Recycling Superheros are Everywhere

<p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">On America Recycles Day in 2009, the city of Greenville, N.C., unveiled a campaign challenging residents to increase their recycling with the help of the </span></span><a href="http://www.recyclecurbside.org/"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">Curbside Value Partnership</span></span></a><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial"> (CVP). According to the city&rsquo;s data, recycling increased by 10.4 percent when compared to the same time frame (December 2009 through March 2010) a year earlier.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">The campaign reminded residents about recycling basics, such as acceptable materials, through direct mailers, utility bill inserts, ads in various local media and a traveling recycling trailer that made appearances throughout the city. A new Web page, www.RecycleMoreGreenville.org, was created to give residents further information about the city&rsquo;s recycling program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">Wes Anderson, director of public works for the city of Greenville, says, &ldquo;An increase of more than 10 percent over just four months tells me that the education campaign helped to increase resident&rsquo;s awareness of the products that can be recycled.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">CVP, a national invitation-only recycling program of Stamford, Conn.-based </span></span><a href="http://www.kab.org/"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">Keep America Beautiful (KAB)</span></span></a><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">, partnered with the city of Greenville and KAB affiliate, Keep Greenville Beautiful, as well as the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources&rsquo; Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA). The groups launched a localized campaign to increase awareness of recycling and to promote the ease of the Greenville recycling program. While the campaign remains active in Greenville, CVP evaluated the first four months of the effort to determine its effect.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Arial">Steve Thompson, program director for the Curbside Value Partnership, says, &ldquo;Our hope is that the residents of Greenville sustain the momentum, continue to be diligent recyclers and even take their recycling efforts to the next level.&rdquo;</span></span></p>

Yet more good news for the Anaerobic Digestion process as this is bound to mean promotion of the use of the process, so here is the full news release:

New EU Commission Strategy Announced to get Even More from Bio-waste

The European Commission today laid out steps to improve the management of bio-waste in the EU and tap into its significant environmental and economic benefits.

Bio-degradable garden, kitchen and food waste accounts for 88 million tonnes of municipal waste each year and has major potential impacts on the environment. But it also has considerable promise as a renewable source of energy and recycled materials.

Today’s Communication promotes actions to unlock this potential by making the best use of existing legislation while giving Member States discretion to choose the options best suited to their individual circumstances. Supporting initiatives at EU level will also be necessary.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "We already have a significant body of legislation governing bio-waste in the EU. But through better implemention and enforcement, we can squeeze even more benefit from bio-waste. This will not only help in the fight against climate change: producing good quality compost and biogas will contribute to healthy soil and slow biodiversity loss."

Bio-waste is an untapped potential

A Commission assessment has identified significant environmental and economic benefits from improved management of bio-waste in the European Union.

Today’s Communication lays out recommendations on the way forward to reap these benefits in full. The most promising approaches include the prevention of bio-waste and biological treatment with the production of compost and biogas.

The main environmental threat from bio-waste is the production of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. If biological treatment of waste was maximized, the most visible and significant benefit would be avoided greenhouse gas emissions – estimated at around 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2020.

About one-third of the EU's 2020 target for renewable energy in transport could be met by using biogas produced from bio-waste, while around 2% of the EU's overall renewable energy target could be met if all bio-waste was turned into energy.

Good quality compost and digestate from anaerobic digestion would improve resource-efficiency by partially replacing non-renewable mineral fertilizers as well as by maintaining the quality of EU soils.

Full implementation of existing policies supported by improved bio-waste management should deliver environmental and economic benefits estimated at between €1.5 and €7 billion, depending on the ambition of recycling and prevention policies.

Priority actions

According to the Commission's analysis there are no policy gaps at EU level that could prevent Member States from taking appropriate action. Progress achieved in several Member States shows that existing waste legislation is an excellent basis for advanced bio-waste management. For this, the available tools need to be used to their full potential and rigorously enforced where necessary in all Member States.

Priority actions include rigorous enforcement of the targets on diverting bio-waste away from landfills, proper application of the waste hierarchy and other provisions of the Waste Framework Directive to introduce separate collection systems as a matter of priority.

Supporting initiatives at EU level – such as developing standards for compost – will be crucial to accelerate progress and ensure a level playing field across the EU. This will involve specific guidance and indicators for bio-waste prevention with possible future binding targets, as well as compost standards and guidelines on the application of life cycle thinking and assessment in the waste sector.

Bio-waste management in the Member States

Member States have vastly diverging national policies for bio-waste management, ranging from little action in some Member States to ambitious policies in others.

The environmental and economic benefits of different treatment methods for bio-waste depend on local conditions such as population density, climate and infrastructure.

Composting and anaerobic digestion offer the most promising environmental and economic options for bio-waste that cannot be prevented. However, an important pre-condition is good quality input to these processes. In the majority of cases this would be best achieved by separate collection of bio-waste.

Highly efficient systems based on separating various streams of bio-waste already exist in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Cataluña in Spain and certain regions in Italy.

The Communication on bio-waste is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/compost/index.htmVisit the Anaerobic Digestion Community web site, for the growing buzz around biogas digesters.

<p>Resource Exchange of America Corp. has entered into an equal partnership with Florida-based Paw Materials Inc. to sell ferrous scrap.</p> <p>According to an SEC filing, Resource Exchange has agreed to provide the enterprise resource planning system software, all financing machines and software, as well as find buyer and negotiate sale pricing for all ferrous products that PAW will separate and store as defined by the ERP software. The gross profits shall be split equally between the Company and Paw Materials.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Mountain Valley Recycling (MVR), announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to produce its recycled polypropylene (PP) and recycled polystyrene (PS) resins for use in thermoformed or injection molded articles for contact with non-alcoholic food. The resins, which are approved for up to 100 percent recycled content, have comparable performance qualities compared to virgin PP and PS.</p> <p>&ldquo;Receiving FDA clearance for the use of MVR recycled polypropylene and polystyrene in food contact applications is a big step forward for MVR, our packaged goods customers who have been demanding it and the environment,&rdquo; says Ronald Whaley, president and CEO of MVR. &ldquo;This clearance expands our potential market by allowing us to meet the need of our customers and the increasing demands of consumers for environmentally-friendly food packaging and other products and helps to prevent the buildup of plastic waste in landfills.&rdquo;</p> <p>MVR produces recycled polypropylene and polystyrene resins from scrap plastic waste supplied by retailers through a process of sorting, washing, drying and extruding. By the end of 2010 MVR plans to have the capacity to manufacture 90 million pounds of post consumer recycled resin annually.</p> <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Canada-based company Cascades has broken ground on a project that will produce recycled pulp from old corrugated containers (OCC). In an announcement May 31, Alain Lemaire, president and CEO of Cascades, Mario Plourde, president and COO of Cascades Specialty Products Group, and Robert Roy, mayor of East Angus, broke ground on the $10 million dollar investment at the company&rsquo;s East Angus, Quebec, mill. The investment will be used to build a recycled pulp unit that will enable the company to produce kraft type recycled pulp.</p> <p>A new building will be added to the premises to house a pulper, loading platforms and a warehouse for recovered fiber. When operational, the facility is expected to be able to convert more than 200 metric tons of OCC into recycled pulp a day. This integration will allow the company to increase the recycled content of its kraft papers from 43 percent to 70 percent.</p> <p>&quot;The East Angus plant initiated a shift a few years ago towards products that were more respectful of the environment. The integration of recycled content and obtaining FSC certification were some of the actions that were implemented, but also the reduction of water and energy consumption,&rdquo; says Plourde. &ldquo;Whether it is for the production of envelopes, bags, packaging or construction products, Cascades kraft papers will better serve its diversified customers by offering eco-friendly advantages.&rdquo;</p> <p>The OCC used at the facility will come from the company's sorting centers. &ldquo;This investment integrates perfectly with our desire to include maximum recycled fiber content in our products, says Lemaire. &ldquo;It is an effective way of reusing local materials that would have probably ended up in a landfill site, while ensuring the longevity of the plant.&rdquo;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" align="left" width="302" height="72" src="/FileUploads/image/harscologo4(1).jpg" />Harsco Corp. announced that its Harsco Metals business has secured two new orders in the United States that total close to $40 million. The orders include slag processing and onsite environmental services.</p> <p>Harsco Metals is returning to Severstal&rsquo;s Warren, Ohio, steel mill under a five-year contract where it will undertake onsite slag handling, scrap recovery and material handling in support of the mill's recently resumed production. Harsco Metals was involved with services at that mill site for 60 years until the mill closed in 2008 due to the slumping economy. The mill resumed production in March 2010. The steel mill produces custom, alloy and ultra strength steel products. The contract also calls for Harsco to handle the external marketing of Severstal Warren's slag by-products for a range of commercial applications.</p> <p>This latter role parallels Harsco's second order. That order includes the processing of more than one million tons of stockpiled blast furnace slag in Utah over the next three years. The slag will be used in the state's bridge and highway construction programs, following its acceptance for use by the Utah Department of Transportation.</p> <p>Harsco will process the material from abandoned slag stockpiles left behind at the former Geneva Steel mill in Vineyard, Utah.</p> <p>Harsco is currently involved in a similar project in Gadsden, Ala., where, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Harsco is handling the remediation of an estimated three million tons of stockpiled slag left behind by the former Gulf States Steel works that closed down in 1999.</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Wastequip is introducing a loaded container handler (LCH) that can be operated safely at highway speeds. With the center of gravity in front of the rear axles and a design that allows loaded containers to sit level on the chassis, Wastequip&rsquo;s new LCH assures smooth, efficient and safe transport of loaded containers up to 8,000 pounds.</p> <p>&ldquo;One of the industry&rsquo;s most important needs today is for a loaded container handler that can be used to legally move single loaded containers over the highway from one site to another,&rdquo; says Donald Clouser, mobile equipment product manager for Wastequip, a supplier of waste handling and recycling equipment. &ldquo;Most container handlers on the market today are designed for use with a trailer or within a staging yard or with a trailer to deliver and place empty containers, not for transporting single-loaded containers at normal highway speeds. Our new LCH unit is fully DOT compliant when used with 1-yard to 10-yard frontload containers and 1-yard to 6-yard rear load containers without having to add marker flags or auxiliary light bars to make it safe and legal for highway use.&nbsp; This will save our customer time and money.&rdquo;</p> <p>In developing the new unit, Wastequip created a design that assures the transfer of more than 25 percent of weight to the front steering axles, assuring easy handling and safe transport at highway speeds. Containers loaded flat onto the chassis are supported by up to 550 square inches. The new in-cab joystick allows for easy stacking and dumping of containers.</p> <p>&ldquo;Our new LCH provides legal overhang for containers, assuring that rear lights are visible and eliminating the requirement for an Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) bumper,&rdquo; Clouser adds. &ldquo;The Wastequip handler is designed for loading, unloading, rotating and transporting full containers.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>Wastequip&rsquo;s LCH is designed for a minimum chassis GVWR of 25,900 pounds.</p> <p>For more information, visit <a href="http://www.wastequip.com/">www.wastequip.com</a> or <a href="http://www.toter.com/">www.toter.com</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Resource Exchange of America Corp., based in Florida, has formed a new subsidiary, Asset Recovery of America LLC (ARA) to serve as the company's demolition and dismantling division. The company also announced that ARA signed a joint venture agreement with Harry's Hauling LLC, an asset recovery company located in Orlando, Fla.</p> <p>The company notes that the addition of an asset recovery division will provide the company with an essential element to RXAC's strategy to aggregate all aspects of the fragmented recycling industry into a vertically integrated business addressing a huge international and national market.</p> <p>The joint venture with HHL includes an asset recovery project in Orlando valued at $190,000. The JV will provide RXAC with the ferrous and non-ferrous metals being removed from the project, which ARA will process and resell.</p> <p>&quot;This agreement not only launches our asset recovery division and secures a pipeline of scrap metals for our metals processing division; it also gives RXAC a direct presence in Orlando, which is the premier business center in Florida,&quot; says Dana Pekas, CEO of RXAC.</p> <p>&quot;We are very pleased to partner with Jason Livingston, President of Harry's Hauling, LLC. Jason has 13 years of experience in the demolition industry and is a licensed certified general contractor and a licensed asbestos abatement supervisor/contractor. We appreciate his expertise and look forward to a continuing relationship with him and HHL on other projects in Orlando,&quot; Pekas adds.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Steven Demetriou, Aleris&rsquo;s chairman and CEO, said, &quot;We have used the past 15 months to reduce costs and significantly improve our operations worldwide, while delivering value to our customers. Today, we are well positioned to compete in the global marketplace, with significantly enhanced financial flexibility and a strong production platform. We will continue to build on this foundation for the benefit of all our stakeholders.&quot;</p> <p>Aleris is a privately held company, majority owned by a group led by certain investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., affiliates of Apollo Management, L.P. and Sankaty Advisors, LLC.</p> <p>In conjunction with its emergence from Chapter 11, Aleris closed on its rights offering in the amount of $609 million, which is comprised of $45 million in 10 year unsecured notes and up to $564 million in new equity. Additionally, Aleris has a new, fully committed, $500 million asset based revolving credit facility and over $300 million in liquidity.&nbsp; <br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Hydro has announced plans to build an aluminum recycling facility at its location in Karm&oslash;y, Norway. The company says that when complete the facility will be the largest of its kind in the country.</p> <p>The plant will have an initial capacity of 35,000 metric tons of recycled aluminum per year. The first stage of the project is expected to be complete by the summer of 2012. The cost of the project will be around $32.15 million.</p> <table border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="200" align="right"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img align="right" style="width: 184px; height: 300px" alt="" src="/FileUploads/image/hydroscrap.jpg" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td><em>all photos courtesy of Hydro</em></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>The plant will recycle both aluminum dross and scrap generated at all of Hydro&rsquo;s aluminum plants throughout Norway, as well as external sources throughout Scandinavia and Iceland.</p> <p>The recycled metal will be used by Hydro&rsquo;s product casthouse at Karm&oslash;y, and will partly offset the previous S&oslash;derberg potlines, located in H&oslash;yanger, Norway which was closed in March 2009.</p> <p>Construction on the aluminum recycling facility is expected to begin when demolition of the closed S&oslash;derberg lines has freed up the area to be used for the recycling plant. The decision to build at the site begin a process to obtain the necessary approvals based upon an environmental impact assessment. These evaluations will clarify to what extent parts of the concrete and steel structures in the former potlines can be used.</p> <p>The first stage in the construction project will include one tilting rotating furnace with a capacity of 35,000 metric tons, as well as all buildings, filter plant and infrastructure. The stage also includes equipment for liquid metal transportation into the product casthouse as well as for casting into sows.</p> <p>The second stage of the project, planned to start when the first furnace is running at full capacity, will include a second furnace with a capacity of 35,000 metric tons.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.greenstar-na.com"><strong>Greenstar North America</strong></a> has celebrated the opening of its new Des Moines, Iowa, materials recovery facility (MRF) with a visit from that city&rsquo;s mayor.</p> <p>The single-stream facility has the capacity to process five times more material per hour than the system it replaces, according to the Houston-based company.</p> <p>Greenstar conducted an opening ceremony for the plant on May 19, with Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, Metro Waste Authority Chairman Gary Welch and Greenstar CEO Matt Delnick taking part in the event.</p> <p>&ldquo;Des Moines is leading the Midwest in innovation and best practices in recycling,&rdquo; remarked Delnick. &ldquo;Today&rsquo;s grand opening demonstrates the commitment that has been made to increasing recycling rates &ndash; which is the right choice - preserving natural resources and reducing carbon emissions.&rdquo;</p> <p>Participants in the Des Moines metro area have responded favorably to the introduction of the single-stream system, according to Greenstar, with the company reporting 30 percent growth in its volume collected since single-stream collection was launched.</p> <p>Before the new single-stream equipment was in place, Greenstar was hand sorting materials at a rate of 2 to 3 tons per hour. With the new $4 million automated system, Greenstar can process 15 tons of recyclables per hour and has hired 21 new employees at its expanded facility, says the company in a news release.<br /> <br /> The program has room to grow. The recycling participation rate in Des Moines is 56 percent while the nearby community of Urbandale has a participation rate of 66 percent and the town of Grimes a 77 percent rate.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Greenstar is committed to working with our city and commercial partners to invest in technology that brings recycling solutions and reduces program costs,&rdquo; says Kelley McReynolds, general manager of the Des Moines Greenstar plant. &ldquo;We look forward to continued growth and progress in recycling here in Des Moines.&rdquo;</p> <p>Greenstar, a subsidiary of Ireland&rsquo;s NTT plc, entered the United States market in 2007 and has been growing through acquisition and new construction. The company handles 2 million tons per year of recyclables through a network of 16 processing facilities. More information on the company can be found at www.greenstar-na.com. <br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>The Solo Cup Co., Allied Waste, Free Green Can and Levy Restaurants have announced a partnership with the Chicago Cubs to boost recycling efforts at the Cubs&rsquo; Wrigley Field baseball park.</p> <p>Through the program, the parties expect to divert roughly 165,000 pounds of cardboard and plastic out toward recycling purposes. Through the program, fans can deposit any plastic cups at specially marked recycling containers throughout the park. The plastic cups collected will be recycled into a variety of products.</p> <p>Solo Cup, the exclusive cup of Wrigley Field, is the sponsor of the &ldquo;Real Fans Recycle&rdquo; initiative. Cups used at the park will include 20 percent recycled PET. The cups can also be recycled through a program made available by Allied Waste.</p> <p>In addition, fans will be using 100 percent recycled napkins, compostable plates and cutlery.</p> <p>&ldquo;We commend the Chicago Cubs, Levy Restaurants, Free Green Can and Allied Waste for their willingness to work with us on an end-to-end solution that will make a real difference in the amount of solid waste diverted from landfills at Wrigley Field this year. This can be a model for what other sports venues across the country can achieve,&rdquo; says Kim Frankovich, vice president of sustainability for Solo Cup. &ldquo;Cubs fans can help us make this program a success by putting their plastic cups and bottles in the recycling bins separate from other trash.&rdquo;</p> <p>&ldquo;Allied Waste of Chicago is proud to partner with the Chicago Cubs efforts to keep Wrigley Field a green and clean venue for Major League Baseball,&rdquo; said John Larsen, general manager, Allied Waste. &ldquo;Allied Waste and the Cubs are continually improving recycling programs to make it easy for fans to participate and do the right thing for the environment all year round.&rdquo;</p> <p>Outside the park, fans will find 25 dual-purpose Free Green Cans outside Wrigley Field, providing year-round public recycling opportunities.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Columbus McKinnon Corp., based in Sarasota, Fla.,&nbsp;has introduced&nbsp;the CM2R Liberator in response to&nbsp;interest in the company&rsquo;s larger CM4R Liberator. The CM2R is a smaller, more affordable version of the CM4R, according to the company.</p> <p><img alt="" align="left" style="width: 245px; height: 171px" src="/FileUploads/image/columbusmckinnonliberator.jpg" />The CM2R Liberator is deisgned to allow a user to separate wire from rubber tires, enabling processors to generate revenue streams from both the rubber and the wire.</p> <p>Operational benefits of the CM2R include increased product yield; multiple opportunities for profit; high production rates; and opportunity for diversification.</p> <p>The liberator&rsquo;s serrated knife design provides more cutting surface. The larger screen area also is designed to allow for efficient screening of sized material. These two factors are critical in allowing the CM Liberator to achieve greater production.</p> <p>The CM Liberator also has incorporated structural designs to reduce the wear and tear of the equipment, according to the company. The product has an &ldquo;armor-plated&rdquo; rotor and rotor housing, which reduces wear to internal components. The internal wear surfaces are lined with replaceable wear liners that are easily changed when worn, according to the company. This feature of the CM Liberator eliminates the need for any maintenance welding and results in greater machine uptime, Columbus McKinnon states.</p> <p>Depending on screen size, the system is capable of processing passenger car and truck tire material at production rates ranging from 2,000 to 10,000&nbsp;pounds per hour. Columbus McKinnon says the Liberator is capable of producing wire free ground rubber and clean steel to be sold into higher value added markets.</p> <p>More information on CM Tire Recycling Equipment and Systems is available at <a href="http://www.cmtirerecyclingequipment.com">www.cmtirerecyclingequipment.com</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>The European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR) is expressing concern over the tight PET bottle supply on the continent. In a release, the association adds that the recycling capacity has been following the increasing trend of PET consumption and collection. However, the current combination of market forces has reduced the output of the European recycling plants.</p> <p>There are a number of factors that are causing the shortage of PET plastics, including exchange rates, a longer winter, weight reductions in bottles and increased exports to the Far East, especially to China. As a result, many PET plastics recyclers are seeing acute declines in the supply of scrap plastics.</p> <p>While the situation is challenging, the EuPR is offering several suggestions for improving the situation. Increasing the collection ratios and putting greater emphasis on local recycling efforts are two ways to increase the amount of PET plastics. Furthermore, the big differences per country regarding the quality and/or the quantity of the collected materials need to be brought into balance, with underachieving countries bringing their collection levels up to those of more efficient countries.</p> <p>Additionally, the security of supply needs to be improved before Europe loses experienced and trained recyclers.</p> <p>The EuPR stresses the need to focus on European recycling as the key for long-term sustainable resources management. Leakage of bottles to the Far East is leading to a more unsustainable situation that will affect the converters, brand owners and final users. Furthermore, the benefit of the collected material financed by the European tax payers is being misused outside the EU instead of being used for supporting the European recyclers helping Europe to move towards a recycling society.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Neo Material Technologies Inc., a Canadian company, has taken a 50 percent stake in Buss &amp; Buss Spezialmetalle GmbH, a German company that specializes in the recycling and recovery of rare metals, often used in the aerospace industry.</p> <p>Through a well developed commercial network in North America, Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries, Buss &amp; Buss' main business is the recycling of rhenium from super alloy parts and scrap. It also recovers and upgrades other minor metals such as tantalum.</p> <p>Rhenium is heavily used in commercial and military aerospace industries. It enhances the high temperature strength and structural properties of super alloys, used primarily in turbine hot section blades and surface coatings, resulting in increased fuel efficiency and lower green house gas emissions.</p> <p>&quot;The combination of Neo's existing rhenium operation with Buss &amp; Buss will result in the largest capacity and capability for recycling rhenium from super alloys in the world&quot; says Constantine Karayannopoulos, president and CEO of Neo Material. &quot;Together we have the technology and capacity to recycle a wide range of rhenium containing super alloys and produce high purity ammonium perrhenate and rhenium metal. We look forward to working with our new partners at Buss &amp; Buss and continuing to expand our rare metals business.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Marpan Recycling, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based recycling company, has received the Environmental Stewardship Award from the Wakulla County, Fla., Chamber of Commerce. The company has been in business for two years.</p> <p>While the company handles a wide range of recyclables at its facility, the company&rsquo;s area of greatest interest is in the recycling and processing of construction and demolition materials, as well as bulky items, says Nancy Paul, a spokeswoman for Marpan Recycling. The facility also takes in metals, paper, old corrugated containers and plastic containers from a local curbside collection program.</p> <p>To handle the wide range of materials, the company built a $5.5 million facility that is capable of handling Class III material. According to local press reports, the centerpiece of the facility is a three-stage wood recovery/recycling system featuring a shredder, trommel and vertical mill grinder.</p> <p>The company reached a recovery/recycling level of 67 percent in April of 2010. End products from the company&rsquo;s operations include mulch and biomass.</p> <p>Although Marpan Recycling has been in operation for only a couple of years, the company is division of Marpan Supply, which has been in business for more than 40 years. That company is involved in container services, safety, real estate, and lamp recycling services, among other services.</p> <p>Wildwood Resorts, a Crawfordville, Fla., resort, nominated Marpan for the award.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" align="left" width="250" height="188" src="/FileUploads/image/metsoshanghai.jpg" />Metso announces that it will hold the official inauguration of its technology center in Shanghai May 28, 2010. The facility will provide a center for valves as well as facilities for the production, assembly and testing of process automation systems.</p> <p>In addition to the office premises, the center also will include premises for the company&rsquo;s automation business line&rsquo;s sales, project and engineering units in China. All of the company&rsquo;s automation business line&rsquo;s units in the Shanghai area will be operating at the new center.</p> <p>The Metso Technology Center comprises 20,000 square meters of floor space for manufacturing and 9,500 square meters of office area.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Nucor Corp. reports that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has issued an air quality permit for a steel mill the company is looking to build in St. James Parish, Louisiana.</p> <p>Last year, the company completed multiple land acquisitions, bringing its total ownership to more than $50 million and nearly 4,000 acres on the Mississippi River.</p> <p>&quot;We remain very excited about this process and the prospect of doing business in Louisiana and St. James Parish,&quot; says John Ferriola, Nucor's COO of Steelmaking Operations. &quot;We would like to thank Governor Bobby Jindal, Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret, and the men and women of St. James Parish, who continue to support this project and the jobs it will bring to Southeast Louisiana.&quot;</p> <p>In a release, Nucor notes that while receiving the permit is positive, the company still faces a number of hurdles, including climate legislation and regulation pending before Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency, which would make construction of a facility in the United States economically unviable, the issuance of this permit will allow the company to move forward in its site selection process.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><img height="155" align="left" width="275" src="/FileUploads/image/SWEEEP Plant.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>&nbsp;Kuusakoski OY, a Finnish recycling company, has entered into a joint venture agreement with the British electronics recycling firm SWEEEP. Going forward, the British firm will be known as SWEEEP/Kuusakoski. </p> <p>Despite the name change, the company will continue to focus on recycling obsolete electronics throughout the United Kingdom. SWEEEP has invested more than &pound;6.5 million in its facility since its inception three years ago. The facility includes a MeWa QZ plant, which processes more than 10 metric tons of obsolete electronic equipment per hour. It also recycles over 4,000 televisions and monitors every day.</p> <p>Kuusakoski, which has been in the metals and metals recycling business since 1914, notes the joint venture will enhance its operations. The company presently is involved in recycling stainless steel at a facility in Sheffield, U.K.</p> <p>&nbsp;&ldquo;At SWEEEP, we are passionate about the WEEE recycling process and that philosophy is very much shared by Kuusakoski, probably the world&rsquo;s leading experts in WEEE recycling and non-ferrous metals. Together, we offer 43 years experience in e-waste, so our intention is to continue to raise the bar on electronics recycling,&rdquo; says Patrick Watts, managing director of SWEEP.</p> <p>&ldquo;With Kuusakoski on-board, it is our ambition to grow our business and improve the performance of UK plcs&rsquo; WEEE response. Our customer base will only benefit from this move and we look forward to continuing to offer a complete capability across the country.&rdquo;</p> <p>&nbsp;&ldquo;SWEEEP is one of the UK&rsquo;s leading WEEE organizations and we see in the team a perfect fit with our own aspirations in the UK marketplace. As a result of this venture, we&rsquo;re now able to offer a truly pan-European solution,&rdquo; says Timo Kuusakosi, managing director of Kuusakoski OY.</p> <p>Kuusakoski has 107 plants throughout the world. The company employs around 3,300 people.</p>

<p>Custom Polymers PET LLC recently broke ground on an expansion project at its Athens, Ala., facility. The expansion project, which began May 1, is expected to be complete by the beginning of next year. When complete, the facility will add another 70 million pounds of PET flake a year to its production, according to Byron Geiger, president of Custom Polymers PET. A majority of the PET that will be added will come from post-consume sources.</p> <p>The Athens location will add a fourth building to its location when the expansion is complete. The facility, which has been in operation in Athens under the Custom Polymers PET name for about 2-1/2 years, sorts, grinds, washing and pelletizes both post-consumer and post-industrial PET plastics. At the present time the company is able to produce around 50 million pounds of clean washed flake a year and 30 million pounds of pelletized PET a year.</p> <p>To meet the upcoming demand, Geiger notes that the company will likely need to bring in an additional 100 million pounds of PET plastics a year to the plant.</p> <p>Geiger notes that a challenge will be obtaining enough supply to meet the increased capacity. Although there have been a number of new recycled PET operations recently opened or expanded in the Southeast, as well as the significant demand for the material offshore, Geiger says that the Athens location is further west than many of the new operations, which gives the company an advantage, especially with favorable transportation rates.</p>