Old Televisions Pose Problems for Recycling

Asbury Park Press (NJ) (09/14/14) Cervenka, Susanne

New Jersey implemented a new state law four years ago that requires obsolete TVs, computers, and other electronics to be recycled instead of discarded in landfills. However, recycling companies say the subsidies that previously had offset their costs for recycling TVs have been declining, and unless changes are made they may have to pass their costs on to municipalities or stop serving them. «The market is where it is, and it is only getting worse,» says Chris Massaro, CEO of Monmouth Wire & Computer Recycling, which operates the electronics recycling program for several towns in central New Jersey. There are still an estimated 7 billion pounds of cathode-ray tube TVs and monitors in U.S. homes, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. Electronics manufacturers in New Jersey likely will need to recycle 55 million pounds of obsolete electronics this year, of which some 38 million pounds are estimated to have leaded glass from CRTs, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Massaro says local companies would like to see the state law become more like the one in Connecticut, which requires electronics manufacturers to work directly with local recyclers. He says the state also needs to expand the recycling obligations for manufacturers.

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Local Startup Thread Pitches and Wins $25K at Thrival Festival

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (09/14/14) Born, Molly

Thread, a Pittsburgh-based recycling startup, competed with seven other local companies for a $25,000 prize on Sept. 13. The companies had just five minutes to promote themselves as part of the Thrival Innovation + Music Festival, a fundraising event launched by startup accelerator Thrill Mill. Event sponsor PNC Bank determined the award would go to Thread, which transforms discarded materials from developing countries into wearable fabrics. The company says it has recycled millions of pounds of discarded plastic into polyester textiles, including 660,000 pounds in 2013. The process created 1,620 jobs for Haitians who collect bottles for recycling and generated $164,931 in revenues last year for collection centers owned by Haitian citizens. The company now is working to expand the program to Honduras and recently partnered with bagmaker Moop to create fabrics from the textiles. «This $25,000 doesn’t go to things like overhead or travel,» says Thread’s Lee Kimball. «It goes directly to putting a humble little Pittsburgh company likes ours onto shelves nationwide very soon.»

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Scrap Metal Company Begins Exporting to Asia From Port of Longview

Longview Daily News (WA) (09/12/14) Phiel, Shari

The Port of Longview, Wash., recently began exporting scrap metal via a partnership with Pacific Northwest Metal Recycling. The scrap metal is shipped to steel mills in South Korea to be melted down and converted into new steel products. «The port recently completed a market analysis report and scrap metal exports came back as one of the top commodities for export that the Pacific Northwest is viable for,» says Port of Longview business development manager Laurie Nelson-Cooley. «U.S. scrap accounts for somewhere between 60 to 70 percent of the world’s volume.» Port staff have been working on the scrap metal export project since 2013. Nelson-Cooley says adding scrap metal to the list of commodities the port can handle will help draw other new businesses. The scrap metal is purchased from the public and industrial accounts at five collection yards across Washington and Oregon. R.S. Davis, Rivergate Scrap, and PNW Metal operate the five yards. The metal consists of shredded steel, heavy-melting steel, and plate and structural scrap. Pasha Stevedoring & Terminals oversees and directs the cargo loading using longshore labor.

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ecoATM Ramping Up Recycling Footprint

San Diego Union-Tribune (09/11/14) Freeman, Mike

San Diego-based ecoATM is rapidly adding mobile phone recycling kiosks nationwide, says company president Maria Stipp. She notes the company employs 230 workers in San Diego and has recycled 3 million mobile phones, MP3 players, and tablets since it was launched in 2008. Stipp estimates Americans will purchase 150 million smartphones this year, leaving many consumers with unwanted older devices. Industry research firm Bamboo Mobile estimates there are nearly 400 million idle phones nationwide, of which less than 20 percent will be recycled. «The opportunity for us as well as others in this space is immense,» Stipp says. «It just takes a lot of education and awareness of the options for consumers.» Stipp says ecoATM pays up to $260 for newer, top-tier smartphones. To differentiate itself from competitors, ecoATM provides immediate payment via automated recycling kiosks at malls, big-box retail stores, and supermarkets in 41 states. Outerwall acquired ecoATM for $350 million last year and plans to eventually install the kiosks across 6,000 retail locations, primarily in the United States. The collected smartphones are sold to recyclers, who resell them overseas, while older devices are sold to scrap dealers that have Responsible Recycling (R2) e-scrap certifications.

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Huntington Aluminum Expanding

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN) (09/10/14) Slater, Sherry

Huntington, Ind.-based Huntington Aluminum is investing $2.76 million to double its operations and create up to 41 jobs by 2017, according to state officials. The metal recycling company is constructing a 40,200-square-foot addition to its existing facility to accommodate customer demand. The work is expected to be completed by November 2014. The investment includes equipment for the additional production area. City, county, and state officials offered incentives with a combined valued of more than $500,000, according to company owner Roger Kilty. «We were at a crossroads: either stay as we were and turn away business or expand,” Kilty says. “We’ve chosen to expand in Indiana.” The company collects and melts aluminum and scrap metal before sending it to customers in the auto industry. Huntington Aluminum’s John Wonderly says the company focuses on efficiency, which includes asking office employees to take on multiple responsibilities. The company now employs more than 40 full-time workers and plans to start hiring for new positions in October.

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Quebec’s Recycling Industry Performing Poorly, Experts Say

CBC News (Canada) (09/10/14)

The recycling sector in Quebec, Canada, says it is facing difficulties as more plants close. A glass recycling plant in Longueuil was shuttered last summer, and a plastic recycling plant declared bankruptcy in June, although it continues to operate with aid from the government. Experts say the market for selling recycled materials is at an all-time low while operating costs are rising. Many plastics also contain new types of materials that some facilities in Quebec cannot process. Waste accounts for an estimated 15 percent of a recycling bin’s contents and optical sorters and other tools do not always remove the unwanted items . «[W]e want some better quality entering the sorting center so we can produce some better quality,» says Groupe TIRU’s Gilbert Durocher, who manages Montreal’s recycling centers. At one Montreal facility, 80 percent of the recycled materials are exported to Asia because Canadian companies do not accept the low quality. Hugo D’Amours, spokesman at tissue products manufacturer Cascades, says the company is focusing more on the United States and Ontario as sources for its recycled materials. Recyc-Québec, the government agency in charge of recycling for the province, has unveiled a financial program in an effort to improve quality. It also plans to conduct a waste audit to help municipalities target problem areas and launch awareness campaigns, says Recyc-Québec CEO Benoit de Villiers.

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65% of Consumers Confused Over Plastics Recycling

Packaging World (09/10/14) Mohan, Anne Marie

Sixty-five percent of Americans do not understand what is acceptable when recycling plastics, including the levels of food contamination, the types of plastic accepted by their municipality’s curbside recycling program, and where to recycle, according to an ISRI and Earth911 survey. «As long as confusion reigns, consumers are apt to throw plastics away that should be recycled,» says ISRI president Robin Wiener. «This Earth911/ISRI opinion poll demonstrates a strong need for additional education, particularly by municipalities, on what can be recycled and how to do it.» ISRI is working to reduce confusion by developing plastic scrap specifications and hosting educational workshops for the industry. The organization also is collaborating with other stakeholders to address the issue of redefining the resin code numbers 1 through 7 via its membership in ASTM. In 2011, 4.5 billion pounds of postconsumer plastic, including bottles, bags, film, and nonrigid plastics, was recycled nationwide. The use of recycled plastics also reduces energy consumption as it takes 87 percent less energy to produce plastic from recyclables than from new raw materials.

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Turning Metal Into Cash

Mineral Wells Index (TX) (09/06/14) Benestante, Kim

Duane Jones, owner of Mineral Wells, Texas-based Metro Iron & Metal, is facing increased competition, but he says money can still be made if you have good sourcing for selling. Jones opened the scrap metal recycling facility four years ago, but his larger metal recycling facility that sits on 6 acres in nearby Bridgeport has been in business for eight years. There were few facilities in the area about a decade ago, but the industry has grown in tandem with the economic boom of the oil and gas business in Bridgeport. Jones has installed about 100 roll-off containers for industrial customers in the region, and his businesses take in about 120 tons of scrap metal daily. He views good customer service as a key to encouraging repeat business, and he says that also means keeping the facilities well organized. His assorted system of checks and balances, which includes a large digital scale, helps ensure customers receive the most accurate prices for their metal. «We just try to treat people the way we want to be treated by grading material correctly,» Jones says.

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Scrap Metal Services Buys New Carlisle’s 360 Degree Metal Recycling

Michigan City News-Dispatch (09/05/14)

Burnham, Ill.-based Scrap Metal Services announced the acquisition of 360 Degree Metal Recycling, a full-service scrapyard and auto shredding operation in New Carlisle, Ind. SMS says the purchase will enable it to more cost-effectively transport shredder feedstock scrap, including vehicles and obsolete scrap, from its nine northwest Indiana and Chicago retail facilities and auto parts operations. The new facility’s state-of-the art auto shredder was installed in 2012, and the material produced there is sold and shipped by truck and rail to steel mills in the Midwest for remelting into new steel products. Metallic shredder streams called Zorba and Zurik will be sent to the company’s recently opened heavy-media plant in Blue Island, Ill., for further separation of the various metals recovered in the shredding process. «We have been looking at siting a major auto shredding operation in the Chicagoland or northern Indiana area for some time to primarily process our company’s growing shredder feedstock,» says SMS CEO Jeffry Gertler. «Rather than add another shredder in this highly competitive marketplace, acquiring an existing shredding operation in the area, which met our company’s environmental standards, was economically prudent and strategically a good fit.»

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Recycling Sand? NTTA Says It Will Save Money

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (09/04/14) Dickson, Gordon

North Texas Tollway Authority opened a novel sand recycling operation in Lewisville this year. Government agencies usually sweep up millions of pounds of sand used on North Texas roads after icy conditions subside and pay high fees to dump the sand that has become contaminated with debris. However, the new recycling project uses a giant rotating cylindrical screen with 3/8-inch openings to separate the debris from the collected sand. The recycled sand can be reused on roads or used for backfilling and filling holes. The tollway authority collected and recycled nearly 3 million pounds of sand this year. Collecting and recycling the sand cost $10,000, but the process is expected to save $60,000 a year in sand and dumping fees. Ben Grierson, owner of Plano, Texas-based Acme Materials & Recycling, provided the machinery for the project. He expects other cities and state governments also will be interested in the recycling process.

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Mechanical Dance Done Daily at Westside Recycling

Northwest Georgia News (09/04/14) Hagin, Agnes

Westside Recycling is an environmentally friendly recycling center located on a 20-acre site in Rockmart, Ga. Owner Hank Clark, who has been in the recycling industry for more than 25 years, opened the site in April 2012. Westside Recycling purchases scrap aluminum, brass, stainless steel, insulated wire, copper, radiators, cars and car parts, among other materials. The metals are sorted and prepared for sale to mills that process them for reuse. “We are the process from the public to the smelters,” Clark says. “We provide a way to remove tons of material from the waste stream.” Clark also works with local law enforcement to discourage the theft of metals such as cooper. “Officers come to us for help, and we do everything we can to deal with these people,” Clark says. “Experience helps identify these individuals. Many are people who bring in things that you know they should not be trying to sell. Our business is a member of the Georgia Recyclers Association. No reputable company wants to be associated with something that gives our industry a bad name.”

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Local Business Expands and New Jobs to Come

DothanFirst (AL) (09/03/14)

Dothan, Ala.-based Panhandle Converter Recycling, which currently handles platinum group metal recovery and catalytic converter recycling, recently created a new brand dubbed Urban Mining and named a new president. Urban Mining is an eco-friendly management system designed to optimize the return of PGM materials through a database that eliminates industry confusion and promotes growth through a sustainable model. «We really had some technological breakthroughs about 12 months ago that gave us mass market growth,” says new Panhandle Converter Recycling president Lyle Peluso. “We realized we needed to develop a company that would focus on getting those technologies to the people that needed them.» He says Urban Mining will license the new methods to companies that understand the value of the precious metal content in ceramic catalyst. Dothan business leaders welcomed Panhandle’s new business and are lending local and state support to help the company grow and expand the brand.

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Hook, Line, and Recycling Fishing Line

All At Sea (09/03/14) Aitken, Helen

Keith Rittmaster, North Carolina Maritime Museum’s natural science curator and director of the Cape Lookout studies program, helps people build or obtain receptacles for discarded fishing line. The receptacles are placed on docks, marinas, and tackle stores. PVC monofilament or fishing line is designed to be strong and long lasting, and it takes 600 years to biodegrade. When discarded in oceans and waterways, it poses a hazard to marine animals. Recycling bins cost $100 to make and are easy to construct and install. Information labels and a metal sign explain their use and the CLS recycling program. “Beach walkers go out of their way to take the monofilament off the beach,” Rittmaster says. «When the bins are full, the bottom comes off and the bin contents are removed.» Unfortunately, some people misuse the containers, disposing other material in them, so individuals, organizations, and businesses need to be willing to maintain them if they install them. CLS volunteers collect, sort, clean, weigh, pack, and send the line to the Berkley Conservation Institute in Iowa, the only monofilament recycling center in the United States. Over the last 24 years the center has recycled more than 9 million miles of fishing line into fishing tackle boxes, reels, and artificial reefs.

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Scepter Expanding: SF Plant Will Add at Least 10, Maybe 20, New Jobs

Finger Lakes Times (NY) (09/03/14) Shaw, David L.

Seneca Falls, N.Y.-based Scepter is expanding its aluminum recycling operations to increase production by 50 percent. The expansion will help meet demand by Ford Motor Co.’s increased use of aluminum in the F-150 truck line. The expansion will cost $3.5 million and create 10 to 20 new positions. Switching to aluminum increases the fuel efficiency of the F-150, the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. market for 35 years. “Ford’s decision to go to aluminum body parts will see these producers ramp up to meet the demand,” says Scepter manager Chad Tucker. “That means they will also produce more scrap, which is where we come in. We will be getting more scrap and dross from those plants to the point where we can justify the addition of a third furnace.” A financial inducement package offered by the Seneca County development authority helped the company decide to expand the plant in Seneca Falls rather than rebuild its Quebec facility, which was destroyed by fire. The incentive package gives Scepter exemptions from sales and mortgage taxes for the expansion, freezes Scepter’s property tax bill for the next 10 years, and gradually phases in tax increases for five years after that.

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Scrap Metal Exporter Signs New Terminal Agreement at Port Canaveral

Orlando Business Journal (08/29/14) Barth, Cindy

Orlando, Fla.-based Port Canaveral Scrap Terminal, a bulk ferrous scrap exporter, signed a one-year agreement with the Canaveral Port Authority to lease 4 acres to operate a terminal in the north cargo area at Port Canaveral, Fla., with a 100,000-ton minimum annual guarantee. “This company helps us with diversification of our cargo mix,” says Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh. “More importantly, it helps our planet since recycling scrap metal reduces greenhouse gas emissions and uses less energy than making metal from virgin ore.” The United States recycles 150 million mt of scrap metals each year, according to ISRI, including 85 million mt of iron and steel, 5.5 million mt of aluminum, 1.8 million mt of copper, 2 million mt of stainless steel, 1.2 million mt of lead, and 420,000 mt of zinc.

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