Equipment report

Combined Resources installs Weima shredder

Combined Resources, a recycling company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, has boosted production at its Nashville plant by updating its shredding equipment.

The company’s new shredder from Weima, based in Fort Mill, South Carolina, has increased its throughput, according to Combined Resources President Steve Ollech.

Ollech says, “Originally, I had purchased another brand of shredder, and it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do. Since we’ve replaced that shredder with a Weima machine, we’ve seen an increase in throughput, we’ve had significantly fewer problems and it is much easier to maintain.”

The new shredder, a Weima WLK 18 Jumbo, is being used to shred books, roll stock, slab scrap, signatures/skeleton scrap, paper cores and old corrugated containers (OCC) that Combined Resources purchases from area printers. The shredded material is sent to paper mills, where it is repulped and made into tissues and napkins.

The Weima WLK 18 Jumbo has a 19-inch-diameter rotor. It is fed by a pit conveyor and discharges to a reversible horizontal conveyor, which allows Combined Resources to separate various material streams.

Weima says Combined Resources has seen its throughput rate increase to 63 tons annually with the addition of the new shredder.

“This was by far the best buy of the decade for my operation,” Ollech says of the Weima WLK 18 Jumbo.

More information is available at www.weima.com/usa.

Athens Services opens mixed-waste MRF in Southern California

City of Industry, California-based Athens Services has opened a new 80,000-square-foot material recovery facility (MRF) in Sun Valley, California, that is designed to process more than 330,000 tons of mixed waste yearly.

Construction began in October 2013, and the MRF began accepting materials in mid-October 2014.

The Sun Valley MRF represents a $50 million investment by Athens Services and features optical sorting and diversion technologies. The MRF, which will accept 1,500 tons of material per day, was designed to meet Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) specifications. (The MRF is awaiting certification.) The building will be powered with 200 kilowatts (KW) of rooftop solar power. LEED features include lighting and cooling efficiency measures, bicycle racks and lockers, electric vehicle charging stations and low-volatile-organic-compound (low-VOC) building materials.

The 70-ton-per-hour mixed-waste MRF was designed, engineered, manufactured and installed by Eugene, Oregon-based Bulk Handling Systems (BHS). Among the equipment used to separate commodities from the waste stream is a BHS disc screen, Nihot air separation equipment and NRT (National Recovery Technologies) optical sorting technology.

“Athens Services believes strongly in investing in the latest technologies to improve our processes and ensure the diversion of as much waste as possible from area landfills,” says Greg Loughnane, president, Athens Services. “Whether that be building new ultramodern facilities or upgrading existing ones, we keep our finger on the pulse of the latest advancements in the industry.”

“This facility is an example of a forward-thinking company deploying advanced technology to extract maximum value from the waste stream,” says BHS CEO Steve Miller.

Athens says it maintains the largest recycling infrastructure of any company operating in the Southern California market. With the addition of this new facility, Athens Services will have 2 million tons annually of municipal solid waste (MSW) processing capacity.

“Athens’ growth in the region is testament to the city’s commitment to achieve zero waste,” Loughnane says. “We don’t own any landfills. Our focus has always been exclusively on responsible waste collection and investing in the newest technologies to recover as much material as possible for other uses.”

International Baler adds to dealer network

International Baler Corp., Jacksonville, Florida, and Randy Gibson, its director of sales and marketing, have announced the addition of Top Seal Packaging of Joplin, Missouri, and Waste 2 Solutions of Brunswick, Georgia, to the company’s family of dealers.

Top Seal will serve Missouri and western Arkansas.

“Top Seal Packaging brings with it over 20 years of experience in the recycling industry and shares International Baler’s philosophy of making customer service its first priority,” Gibson says.

Top Seal’s Tom Backes, Corey Conner or Patricia Byerly can be reached at 417-781-5200, while parts and service requests can be directed to Byerly at pat@topsealpackaging.com.

Waste 2 Solutions is a new company formed by Sidney and Sid Wildes, formerly of IPS Balers. The company will represent International Baler in the Southeast.

“Sidney and Sid Wildes bring more than 53 years of recycling knowledge and service capability as well as sharing International Baler’s philosophy of making customer service their first priority,” Gibson says.

Sidney can be contacted at 912-278-0290, while Sid can be contacted at 912-278-2093.

More information about International Baler Corp. and its product line can be found at www.intl-baler.com.

Modernized Quebec MRF doubles capacity

Québec City, Quebec, says it has modernized its material recovery facility (MRF) to meet a growing volume of material. The modernization effort was a collaboration between Quebec City, Société VIA (the MRF operator) and equipment manufacturer Machinex, Plessisville, Quebec.

The modernized facility began operating last spring and processes 35 metric tons of recyclables per hour, producing high-quality materials, according to Machinex. David Marcouiller, project manager at Machinex, says the initial modernization phase has allowed Société VIA to double its capacity and improve the effectiveness of the MRF.

Glass is removed early in the process with the OCC (old corrugated containers) disc screen separator and the scalping screen, helping to prevent premature equipment wear and decreasing glass contamination in fiber bales, Machinex says.

The MACH ballistic separator, placed toward the end of the system, has reduced rejects and has increased the rate of fiber recovery, the company adds.

A feed drum is designed to provide a constant flow of material to the sorting system, while a bag opener and an aspiration system enable better management of plastic bags, Machinex says. The system also includes disc separators to recover newsprint and presorting and quality control stations.

“We are very pleased with the offer made by Machinex and with their support all along the way,” says M. Stephan Bugay, director of the Division of Residual Materials Management of the Quebec City Department of Public Works.

On the operator’s side, M. Jean-Sébastien Daigle, vice-president of operations at Société VIA, comments, “We are highly satisfied of the whole project, and the results are conclusive.”

Machinex says it has designed and installed more than 300 turnkey facilities in partnership with MRF operators in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Liebherr expands partnership with Reco Equipment

Liebherr Construction Equipment Co., Newport News, Virginia, has announced that RECO Equipment Inc., headquartered in Belmont, Ohio, has acquired Republic Crane LLC, with locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Florence, Kentucky. As per the agreement with Liebherr, these new locations will now sell and service the full line of Liebherr contract earthmoving and material handling product lines.

“I am extremely excited about what this means for our customers and our business,” says Reed Mahany, president of RECO Equipment. “Priority No. 1 is to continue to provide uninterrupted, best-in-class parts, service and sales support.”

RECO Equipment Inc. was founded in 1983 in Morristown, Ohio, and presently has 14 locations, employs more than 150 people and deploys a modern service fleet of more than 60 full-service trucks and 30 support vehicles. The company is an established Liebherr dealer representing the full product line at multiple locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana since 1994.

“As we continue our partnership with RECO Equipment Inc., we look forward to working to build on our success with this expanded territory,” says Peter Mayr, president of Liebherr Construction Equipment Co.

In other Liebherr news, Nueces Power Equipment of Corpus Christi, Texas, has accepted dealer sales and service responsibility for the full line of Liebherr earthmoving and material handling equipment for the San Antonio and Austin, Texas, markets.

Nueces has been serving the construction and heavy equipment industry for more than two decades. It operates seven locations across South Texas.

American Baler adds two dealers

Tade Mahoney, director of sales and marketing at American Baler Co., Bellevue, Ohio, has announced the addition of two companies to the company’s dealer network.

Greg Matheson and his colleagues at Recycle Systems of Kirkland, Washington, bring many years of baler sales and service experience in the Northwest U.S., while Mike McChrystal and his team at Ohio Baler Co., Cleveland, will assume responsibility for Ohio, Detroit, eastern Kentucky, western Pennsylvania and western New York.

“The addition of these two well-respected dealers will greatly increase our visibility in the marketplace,” Mahoney says.