Proposed Bill Would Establish the Crime of Metals Theft in Pennsylvania

Montgomery News (02/13/14) Goldberg, Michael. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is preparing to hear legislation that would create a «theft of secondary metal» offense in the state. The bill, unanimously approved by the Senate last May and the House Judiciary Committee in October, aims to prevent the theft of copper, aluminum, and other metals that are «valuable for recycling or reuse as raw material.» Penalties under the bill vary depending on the value of the metal stolen. Under current Pennsylvania law, stealing metal is classified as theft by unlawful taking, with higher value thresholds for reaching certain offense levels. «I feel strongly that this particular theft should be defined within the law and should carry higher penalties because of the harm it poses to unknowing individuals,» says former state Sen. Mike Waugh, who introduced the legislation last year. «Theft of these materials could result in anything ranging from disruption of services to a serious catastrophe.»

Electronic Recycler Makes a Plug for Unwanted Cell Phones Boston Globe (02/11/14) Keene, Cindy Atoji

 Gizmogul, an electronic recycling company in Sharon, Mass., makes it easier for consumers to recycle obsolete cell phones. Gizmogul cofounder Cory Schneider says one of the best ways to get people to recycle is to provide them with an incentive. «Cell phones are among the most frequently purchased electronic devices, so getting people in the habit of recycling their old ones is a huge step in the right direction,» Schneider says. He also is affiliated with CJ Environmental, a precious metals and scrap refiner. Gizmogul pays consumers 90 percent of the phone’s worth based on its resale value or precious metal content, and a percentage of the proceeds goes to charity. The company provides a shipping package and label, and the phone is shipped to its warehouse, where it is sorted, processed, and refined. Gizmogul recycles about 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of cell phones a month. The recycler also receives bulk shipments from an online food-ordering company as well as local schools.

 EWS Debuts Lower Carbon Tire Recycling Process

Environmental Leader (02/11/14)

Pinchin Environmental reports that Environmental Waste International has designed a tire recycling process that releases 12,166 mt fewer carbon dioxide equivalents compared with incineration and 3,136 mt fewer CO2 equivalents compared with the production of crumb rubber. EWI says its reverse polymerization process and microwave delivery system are much less carbon intensive than the two most commonly used tire recycling techniques. The Rubber Manufacturers Association says about 45 percent of obsolete tires in the United States are incinerated and approximately 29 percent are converted to crumb rubber. In November, EWI completed a continuous four-day run of its tire recycling facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, noting it achieved a milestone toward continuous 24/7 operation of its tire recycling facility. The sale and construction of a commercial facility is the next step, says CEO Daniel Kaute. The latest 100-hour run doubled the previous record announced in June.

Columbus Dispatch (OH) (02/11/14) Decker, Theodore

 Dozens of sales take place daily at Mark Gray’s scrapyard in Franklin Township, Ohio, that involve contractors, recyclers, and scavengers, but some individuals try to sell questionably obtained items. Scrapyard employees use headsets to inform Gray about any concerns they might have about customers’ goods, and Gray relies on a closed-circuit TV system to monitor potential transactions. Columbus was the first city in Ohio to require scrapyards to submit daily online information to police about each sale, including sellers’ names and other information. Nearly 400 scrap businesses have registered with Ohio’s Department of Public Safety as part of a requirement that began last year under a 2013 law. In addition, an online database soon will be available that will enable dealers to submit daily sales. The state is now testing the system with several scrapyards and could have it operating statewide by July, though it is running roughly six months behind schedule. J. Jeffrey McNealy, a lawyer who represents Ohio members of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, says the industry had been distrustful about the law but worked with the state to draft regulations that were logical. «It was a consensus bill, designed to collect information that would be effectively useful to law enforcement to identify thieves and bad yards,» he says.

 Coal Ash Declared Safe for Recycling by EPA Eco-Business.com (02/10/14)

In a long-delayed decision, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that coal ash from power plants is safe for use in cement and wallboard, potentially leading to increased recycling of the material, which is created as a byproduct from burning coal. The decision, along with a recent EPA court filing, suggests the agency might not regulate ash as a hazardous waste. Proponents say recycling can help curb the number and use of coal-ash ponds. Duke Energy recently had to tackle spillage of a North Carolina coal-ash disposal pond that dumped arsenic, chromium, and lead into a river. Environmental lawyer Abigail Dillen praised the recycling decision, saying the agency must now develop limits on the use of coal ash for other purposes, such as salting roads in the winter or filling up berms or old coal mines. «They call it a beneficial use, which exempts it from regulation,» she says. The American Coal Ash Association says a survey of utilities found that, in 2012, at least 39 million tons of waste from combusting coal was recycled. Products in the EPA’s health analysis included fly ash pulled from the exhaust of coal plants by scrubbers or baghouses, according to the agency.

Aleris to Acquire Nichols Aluminum From Quanex Quad-City Times (02/10/14) DeWitt, Jennifer

 Quanex Building Products has agreed to sell its interest in its subsidiary, Nichols Aluminum, to Aleris, a downstream aluminum processor, for $110 million in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition of Nichols includes two production facilities in Davenport, Iowa, and facilities in Decatur, Ala., and Lincolnshire, Ill. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, will combine two rivals in the aluminum market. «Nichols has a long history of producing flat-rolled aluminum sheet products for customers in a number of key industries across North America, and we look forward to continuing that long-standing tradition,» says Aleris CEO Steve Demetriou. Aleris spokesperson Shannon Bennett says Nichols will be part of Aleris’ Rolled Products North America business and will expand the company’s geographic footprint into the Midwest. Aleris currently has six rolled facilities, two in Ohio and one each in Kentucky, New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia. In Davenport, the company collectively employs 340 people at its finishing facility and aluminum sheet-casting plant, while its other two plants each employ 110 people.

This Startup Repurposes Waste Tires Into Retaining Walls Ecopreneurist (02/10/14) Markham, Derek

 ArmaTerra’s GeoTire technology uses obsolete tires to create earth-reinforcing materials for retaining walls, modular block walls, levees, and mechanically stabilized embankments. ArmaTerra says many current georeinforcement methods are expensive to produce, transport, and handle, and GeoTires offers a cost-effective, long-lasting alternative, while keeping obsolete tires out of the waste stream. ArmaTerra technology uses the entire tire and buys the tires from the existing network of tire recyclers. The environmental impact of using GeoTire systems is lower because obsolete tires are found near every site using georeinforcing technology, cutting the cost of transporting materials. In addition, the company notes that manufacturing the material does not use a lot of energy. Last year, ArmaTerra was named as the Western Region Winner for the Green Building category of the CleanTech Open for its innovative approach to repurposing tires. The company is raising money through a crowdfunding effort to secure international patents and commercialize its technology. 

TAM Plans Recycling Center at Former Mill. Bennington Banner (VT) (02/08/14) Whitcomb Jr., Keith 

Shaftsbury, Vt.-based TAM Waste Management plans to build a recycling plant in Bennington to reduce the amount of construction and demolition debris going to a landfill. The company already has received town approval for the project at the former Northeast Wood Products site, but it is still awaiting an Act 250 permit and a solid waste permit from the state. The facility will accept all types of nonhazardous scrap, including C&D debris, says TAM owner Trevor Mance. He says the facility will recycle 50 to 80 percent of the C&D it receives. The facility will separate C&D materials to be sold to different markets, such as shingles for asphalt and road material. Wood can be used as composting material, which would be aligned with TAM’s recently launched composting facility in Bennington, Mance says. He also notes the composting facility and recycling center should help local businesses and governments be in compliance with Act 148, which will be phased in over the next few years. Mance also plans to seek state permission to allow the recycling facility to handle 60,000 tons of material a year, although that level might not be reached in a decade.

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Leavenworth Electronics Recycling Factory Gives Inmates More Than Job Skills

Kansas City Star (MO) (02/06/14) Morris, Mark

Electronics and people get a second chance at the Leavenworth Electronics Recycling Factory in Kansas. Inmates at Leavenworth’s minimum-security prison camp volunteer for positions at the factory through a program in the federal corrections system that prepares them to re-enter society with real job skills. Workers strip reusable parts from obsolete computers, printers, and fax machines, and about 4 million pounds of the material is sold to buyers each year. The Leavenworth factory is the second most profitable of the seven federal electronics recycling factories. From 2009 to 2011, the site returned a 33-percent profit margin to Unicor, the government enterprise that operates all federal prison industries, and the figure has surged to 52 percent since then. Unicor is generally limited to doing business with other federal agencies or local governments that have a minimal impact on private business and labor. The U.S. Department of Defense is the source of most of Leavenworth’s recycling business.

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Scrap Tires Used to Boost Masonry Blocks

Missouri S&T News (02/06/14) Fulps, Linda

Obsolete tires could potentially be used as a new ingredient for construction materials. Researchers at the Missouri University of Science & Technology are testing new masonry blocks made with ground tires. Jefferson City, Mo.-based Midwest Block and Brick created the blocks from sand and scrap tires ground into fine particles. «The rubber makes the blocks a bit weaker, so after testing various percentages, we now only replace about 20 percent of the sand with rubber, so the blocks retain their strength,» says Missouri S&T professor Mohamed A. ElGawady. His team will compare the strength of prisms built with the rubberized blocks to conventional concrete masonry blocks. ElGawady says rubber is durable, provides good insulation, and is sustainable. He says the new blocks can reduce heating bills by 50 percent. «Construction with these new blocks could improve a building’s resiliency during an earthquake by acting as shock absorbers,» ElGawady also notes.

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Recycling Business Sets Sights on Salem

Roanoke Times (VA) (02/05/14) Berrier, Ralph

Jay Brenner and his family owned Cycle Systems, a recycling company in Roanoke, Va., for many years before selling the company a year ago to global steel manufacturer Gerdau. Brenner now plans to launch a new salvage and recycling enterprise in Salem, Va., for which he has filed a Special Exception Permit request. He plans to operate the new business, called Green Gearheads, in an 11,000-square-foot space in an industrial area. The request was presented recently to the Salem Planning Commission during a public hearing. Brenner says Green Gearheads will handle industrial paper recycling and eventually purchase nonferrous metals and automobiles. His permit request includes recycling inside a building in an area already zoned for light manufacturing. Brenner says the scrapyard would not be visible from outside and environmental impacts would be minimal through the use of specialized equipment and technologies designed for indoor recycling. «We think we can do things more efficiently and less expensively,» he says.

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Scrapped for a Penny: U.S.S. Forrestal, Navy’s First Supercarrier, Begins Final Voyage

Fox News (02/04/14) Miller, Joshua Rhett

All Star Metals in Brownsville, Texas, will dismantle the U.S. Navy’s first supercarrier once the 1,067-foot ship reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The scrapyard has hired Foss Marine Towing to tow the long-decommissioned U.S.S. Forrestal down the Delaware River and along the East Coast to its final destination. The trip began in early February and should take about 17 days. All Star Metals signed a contract with Navy officials for one penny in October to dismantle the behemoth ship. «This is the largest ship we’ve ever dismantled and the largest ship the U.S. government has ever awarded to be dismantled,» says All Star Metals president Nikhil Shah. «It’s a very big job to us.» Shah would not provide the exact cost of towing and dismantling the ship, but he says the figure is «in the millions.» The ship was lauded as the biggest ship ever built when it launched on Dec. 11, 1954. It was decommissioned in 1993 and stationed in Newport, R.I., until 2010, when it was moved to Philadelphia’s Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility. The Navy reportedly is storing more than 20 decommissioned ships for possible sale or use in artificial reefs.

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Turning Metal Into Money

Herald-Palladium (02/04/14) Wrege, Louise

Benton Metal Recycling president Dennis Rook in Benton Harbor, Mich., is donating money to the Benton Harbor Area Schools, raised in part through his scrap metal recycling efforts. Rook donated $5,000 that he raised in the last three months of 2013, with some funds coming from a scrap metal drive last fall. He donated more than $16,000 to the city during the first nine months of 2013. This year, Rook says he will contribute 25 cents to the school system for every customer who walks through his door and $25 for every industrial customer. Those who bring scrap metal to Benton Metal Recycling in 2014 can direct Rook to donate the proceeds to a specific Benton Harbor school. This spring Rook will help the school system conduct a recycling fundraiser similar to one he organized with the Dowagiac school system last spring, which raised $1,600. «As much as the community gives us, we want to give back to the community,» he says.

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R3NEW Vision Taking Shape

Appleton Post-Crescent (01/31/14) Hanuszczak-Froberg, Sharon

In an interview, Brian Arpke, founder and compliance manager for Neenah, Wis.-based R3NEW, discusses the history, successes, challenges, and future of his company. Arpke started the company to help nonprofits obtain current technology by refurbishing discarded computers. The company protects companies from both environmental and security liabilities by performing in-house data destruction and adhering to proper environmental and data protections. Downstream vendors also are carefully vetted. Arpke says the company is northeastern Wisconsin’s first R2-certified e-recycler as of last November. He says following certification, the company’s primary challenges have been cash flow and growth. Arpke says the company offers a $10 in-store credit for recyclable laptops and desktops, with the option of donating the money to a local nonprofit. In the future, he says R3NEW plans to give small businesses a low- or no-cost option for certified recycling. Arpke says the company’s goals include stopping the flow of electronics out of the Midwest, securing major outside contracts, and giving nonprofits and other organizations access to affordable current technology. 

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San Francisco Mixes Design and Technology in Its New Plan to Recycle All Textiles

Co.Exist (02/04/13) Peters, Adele

GoBin, a textile collection bin designed by the firm Frog and managed by Goodwill, soon will be available in or near every large apartment building in San Francisco. The bins are part of the city’s plan to eliminate all waste within the next seven years. Part of the effort includes providing textile collection bins to divert the 39 million pounds of textiles that are discarded in its landfills each year. The bins designed by Frog are easy to use, replacing heavy security doors with a slot resembling a smile. Donors use a QR code located on the bin to access tax donation forms, and a sensor alerts Goodwill when the bin is full and needs to be emptied. Although other nonprofits and businesses have textile collection bins located throughout the city, eventually all of the collection efforts will be united and managed by I:CO, a textile sorting company that uses 400 criteria to determine how diverse textiles should be recycled. “We’re looking at the highest, best use of textiles,» says San Francisco’s Guillermo Rodriguez. «Some of it will go back into the resale market, some will go into other textile products, and some will be broken down back into the fibers and put into products like insulation.» The city also recently launched a multilingual campaign informing citizens about their textile recycling options.

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