Equipment report

Pratt Industries opens new MRF in Conyers, Georgia

Conyers, Georgia-based Pratt Industries opened its new material recovery facility (MRF) in Conyers Sept. 17, 2015. The system was engineered to recover mixed fiber, though it has the flexibility to process single-stream and commercial and industrial material, as well as commercial OCC (old corrugated containers).

According to Plessissville, Quebec-based Machinex, the equipment supplier, the system offers the flexibility to route the input stream differently based on operator preferences.

Originally designed to process material at a rate of 25 to 30 tons per hour (TPH), the system has since been tested at more than 32 TPH, Machinex says. The system also is capable of recovering certain nonrecyclables for use in Pratt’s gasification plant on the same campus.

The system is equipped with Machinex’s latest technologies, including a MACH Ballistic Separator and three MACH Hyspec optical units to sort PET (polyethylene terephthalate), HDPE (high-density polyethylene), fiber and aseptic packaging.

Pratt’s new Conyers MRF also includes a shredder, a heavy-light separator, three ferrous magnets, two nonferrous separators, a drum feeder, a back-scraping drum and a truck loading station.

Rusty Angel, Machinex sales manager, observes, “We are pleased to have Pratt as a partner and congratulate them on such an important piece that helps them achieve their corporate goals.”

Buhler Sortex and NRT collaborate on plastics sorting system

Buhler Sortex, a London-based subsidiary of The Buhler Group, headquartered in Switzerland, and Nashville, Tennessee-based National Recovery Technologies (NRT) are entering a strategic commercial agreement to offer plastics recyclers a complete solution for plastic bottle and flake sorting. The move comes, the companies say, as demand for plastic sorting solutions continues to soar. The companies say they bring together more than 100 years of combined expertise in optical sorting, giving recyclers access to their proven technologies, engineering expertise and extensive customer service and support networks.

The partnership between Buhler Sortex and NRT marks a further milestone in their continuing expansion in the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) sorting segment across Europe and North America. The companies offer such technologies as In-Flight Sorting, PET Boost, Label Reduction Kit and Smart-Eject.

Charith Gunawardena, head of optical sorting at Buhler Sortex, says, “This landmark agreement signifies our confidence in the future growth of recycling. It also strengthens our industry references and reinforces our leading role in optical sorting while demonstrating our commitment to providing customers with a complete bottle and flake sorting solution from two trusted leaders in their field.”

With an extensive service support network in all major recycling markets, the companies say plastics recyclers can depend on a comprehensive Buhler Sortex and NRT support network built on solid foundations of technology and service excellence. The network also will provide access to both companies’ wide range of capabilities, including system design, on-site management, installation and product training.

Matthias Erdmannsdoerfer, president of NRT, says, “This significant partnership agreement is further acknowledgement of our commitment to supply and service leading plastics recyclers with a full portfolio of leading bottle and flake sorting equipment. We’re excited to bring the industry’s first complete offering to market that doesn’t require a plastics recycler to compromise on bottle or flake sorting performance and provides high-quality, local support.”

US Shredder partners with A Fines Solution

The U.S. Shredder and Castings Group, Miramar Beach, Florida, and A Fines Solution, Pompano Beach, Florida, have partnered to supply and finance nonferrous recovery systems. U.S. Shredder has been a supplier of nonferrous systems throughout the past decade, while A Fines Solution began offering its systems in 2012.

Bill Tigner, president of U.S. Shredder, says, “We receive calls all the time from shredder operators who realize they are missing nonferrous metals due to the fact that they are operating only two or even one eddy current in their system or perhaps a sensor. However, due to market conditions or other factors, they are just not ready to make the investment for the equipment to recover what they are missing.”

Sam Jacobs, president of A Fines Solution, says, “In conversations with U.S. Shredder, we realized there were a lot of their customers who were delaying adding equipment even though they knew they were sending valuable nonferrous metals to the landfill. We thought that a concerted effort between U.S. Shredder and A Fines Solution would fill a key void in the marketplace for this kind of affordable solution.”

The companies say that for the program to be viable, auto shredder operators must be producing certain volumes of material. An analysis of ASR (auto shredder residue) content also is necessary.

Safety Today streamlines order process with new iPad app

Safety Today Inc., a Cleveland-based provider of safety solutions, has supplied its sales force with a new iPad app to help streamline the buying process. The company says it worked with developers to customize software for its business model, and its salespeople can use the app on client visits to create immediate product quotes, speeding up the ordering process. Sample requests for new products also are placed in real time, the company says.

The app mirrors Safety Today’s website, including detailed item descriptions and product information sheets; however, the app requires no Internet connection for operation, the company says. A content library contains customer reports, safety audit and survey results, marketing materials, training tools and more.

“This iPad app is a tool that gives the customer and our salesperson the opportunity to work together in real time, without waiting for an email or a return phone call from customer service,” says Tony Spearing, vice president of Safety Today.

Brady purchases ScrapRunner from Enaptive Inc.

London-based Brady plc, a global provider of trading, processing and risk-management solutions for metals, recycling, energy and soft commodities, has acquired the assets and goodwill of the ScrapRunner product from Enaptive Inc., Jacksonville, Florida. ScrapRunner is a recycling industry dispatch system that has been operating since 2003. Its clients are based throughout North America and Europe.

Brady says its expertise in recycling and scrap industry solutions combined with ScrapRunner’s strength in dispatch solutions creates an excellent platform to drive further revenue growth. The company has reported it will pay $2 million for ScrapRunner, with the majority to be paid in cash on completion. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2015, Brady says.

ScrapRunner’s unaudited draft accounts for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, show revenue of $2 million, 62 percent of which is recurring, generating a before-tax profit of $694,000.

Brady says its directors believe the acquisition has “a compelling strategic, commercial and financial rationale,” in particular:

• The ScrapRunner solution manages complex container pickup and delivery scheduling, tracks the location of containers and tracks and reports on the activity and location of trucks using global position system (GPS). These abilities will broaden Brady Recycling’s product and facilitate further growth.
• ScrapRunner has more than 70 clients and drivers using 1,943 hand-held applications with fleet sizes ranging from one to 500 trucks.
• ScrapRunner can be licensed for on-site hosting by the customer or licensed on a recurring revenue, software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. Currently, approximately 30 customers are using the SaaS solution, which will be the ongoing license model.
• The two companies have 14 common clients, including nine of the top 10 North American recycling companies.

Gavin Lavelle, Brady CEO, says, “The U.S. scrap market is worth $100 billion in turnover, and 50 percent of this is already transacted using Brady software, with seven of the top 10 recycling companies using Brady. We believe recycling represents a significant opportunity for Brady and are confident that the combined ScrapRunner / Brady group can increase our global market share even further.”

Sennebogen expands German port and production facility

Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH of Germany reports it is expanding the production, warehouse and shipping areas at its Plant II facility at the port of Straubing in Germany by roughly 377,000 square feet, and adding a 4,000-square-foot production facility for the assembly and painting of large components and for finishing work.

With the investment, Sennebogen says it is preparing for future projects and expanding its capacity to produce large machines.

Plant II, opened in 2008, is used primarily to manufacture and test large machines, as well as to prepare them for worldwide shipping.

The expansion is to occur in two construction phases, beginning in mid-2015.

Managing Director Erich Sennebogen comments, “As a family-owned company, we feel committed to long-term planning and to adjusting our production facilities to the market requirements of the future. This plant extension ensures optimized logistics, enhanced reliability and an even better working environment for our team.”

During the first phase, Sennebogen says it will pave areas for the technical approval of telescopic cranes and rope excavators, noise metering and machine and component shipping.

Construction has begun to expand the site and to add a warehouse and shipping area.

The company says the site will feature a specially adapted 180-metric-ton Sennebogen 5500 crawler gantry crane. Trucks will be able to pass under the crane for safer, faster loading, Sennebogen says.

During phase two, scheduled to begin in mid-2016, Sennebogen says it will add a 4,000-square-foot assembly and paint shop with additional space for finishing work and quality control.

“The market is trending toward customization and larger machines,” observes Managing Director Walter Sennebogen. “Long-term investments like these are therefore necessary to meet future market requirements in an optimal manner,” he adds.

Bay Counties Waste Services retrofits mixed waste MRF

According to a news release issued by San Diego-based CP Group, Bay Counties Waste Services (BCWS) of Sunnyvale, California, has retrofitted the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer (SMaRT) Station’s municipal solid waste (MSW) processing system.

The material recovery facility (MRF) was originally installed in 2009, and the retrofit, designed to increase recovery of containers, was completed by the CP Group in six weeks.

The system receives approximately 760 tons of MSW, 126 tons of green waste and 82 tons of residential curbside material daily, CP Group states.

“The retrofitted system has increased our recovery rates dramatically for all of our commodities while maintaining our material quality,” according to Jeff Nabhan, BCWS facilities manager at the SMaRT Station.

The retrofit has enabled BCWS to increase the recovery of organics by 65 percent, of previously missed aluminum cans by 98.8 percent and of previously missed PET (polyethylene terephthalate) by 97.9 percent, the CP Group reports.

Omneya Salem, senior manager of project management and engineering for CP Group, says, “Bay Counties placed a lot of trust in CP’s approach.

“I’m happy to be part of the team that met and exceeded those initial client expectations,” Salem adds.

The retrofit included installation of two new CP screens on the MSW line for the separation of 2D paper, films and residue from 3D containers and bulky waste.

A MSS Cirrus optical sorter was installed on the container line to identify and recover PET, HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and Nos. 3-7 plastics, CP Group says.

The system’s operations interface was improved, and the new CPScreens were integrated with the existing MSW line, according to the equipment supplier.

New controls were implemented on the container line by CP Group’s electrical division, Advanced MRF.