryland House of Delegates by Stephen Lafferty. The Senate companion bill (S 308) was introduced by state Sen. Paul Pinsky.

 

> ELECTRONICS

John Zubick Ltd. Introduces Ezcycle Electronics Recycling Program
John Zubick Ltd., London, Ontario, Canada, has announced the opening of its new eZcycle electronics recycling program.

“According to the research, people are simply tossing old cell phones and computer components into the trash because they just don’t know what else to do with them,” the company’s Matt Zubick says. “Others recognize the problems with electronics in landfills, so they have these obsolete devices accumulating in their basements and store rooms. We hope eZcycle gives them an easy way to get rid of these hazardous materials responsibly. As it has been part of our mission since 1946, we want to make the environment greener for the coming generations.”

The eZcycle depot accepts computer components, TVs and monitors, cell phones and digital tablets, DVD players and sound equipment, business equipment and a wide range of household electronics, such as game boxes and smoke alarms.

To launch eZcycle, the company built a new collection depot outside the front gate of the John Zubick Ltd. recycling facility on Clarke Road. The depot features a large concrete base, lighting for around-the-clock visibility, security cameras and a series of specially built bins and pens constructed by Zubick staff.

“We designed this area so people will have a convenient, safe place to drop off their electronic waste any time they wish, day or night,” Zubick says. “They drive up without having to enter the main yard, drop off their e-waste and go.”

The custom, theft-proof bins are intended to protect personal data that remains on computer hard drives, cell phone SIM cards and even memory sticks until Zubick staff comes to remove the material, the company says. The material is then destroyed in a secure facility, so the data has no chance of resurfacing in refurbished devices in the future, the company adds.

Zubick says eZcycle is under the Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) umbrella.

 

> PLASTICS

US Fibers to Expand SC Plastics Recycling Plant
The South Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership has announced that US Fibers, a recycler of post-industrial and post-consumer PET (polyethylene terephthalate), will expand its recycling facility in South Carolina. The $10.1 million investment is expected to generate 85 new jobs in the state.

US Fibers is headquartered in Laurens County, S.C., where it also has a recycling plant.

Vice President of New Business Development Steve Zagorski says, “We continue to see demand grow for our recycled materials, and this expansion will help us better serve our customers. South Carolina continues to offer our company an excellent business environment, and we are pleased to continue making the Palmetto State our home.”

US Fibers will expand its polyester recycling operation in Trenton, S.C., which the company says will help position its entrance into new markets. Work on the expansion is expected to start in the third quarter.

US Fibers, a division of the Pac Tell Group Inc., supplies material to a wide range of industries, including nonwoven, automotive, filtration, construction and home furnishings.

Edward Oh, president and founder of US Fibers, says, “We are excited about the opportunity to grow our company while providing jobs in South Carolina and helping the local economy.”

 

> METALS

Western Metals Recycling Expands Salt Lake Facility
Western Metals Recycling (WMR), wholly owned by the Cincinnati-based metals recycling company David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ), has announced the opening of its expanded nonferrous metals recycling facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. The new 24,000-square-foot covered facility will offer the general public drive-through recycling service.

WMR, with nine locations in the West, describes itself as the largest full-service metals recycler in the Intermountain West region.

The new facility opened to the general public May 16, 2012.

WMR’s Salt Lake City facility is the main scrap supplier to Nucor Corp.’s Plymouth, Utah, steel mill. WMR’s Salt Lake City recycling center buys ferrous scrap as well as household nonferrous scrap, such as aluminum cans and other aluminum products, stainless steel, copper and brass products.

According to Dennis Schofield, WMR Salt Lake City plant manager, “We make it easy to recycle at our environmentally sound facility. This is a great way for community members to make money while helping to preserve and protect our environment.”

 

> ELECTRONICS

Extreme Recycling Receives e-Stewards Certification
The electronics recycling firm Extreme Recycling Inc., based in Placentia, Calif., has achieved the e-Stewards Certified Recycler designation.

According to the Seattle-based Basel Action Network, which is in charge of the e-Stewards program, the certification is awarded only to companies that meet stringent health and safety, data security, environmental and socially responsible standards and is the most comprehensive certification available.

“We are especially proud to bring such a high standard of electronics processing to the state of Kansas and Orange County, Calif.,” says Dino DeMarco, president of Extreme Recycling Inc.

“Extreme Recycling has always been concerned with locating responsible final dispositions for all materials handled at either facility. The e-Stewards certification program has allowed us to officially distinguish ourselves as a trustworthy and dependable e-waste recycling option for our customers and members of the general public.”

 

> MUNICIPAL

Republic Services to Update Two Missouri MRFs
The Phoenix-based waste management and recycling company Republic Services has announced plans to invest $19 million to update its recycling centers in Hazelwood, Mo., and Bella Villa, Mo., both located in St. Louis County. The company says it serves more than 200,000 households and 27,000 commercial and industrial accounts in the St. Louis area.

The enhancements include the addition of technology that will allow Republic Services to triple its recycling capacity to as much as 30 tons per hour.

“The improvements we’re making to our recycling centers in St. Louis allow us to meet current demand, and we’re adding capacity to accommodate even more recycling in the future,” says Tim Trost, Republic Services area president. “We want St. Louis to rethink waste and shift the paradigm to focus first on recycling and then send the material that remains to the landfill.”

 

> GLASS

CLRR to Open CRT Glass Recycling Plant in Ohio
Closed Loop Refining & Recovery (CLRR), headquartered in Phoenix, has announced plans to open a 275,000-square-foot facility in Columbus, Ohio, that will target the recycling of cathode ray tube (CRT) devices collected from throughout the Northeast and Midwest.

David Cauchi, president and COO of CLRR, says the company decided to open the new facility in Columbus after discussions with OEMs and the Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Co. (MRM) about the need for a facility to process glass from electronics throughout the eastern United States.

Cauchi says the goal of the Columbus plant is to take in 3,000 tons of material per month. While it will primarily recycle CRT devices, the company says it is considering accepting flat panel devices.

Construction on the facility began in late April, Cauchi says, with full operations expected to begin by the end of this summer.

The company’s process will yield three material streams: ferrous and nonferrous metal, nonleaded glass cullet and leaded glass cullet.

Cauchi says the Columbus facility will remove the lead from the leaded glass and market the cullet to a number of industrial applications.

CLRR currently operates a CRT-recycling facility in Arizona that the company says processes a significant number of CRTs from California and other West Coast locations.

 

> ELECTRONICS

Arrow Electronics Acquires Asset Recovery Corp.
Arrow Electronics, Englewood, Colo., has acquired Asset Recovery Corp., an electronic asset disposition (EAD) services provider based in St. Paul, Minn.

Asset Recovery offers EAD services, including data removal, data security, refurbishment and remarketing of electronic assets. The company’s customers are concentrated in the retail, manufacturing, health care, finance and transportation industries.

“We are excited to welcome the Asset Recovery team into the Arrow family,” says Paul Reilly, Arrow CFO and executive vice president, finance and operations. “This acquisition strengthens our industry-leading services portfolio and strategically expands our customer base in North America.”

Arrow serves industrial and commercial users of electronics and enterprise computing solutions.

 

> PLASTICS

Plastics Recycler to Open Second Plant in Tennessee
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TDECD) and the plastics recycling company The Highlands Group, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., have announced that Highlands Group plans to open a plastics recycling plant in Elizabethton, Tenn. The new plant will create an estimated 34 manufacturing jobs at the new location.

The Highlands Group, founded in 1988, currently has a production facility in Johnson City, Tenn. The new plant can accommodate machinery that the Johnson City facility was unable to house.

“After continual success and growth at our Johnson City, Tenn. facility, we made the decision to open an additional facility,” says Jeff Wade, owner of The Highlands Group. “We decided to stay in East Tennessee, because of our long-time employees, transportation and the building that could accommodate the large equipment and ability for future expansion.”

 

> PLASTICS

Alpine Waste & Recycling Now Accepts Rigid Plastics
Alpine Waste & Recycling, Commerce City, Co., has started accepting mixed rigid plastics for processing at its Altogether Recycling plant in Denver. Alpine claims that it is the first company in the Denver area that actively solicits mixed rigid plastics for recycling and that the action is in keeping with Alpine’s emphasis on innovation.

“Alpine Waste & Recycling is constantly looking for innovative ways to divert material away from landfills,” Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling for Alpine, says. “We go to great lengths to find markets for these odd materials and then process them in our plant.”

Mixed rigid plastics made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) include heavy, over-sized items such as lawn furniture, 5-gallon buckets, pallets and even dog houses and small sheds (all metals must be removed).

Alpine, which recently expanded its Denver recycling plant, says it is able to handle the heavy plastics because of the company’s long pre-sort line. Alpine also has an open layout and chutes built into the line with the capacity to handle ample amounts of plastics.

 

> PLASTICS

URRC Takes Stake in IRG
The plastics recycling firm United Resource Recovery Corp., based in Spartanburg, S.C., has taken a stake in International Recycling Group LLC (IRG), New York.

IRG, a subsidiary of GreenSteel LLC, is pursuing a goal of 100 percent utilization of plastic scrap by separating PET (polyethylene terephthalate), HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and other plastics from nonrecyclable plastic scrap streams. The company will convert the nonrecyclable portion of these material streams into a reducing agent for the steel industry.

According to a statement by the company, the use of economically nonrecyclable plastic scrap as a reducing agent for the steel industry eliminates landfilling of end-of-life plastics, reduces coal mining, lowers greenhouse gas emissions and drives higher recovery rates of recyclable plastics for conversion back into finished products.

IRG’s partnership with URRC provides IRG with access to URRC’s proprietary UnPET food-grade PET recycling technology. The arrangement will allow IRG to provide a home for tens of millions of pounds of sorted recycled PET plastic it expects to process at its future PolyCoke facilities, the company says.

IRG is currently developing plants dedicated to manufacturing PolyCoke by sourcing plastic scrap that cannot be economically recycled and would otherwise enter the landfill. According to a spokesman for IRG, the company hopes to have its first facility built in the Midwest.

URRC has developed patented and proprietary technologies for plastics recycling. The company says it has licensed the technology for client processes in eight locations around the world.

 

> METALS

Metal Recycling Services Acquires State Line Scrap Metal
Metal Recycling Services (MRS), a company wholly owned by The David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ), has purchased the assets and business of State Line Scrap Metal. MRS, headquartered in Crescent Springs, Ky., operates a processing facility that includes an auto shredder as well as two feeder yards in North Carolina.

State Line Scrap Metal, founded in 1991, operates a scrap processing facility, including an automobile shredder, at a facility in Gastonia, N.C., and a feeder yard in Marion, N.C.

According to DJJ, the addition of the two locations is part of MRS’ growth strategy and demonstrates DJJ’s commitment to expanding its existing regional recycling platforms.

 

> METALS

Honda Motors, Japan Metals & Chemicals Establish Rare Earth Metals Recycling Project
Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and the Japan Metals & Chemicals Co. Ltd. have announced the establishment of what they are calling the world’s first process to extract rare earth metals from used parts in Honda products in mass production.

As of April 2012, Honda and Japan Metals & Chemicals began extracting rare earth metals from used nickel-metal hydride batteries collected from Honda’s hybrid vehicles at Honda dealers.

Honda had been applying a heat treatment to used nickel-metal hydride batteries and recycling nickel-containing scrap as a raw material for stainless steel. However, the successful stabilization of the extraction process at Japan Metals & Chemicals’ plant made the extraction of rare earth metals with purity as high as that of newly mined and refined metals in a mass-production process, the companies say.

 

> MUNICIPAL

New Mexico County Approves Bond for Recycler
The Bernalillo County, N.M., County Commission has approved a $16 million industrial revenue bond (IRB) for Friedman Recycling of Albuquerque LLC, an affiliate of Phoenix-based Friedman Recycling, to build a single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Albuquerque, N.M.

The company plans to build a 70,000-square-foot MRF in Albuquerque that will be fully operational by the first quarter of 2013, says David Friedman with Friedman Recycling.

The company was awarded a 12-year contract with the city of Albuquerque to process the city’s recyclables in November 2011.

Friedman Recycling will invest $19.5 million in the MRF. The company had requested as much as $16 million in IRB inducement with an abatement rate set at 70 percent.