Recycling Product News January/February 2022, Volume 30, Number 1

AI-BASED ROBOTS FIND VALUE IN C&D

SORTING TECHNOLOGY HELPS RECYCLERS PICK UP TO 12,000 ITEMS PER HOUR

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 recyclingproductnews.com PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40069270

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COVER STORY AI-BASED ROBOTS FIND VALUE IN C&D

30 22

GREENTEC’S DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO ITAD

34

TESTING MATERIALS BEFORE INVESTING IN EQUIPMENT REDUCES RISK

EQUIPMENT ROUNDUP: SHEARS

January/February 2022 | Volume 30, Number 1

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS & SECTIONS

16

8

From the Editor

10

News Room

AI-based robots find value in C&D

22

Keeping up with the evolution of used electronics

14

Spotlight

28

E-waste is an opportunity to transition to a circular economy

16

Cover Story

20

C&D

30

Test before you invest

22

E-Waste

34

Quick change system turns scrap handlers into mobile shears

30

MRF Operations

34

Equipment Roundup

40

Equipment Applications

42

Last Word

46

Advertiser Index

40

Twin-shaft shredders for efficient, accurate size reduction

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 1 EDITOR IN CHIEF Kaitlyn Till ktill@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 330 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Arturo Santiago asantiago@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 310 SENIOR EDITOR Keith Barker kbarker@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 305 EDITOR Slone Fox sfox@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 335

Companies are incorporating ZenRobotics’ AI-based robots into their day-to-day operations to help improve efficiency and increase purity rates.

See more on page 16.

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Morena Zanotto morena@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 325 PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER Ken Singer ksinger@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 226 VICE PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER Melvin Date Chong mdatechong@baumpub.com

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES Sam Esmaili sam@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 110

FROM THE COVER: A ZENROBOTICS SORTING ROBOT RECOVERS MATERIALS FROM C&D WASTE

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER Tina Anderson production@baumpub.com 604-291-9900 ext. 222

FOUNDER Engelbert J. Baum

Published by: Baum Publications Ltd. 124 - 2323 Boundary Road Vancouver, BC, Canada V5M 4V8 Tel: 604-291-9900 Toll Free: 1-888-286-3630 Fax: 604-291-1906 www.baumpub.com www.recyclingproductnews.com @RecyclingPN FOR ALL CIRCULATION INQUIRIES Phone: 1-855-329-1909 • Fax: 1-855-272-0972 e-mail: baumpublications@circlink.ca Subscription: To subscribe, renew your subscription, or change your address or other information, go to: https://www.recyclingproductnews.com/ mysubscription/subscribe Recycling Product News is published eight times yearly: January/February, March, April, May/June, July/August, September, October, November/ December. Advertising closes at the beginning of the issue month.

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WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU Do you have a story, equipment or technology innovation, commentary or news that our readers in the recycling industry should know about?

Drop us a line any time.

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FROM THE EDITOR

FROM THE EDITOR EVERY END IS A NEW BEGINNING

C

hange is good. Hindsight is outstanding. After 24 years with Baum Publications, including over two decades as editor of Recycling Product News, it is officially time for me to move on to other endeavours. While it is tough to leave anywhere after so many years, it is rewarding to be able to look back on a lengthy, winding career and reflect on what I’ve seen and learned, the places I’ve travelled, and the people I’ve met along the way. It is also great to be able to consider the scope of conclusions I can make, with all of these years of experience, about the importance of getting our recycling and waste management perspective, practices, and policies right.

I leave this position with a profound understanding of the potential of our industry to help curb climate change and create sustainable, circular economies with significantly smaller environmental footprints. This industry is absolutely essential for all communities, cities, and regions. It can help clean up our plastic-ridden oceans, lessen our dependence on virgin materials, help reduce emissions in manufacturing, provide sustainable energy, and even feed our soils.

I also leave with a clear sense that while advancements in both technology and processes are moving steadily, we still have far to go to build sustainable circular economies for everything we create and use. I believe we will get there one day.

As a science fiction fan, it is hard not to imagine what the distant future of waste management could look like. Firstly, I’m thinking, it will evolve away from reliance on regular citizens and businesses to properly separate (and sometimes transport) recyclables. This can only ever rely on a small percentage of the population who will do it right, or do it all. Full automation of the entire waste management system is key.

In my ideal future scenario, all houses and businesses will be built to recycle organics by composting food scraps automatically, and all other waste will be turned into energy to fuel the home where it is generated. This, combined with other clean energy technology, will provide self-sustaining power for homes and buildings, with emissions capture included on every home and business, of course.

Materials that still need to be recycled, such as paper, plastics, metals, tires, glass, e-waste, etc., will all be thrown into one large curbside bin for pickup by an automated truck or other transport vehicle. These vehicles will run on whatever our best clean and sustainable fuel is at the time and, thanks to automated cart collection technology on these vehicles, there would be no humans riding on the back, holding on for their lives, and repeatedly jumping on and off.

Way, way in the future, instead of vehicle-based collection,

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all recyclables will be thrown into a chute in each home or business, which leads to an underground conveying system – like our sewers for wastewater. This will be transported underground (also powered by clean energy) to fully automated recycling facilities full of robots capable of separating one single, mixed stream of recyclables (and some waste, inevitably) very quickly, cleanly, safely, and profitably.

If automation of all waste and recyclables collection and processing is key to sustainability for our future, design for recycling is the other central, necessary element. If the concept of design for recycling is not incorporated into all manufacturing of goods and packaging across the board, if consistency of materials used is not entrenched, with proper labelling on everything, everywhere, and if products are not made easy to disassemble, then we cannot advance towards a sustainable circular economy.

Complete automation of recyclables and waste management, powered by clean energy and combined with entrenched design of all products and packaging for recycling – that is my sincere hope for the future of our industry.

After this long, one can at least dream.

Dreams aside, it is a pleasure to have been part of this industry, and to meet all of the dedicated, brilliant individuals that work in it, from the manufacturers of equipment and technology, to the dedicated, driven recyclers, to the advocates and policy makers. These stakeholders have taken it upon themselves to help transform our make–use–throw away culture into one that creates circular economies for all of the valuable materials in our waste stream.

Thanks for reading and contributing all these years, and for all of your feedback. I look forward to watching my successor, Slone Fox, who you will meet in the March issue, carry on our tradition of serving and supporting the recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy industries.

KEITH BARKER Senior Editor kbarker@baumpub.com recyclingproductnews.com

A LONG WAY

TOGETHER

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NEWS ROOM

AMP ROBOTICS PARTNERSHIP IMPROVES HAZARD DETECTION IN THE RECYCLABLES STREAM

A STAY CURRENT www.recyclingproductnews.com CONNECT WITH US

@RecyclingPN

MP Robotics is working with The Happy Beetle, a doorto-door recycling subscription service, to improve the detection and diversion of hazardous materials found in the waste stream.

When not properly recycled or disposed of, items like propane tanks, pressurized containers, batteries, and other electronics can cause safety issues including fires, explosions, worker injuries, and damage to processing equipment at recycling facilities.

The Happy Beetle collects these and other difficult-to-recycle materials that cannot be placed in curbside recycling bins and works with businesses and nonprofits to repurpose or recycle them.

AMP’s AI enables its robotic sorting systems to identify individual pieces of material like a person does. It learns logos, shapes, textures, and more. It can also recognize and pick a full array of materials found in the recycling stream – even items that do not belong. Using deep learning, the platform gets smarter and more accurate in its identification over time, and its intelligence compounds as it learns from the company’s fleet.

“Partnering with a local recycler like The Happy Beetle who shares our commitment to a circular economy enables us to source samples of rare hazardous materials to train and improve our neural network so we can stay ahead of the potential danger they pose to the operating environments of our materials recovery facility customers,” says Amanda Marrs, senior director of product at AMP Robotics.

NOVELIS TO BUILD $365 MILLION RECYCLING CENTRE

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ovelis will invest $365 million to build a highly advanced recycling centre for automotive manufacturing in North America which is expected to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by more than one million tons each year. The new recycling facility will be built adjacent to Novelis’ existing automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, Kentucky.

Through closed-loop recycling, the company takes back the aluminum remaining after automotive parts are stamped from sheets and remakes it into the same product for new vehicle production. The centre will also have the capability to process aluminum from vehicles at the end of their life cycle.

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MICROSOFT AND POWER KNOT DEVELOP WORLD’S FIRST SOLARPOWERED BIODIGESTER

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ower Knot and Dubai Creative Group have collaborated with Microsoft Dubai to create what the company says is the first solar-powered biodigester in the world. The LFC biodigester is a machine that digests food waste, creating an output that can then be used as a plant-organic fertilizer. These machines are usually installed in commercial kitchens and reduce the expense, inconvenience, mess, and carbon footprint that comes from disposing waste food that would otherwise be hauled to a landfill. Power Knot offers 10 different sizes of biodigesters that digest between 9 kilograms (20 pounds) per day to 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) per day of food waste. Additionally, all LFC biodigesters automatically connect to Power Knot’s continuous data analytics system which shows statistics on usage, diagnostics, and service schedules, and can be accessed from any device. The LFC biodigester uses this system to securely send data about its operation to the server where users can then easily create reports for stakeholders.

BLS REPORT SHOWS DECREASE IN SOLID WASTE COLLECTION WORKER FATALITIES IN 2020

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he U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the 2020 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries showing refuse and recyclable materials collection remains the sixth deadliest occupation in the United States, though total collection worker fatalities continue to decline. Solid waste collection saw a reduction in workplace fatalities in 2020, with 38 collection employee deaths. This continues a downward trend from 57 in 2018 and 43 in 2019.

Fatalities at material recovery facilities increased slightly from three in 2019 to four in 2020. Solid waste landfills saw six fatalities in 2020, while BLS recorded none in the previous year. According to data collected by SWANA, however, at least two landfill workers were killed on the job in 2019. Regardless, this portion of the industry saw a steady decline over the previous five years.

Notably, the BLS fatality census does not report any illness-related information, including COVID-19 infections.

TOTER’S NEW CART BODY MADE FROM 100 PERCENT RECYCLED MATERIAL

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oter’s new EVR-Green cart body is made of 100 percent recycled material. Manufactured with a variety of recycled materials and entirely without the use of virgin resin, the two-wheeled cart is, according to Toter, the first fully recycled cart body and fully recyclable cart on the market.

EVR-Green’s roto-molded design optimizes impact strength and performance, while also eliminating the built-in stress, weakness and brittleness associated with injection-molded waste receptacles. The cart, which features material upcycled from old carts, will initially be available in black with structural capabilities like sealed stop bar journals and granite finish.

While the cart body is made of 100 percent recycled material, the lid and wheels will initially contain recycled content as Toter works to eventually offer the lid and wheels in a fully recycled form.

E-WASTE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSITION TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY To minimize the amount of e-waste in landfills worldwide, electronics need to be reused, recycled, or refurbished. Companies such as Clean Earth are taking initiatives to recycle electronics in a way that promotes a circular economy while safeguarding users’ private data.

For more on this story, turn to page 28.

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NEWS ROOM

ETRACKS SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY LI-CYCLE TO BUILD ITS PLATFORM TO IMPROVE ONTARIO FIRST LITHIUM-ION BATTERY RECYCLING FACILITY OUTSIDE OF TIRE RECYCLING NORTH AMERICA Tracks Tire Management Systems has launched its Sus-

e

tainable Recovery Platform (eSRP) to over 6,500 Ontario tire collection sites, 100 service providers, and over 50 producers. As a not-for-profit organization, eTracks provides Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) services to the Ontario tire manufacturing industry by managing their end-oflife tire recycling obligations under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act (RRCEA). eSRP’s development was spurred by the need for better data and insights into where, how, and what becomes of recyclable materials put into market, and how much of that material is made into new products. eSRP will help to improve the way producers and PROs are able to manage recyclable materials and regulatory compliance and drive a sustainable circular economy.

L

i-Cycle has formed a joint venture with ECO STOR and Morrow Batteries to construct a new commercial lithium-ion battery recycling facility in southern Norway. Once constructed, the Norwegian Spoke will be Li-Cycle’s first recycling facility outside of North America and is expected to have the capacity to process up to 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries per year, including battery manufacturing scrap, full EV packs, and energy storage systems. The initiative brings Li-Cycle’s total expected global recycling capacity to 40,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery input per year.

The facility is expected to be operational in early 2023.

RUBICON ACQUISITION OF CIVIX EXPANDS SOFTWARE OFFERING FOR WASTE AND RECYCLING FLEETS

R MORE NEWS www.recyclingproductnews.com

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ubicon Technologies has acquired CIVIX, a routing software and solutions company. The acquisition expands and enhances the routing capabilities of Rubicon’s RUBICONSmartCity and RUBICONPro, while also helping to drive Rubicon’s growth into additional international markets.

CIVIX is the developer of FleetRoute route optimization and strategic planning software for data collection, in-cab navigation, dispatching, tracking, performance monitoring, and messaging. FleetRoute’s geographic information system and cloud-based route optimization software is used to solve complex high-density routing problems through advanced network algorithms developed specifically for the municipal services, utility, and street surveying industries.

RUBICONSmartCity is a cloud-based technology suite that helps city governments run more effective waste, recycling, and heavy-duty municipal fleet operations. RUBICONSmartCity helps ensure every resident’s trash and recycling is collected on their scheduled day, meaning no missed pickups. It also documents litter, bulky waste, and illegal dumping with photos, thus ensuring that these piles are cleaned up in a timely manner.

NEW USCC STUDY OUTLINES FINANCING PLATFORMS FOR COMPOST BUSINESSES

A

new USCC white paper identifies grant funding and other financing mechanisms for the growing U.S. compost manufacturing industry and makes recommendations for entrepreneurs and policymakers on expanding and using these methods.

Financing Industrial Composting Facilities: Challenges and Opportunities outlines equity, debt financing, grants, public-private partnerships, bonds, and new types of funding to give compost manufacturing businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs a blueprint for financing options. The paper also includes recommendations for ways to ease the barriers to entry through various financing arrangements, as well as appendices that detail pros and cons of the various financing methods.

U.S. PAPER INDUSTRY REACHES RECORD FOR CONTAINERBOARD PRODUCTION IN 2021

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he American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has released preliminary 2021 data from U.S. paper and paperboard mills indicating record containerboard production, much of which is made from recycled fibres.

The data indicates total containerboard production in 2021 increased 5.6 percent compared to 2020, the ninth increase in the past 10 years.

OCC consumption is strongly tied to production of containerboard, and through November 2021 consumption already reached 22.2 million tons, just shy of the previous full-year record set in 2020. Paper recycling rates have grown over time and remain consistently high, meeting or exceeding 63 percent since 2009. In 2020, nearly 66 percent of paper was recycled.

COMPACT • • • •

POWER

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SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT

INTRODUCTIONS & UPDATES

Material handler

Caterpillar

MATERIAL HANDLERS DELIVER HIGH PERFORMANCE AND LOW OPERATING COSTS

Purpose-built for reliable and efficient operation in waste handling and scrap metal applications, the new Cat MH3026 Material Handler features an advanced electrohydraulic system that optimizes the balance of power and efficiency, improving cycle times. These Next Generation material handlers are powered by the Cat C7.1 engine, capable of operating on up to B20 biodiesel, and provide a choice between Power and Economy modes for optimized fuel economy. The new MH3026 also includes standard Product Link technology which captures critical operating data such as location, hours, fuel usage, productivity, idle time, maintenance alerts, and fault codes, all of which can be remotely accessed and tracked.

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Electric-powered trucks

Mack Trucks

LR ELECTRIC CLASS 8 MODELS NOW IN PRODUCTION

The LR Electric model, Mack Trucks’ first fully electric Class 8 vehicle, is now in serial production. Equipped with four NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) lithium-ion batteries, the LR Electric is charged by a 150kW, SAE J1772-compliant charging system. The batteries provide vehicle propulsion and power for all on-board accessories driven through 12V, 24V, and 600V electric circuits, and a three-mode regenerative braking system helps recapture the energy from the hundreds of stops the vehicle makes each day as a result of increasing payload. The Class 8 LR Electric may be fitted with equipment bodies from numerous manufacturers and features the same ergonomics and visibility as Mack’s diesel-powered LR model.

Portable trommel screen

High-speed shredder

EDGE Innovate

TROMMEL FEATURES INTELLIGENT LOAD MANAGEMENT

Hot ash and biochar cooler and conveyor

With high production rates, intelligent load management and extensive stockpiling capacities, the EDGE TRM831 is one of the largest mobile trommels on the market, offering high production rates with extensive stockpiling capacities thanks to its end discharge conveyor design and remote 180-degree radial fines conveyor. Powered by a CAT C4.4 Acert 140kW Stage V engine, and with numerous drum options, the EDGE TRM831 portable trommel is ideal for screening compost, household waste, and C&D materials, as well as sand and topsoil. Key features include a hydraulic folding function for transport, easy fine tuning, hopper capacity of 12 cubic metres (15.7 yards), a 1,500-mm-wide (60-inch) variable speed conveyor with load sensing functions, and a heavy-duty 1,200-mm-wide (48-inch) oversize conveyor providing a discharge height of up to 3.7 m (12 feet 5 inches).

Luxme International

Terex Ecotec

Luxme International has launched the THERMOLuxme, an enclosed conveying system that can safely transfer and cool hot ash and biochar materials from 700 degrees F to 110 degrees F in one step. This machine is ideal for incineration and pyrolysis plants processing organic and non-organic waste materials, eliminates the need for a separate chilling stage and can save operators significant equipment and floor space costs. Consisting of a tubular chain conveyor with the addition of jacketed pipes containing water or cooling fluid, the THERMOLuxme not only conveys and cools up to 1,100 cubic feet of hot biomass per hour, but also adheres to the highest safety standards, using an enclosed, sealed pipe assembly that keeps work areas clean and free from dust and gases, and 150 psi of explosion suppression.

Terex Ecotec continues to expand its range of mobile equipment for screening and size reduction with the launch of the compact TBG 530T. This robust track-mounted, high-speed shredder is ideal for medium-scale producers requiring an accurate and consistent end product. Powered by a 493-hp Scania DC13 engine, the TBG 530T has been designed for high performance, ease of maintenance, and fuel efficiency. These shredders are particularly suited to waste wood and green waste processing and feature a rapid set-up time, requiring no tools, and an intelligently controlled feed system, consisting of heavy-duty drag chains and an aggressive feed wheel with unique lift/downward assist which ensures optimum material flow.

ENCLOSED CONVEYING SYSTEM COOLS HOT ASH AND BIOCHAR

HIGH-SPEED, COMPACT, TRACKMOUNTED SHREDDER

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

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COVER STORY

Sorting robots raise the recycling percentage and quality of waste, improving recycling efficiency, work safety, and the circular economy.

AI-BASED ROBOTS FIND VALUE IN C&D WASTE ZENROBOTICS’ SORTING TECHNOLOGY HELPS RECYCLERS PICK UP TO 12,000 ITEMS PER HOUR

COVER STORY

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onstruction and demolition waste is generally not suitable for reuse or high-grade recycling, often resulting in mixed construction waste being used as low-grade material or even disposed of entirely.

ZenRobotics, a global specialist in smart robotic recycling, is tackling this issue by using its AI-based sorting robots to turn waste into clean raw materials. Companies looking to increase the quality of their waste have incorporated ZenRobotics’ sorting robots into their day-to-day operations to help improve efficiency, increase purity rates, and reduce costs.

One such company is the Swiss family-owned Eberhard Group, one of ZenRobotics’ long-time partners. Eberhard Group’s newest plant will recover high-purity materials from C&D waste using advanced AI and robot technologies to convert clean materials into new, high-quality, and fully circular raw material for buildings.

“After water, concrete is the most used resource in the world, and mixed demolition waste is one of the biggest waste streams landfilled,” said Patric van der Haegen, division head development of the Eberhard Group. “We simultaneously dig enormous holes into the planet while piling up huge mountains on the other side. New sustainable alternatives are needed. Our new EbiMIK plant sorts mixed demolition waste into all its components. This boosts the circular economy because each valuable

terials from C&D as well as industrial and household waste.

As clean, recyclable fractions like wood, plastics, metals, and stone aggregates are captured from waste streams, they can be reused as secondary raw material and replace the need for virgin raw materials or fossil fuels.

“We have been working with the Eberhard Group since 2015 and are impressed by their pioneering commitment to find new circular solutions for construction materials,” said Jarmo Ruohonen, CEO of ZenRobotics. “Indeed, Eberhard was one of the first operators to see the possibilities of AI-based sorting in improving the efficiency and profitability of waste management. We are proud to be part of this exceptional facility that applies our smart waste management solutions while helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly.”

material can be reused individually. Robots with artificial intelligence play an important role in this revolutionary new facility.”

The Eberhard Group believes that the circular raw material will lead to significant emission reductions. The production of cement, a key component of concrete, involves combustion processes that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change. According to the Eberhard Group, its new zirkulit (circular) concrete will save 10 kilograms of carbon emissions per cubic metre while providing the same mechanical and chemical qualities as conventional concrete.

The new zirkulit concrete is also optimized to use almost seven percent less cement than conventional concrete.

FULLY AUTONOMOUS SORTING SYSTEM RUNS 24/7

DENMARK’S FIRST AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SORTING PLANT FOR C&D WASTE

Another recycling specialist working to improve efficiency, increase purity rates, and reduce costs by using ZenRobotics’ sorting robots is Danish environmental services company Solum A/S. The company is set to open its first fully autonomous robotic sorting plant in the summer of 2022, which will utilize AI and robotic technologies by ZenRobotics to sort up to 25,000 tons of mixed waste per year, including combustible waste, bulky waste, metal, wood, and plastic. The robotic sorting plant will raise the recycling percentage and quality of waste at Solum Modern waste sorting infrastructure A/S, improving recycling efficiency, work safety, is essential to transition to a circular and contributing to the circular economy.

Solum’s new robot waste sorting plant consists economy and meet the increasing of multiple robot arms that lift objects up to 30 demand for high quality recycled kilograms and handle up to 4,000 picks per hour, 24 hours a day. By comparison, a human can materials. handle approximately 700 picks per hour. The sorting plant also eliminates occupational health Jarmo Ruohonen risks associated with manual sorting, increases the CEO, ZenRobotics degree of purity by up to 98 percent, and reduces the associated costs.

SMART ROBOTS DO THE HARD AND DIRTY WORK

To ensure that all high-purity secondary materials are captured from mixed C&D streams, the Eberhard Group’s new plant uses intelligent robots as the main sorting system. This includes two parallel sorting lines with multiple high-capacity robots on each line. The robots pick up to 12,000 items per hour, separating mineral materials and impurities from the stream.

ZenRobotics’ AI-based robots can sort a wide range of ma-

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Solum’s new facility is a fully autonomous standalone robotic sorting station that is independent from other operations and replaces manual processes in waste sorting. The material first goes through a simple screening step where fines and foils are sorted out. The material is then loaded into a feeding bunker where the material flows evenly and autonomously to the robots through a loader. The AI-powered sorting robots work independently and empty the feeding bunker during the day and again during the night when employees on the site go home. In the morning, the employees arrive and fill the feeding bunker, and the process starts all over again.

“We are thrilled to partner with Solum A/S and ReTec to bring the first AI-powered robot sorting plant for C&D and C&I waste to Denmark, placing more robots on the world map,” said Ruohonen. “The fully independent and automated waste sorting plant creates a safer and more efficient recycling environment, lowering operating costs and recovering more valuable, high-quality fractions. Modern waste sorting infrastructure is essential to transition to a circular economy and meet the increasing demand for high-quality recycled materials. Frontrunning operators like Solum are leading the way.”

Solum’s new fully autonomous robotic sorting plant will utilize ZenRobotics’ AI technology to sort mixed waste, including combustible waste, bulky waste, metal, wood, and plastic.

Eberhard Group’s new plant will recover highpurity materials from C&D waste using advanced AI and robot technologies from ZenRobotics.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

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C&D

TOMRA has combined its AUTOSORT technology with its deeplearning-based sorting add-on, GAIN, to create a combination that can sort different types of wood-based materials.

TOMRA RECYCLING

AUTOSORT COMBINED WITH GAIN DEEP LEARNING FIRST TO USE AI TO SORT WOOD WASTE

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OMRA Recycling has become the first in the world to use deep learning, a subset of artificial intelligence, in wood recycling applications. The company has combined its AUTOSORT technology with its deep-learning-based sorting add-on, GAIN, to create a solution that can distinguish between and sort different types of wood-based materials, enhancing customers’ sorting and manufacturing processes.

The primary application for this new solution is sorting Wood A – non-processed wood – from Wood B – processed wood products such as MDF (medium-density fibreboard), HDF (high-density fibreboard), oriented strand board (OSB) and chipboard.

ACHIEVING HIGHER PURITY LEVELS

In recent years, TOMRA Recycling has been approached by an increasing number of customers looking to use recycled wood of a much higher purity level in their production processes. To achieve these specific purity requirements, in addition to removing the inert material and metals in the infeed stream, other impurities including engineered wood composites and polymers would have to be removed.

As these materials are not distinguishable using X-ray technology, the X-TRACT unit was unsuited to this sorting task.

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“Wood recycling is a fast-evolving market, with increasingly stringent legislation being introduced in a number of regions globally to move towards a more circular economy model. Our AUTOSORT with GAIN solution uses deep-learning technology to create a robust and flexible solution which we are confident will be welcomed by wood goods producers across the globe. It will also enable our customers to future-proof their operations as they will be better equipped to adapt and react to any future changes in the global wood recycling market, such as new legislation. We are delighted to be the first in the market to offer this artificial-intelligence-based solution,” says Philipp Knopp, product manager at TOMRA Recycling.

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E-WASTE

KEEPING UP WITH THE EVOLUTION OF USED ELECTRONICS GREENTEC IS EMBRACING CERTIFICATION AND A DATADRIVEN APPROACH TO IT ASSET DISPOSITION

BY KEITH BARKER, SENIOR EDITOR

O

n a global scale, the way in which used electronics and IT is managed is changing rapidly. This shift is driven largely by climate change related policies and regulations meant to lessen the environmental impact of consumerism by forcing manufacturers to design their products for longevity, ability to repair, and easy recycling. This is happening slowly in the manufacturing sector, but it is happening and marks an important turning point for the entire electronics supply chain, from production to distribution, to destruction and data management.

Simultaneously influencing today’s evolving used electronics management landscape is the pan-industry shift towards data-driven business and the steadily increasing demand from companies to mitigate the harm that can be caused by negligent electronic device management.

For used electronics processors and recyclers, this evolution means there is a serious need to adapt quickly, not only to a constantly changing, diverse and sometimes dangerous waste stream (containing potentially explosive batteries, for example) but also to very rapidly evolving regulations.

LEADING THE WAY ON CERTIFICATION

Recently, Cambridge, Ontario–based e-waste recycler, used electronics refurbishment and ITAD (IT asset disposition) specialist Greentec became the first in Canada to be R2v3 certified.

This latest upgrade in standards, set for the electronics industry by Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI), includes requirements for heightened documentation of all retired electronic assets, data security controls, material flow management, a focus on strict compliance and accountability, and a strong emphasis on increasing the repair and reuse of devices. All of the key differentiators within R2v3 (compared to the previous R2 standard) aim to reduce risks across the electronics industry, especially when it comes to the proper

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Tony Perrotta, CEO of Greentec, and his team at their used electronics processing plant in Cambridge, Ontario.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

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E-WASTE destruction of data, by adding transparency through the entire supply chain.

“The electronics industry is changing at an incredibly rapid pace, and it is the responsibility of e-waste processors to stay up to date with this evolution,” comments Greentec’s Compliance Officer Rebecca Herman. “As the last line of defense during the destruction, recycling, and disposal of old technology, Greentec takes our clients’ environmental and data security requirements seriously.”

Tony Perrotta, Greentec founder and CEO, says their compliance team was key in getting certification, and notes that while it was not easy and was a great deal of work, it is an absolutely necessary component of being an e-waste recycler going forward. For R2v3, he says, the most significant change is that data security requirements have been updated.

“In the past, if it’s a data-bearing device, so long as a downstream recycler is R2 certified, you could ship it to them,” explains Perrotta. “You can’t do that anymore. You must make sure that the recycler is R2v3 certified, because there’s now different data and security requirements. We already had a lot of security requirements in place at our facility because we’re NAID-certified (National Association for Information and Destruction.) We have numerous protocols, including all of our employees requiring background checks, and we have video system surveillance everywhere. The new R2v3 certification is the next step, and it takes time. It took us about two years.”

For Perrotta, being the first R2v3-certified e-waste recycler in Canada reinforces the fact that their business is all about clients and customers at the end of the day.

“They need that transparency,” he says. “They need to feel confident about their risk management. It’s like an insurance policy for them where they have that extra layer of transparency, and they know that they’re dealing with a credible, reliable, and trustworthy service provider where they don’t have to worry about not getting proper documentation. They don’t have to worry about what happens to the materials, how it’s being managed. They also don’t have to worry about whether our employees are working in a safe environment, or about their data and how it’s being controlled and wiped.”

He explains that the foundation of this kind of certification is really risk assessment, starting with environmental. They also do a risk assessment for health and safety, and then for physical security and data security. From there they developed standard operating procedures, training manuals, educated all employees, and then they were audited.

“The auditors come in, they spend about a week to a week and a half going through all of your policies, processes, and looking for any non-conformance to standards. They basically tell you if you’re non-conformant, and then you would have to fix those problems or those areas before they give you the certification.”

All of the key differentiators within R2v3 (compared to the previous R2 standard) aim to reduce risks across the electronics industry, especially when it comes to the proper destruction of data, by adding transparency through the entire supply chain.

Greentec services mostly commercial clients, managing ITAD and data destruction, e-waste recycling, and used electronics refurbishment and reuse.

A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO ACCOUNTABLE ITAD

According to Perrotta, growth in their ITAD business is really being driven by a massive, worldwide transformation in the way companies operate.

“A lot of our commercial customers are transforming,” he says. “They’re getting newer technology, they are automating, they all want to be more efficient, and they are data-driven.

Data is becoming critical. All of our systems, infrastructure, energy, where we get our energy from, the whole grid runs

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Greentec either refurbishes or recycles cellphones, laptops, tablets, desktops, monitors, and some data centre equipment, including servers and switches, as well as a wide range of components like circuit boards.

on data, and governments have been passing more, and stricter, data privacy regulations.”

B.C. recently passed new and updated data privacy regulation and legislation, as did Alberta and Newfoundland, while the federal government is also in the midst of introducing new privacy legislation.

“Everything’s moving towards stricter privacy regulation because everybody’s connected. Data is being captured everywhere.”

He says e-waste recyclers do have a unique responsibility when it comes to managing end-of-life electronics and IT, because of the data associated with it.

“Even though we’re a service provider, we follow very strict standards and we have a lot of certifications. Once we are contracted to do the data destruction, we take part of the liability, because they are requiring us to do that. We have to make sure that information is destroyed completely. Still, the company which owns the data has to follow proper due diligence, and they have to do it all through their vendor selection, because, ultimately, they are the ones responsible for the proper management of the data that they control.”

Perrotta explains that Greentec has been taking a new approach to accountable ITAD that guarantees data destruction, improves environmental leadership, and supports successful digital transformations.

“For us, the new approach has to do mostly with disposition mapping,” he says. “We have a disposition mapping process we use that’s very unique to Greentec. We go through the whole process with the client from start to finish. When we initiate the services and we initiate the logistics and the processing, everything has been mapped out. Everybody knows what needs to happen from start to finish.”

He says the basic idea is to provide the most transparent and easy-to-follow map for clients. But they also have to satisfy requirements which are different from client to client.

“If you’re dealing with someone in the healthcare space, they have a much higher risk, if data is not properly destroyed, based on the health and information privacy act. They have a much different requirement for data security risk versus a commercial account. For the energy sector, they follow different standards called NERC. It depends on the industry standards and what their requirements are for data life cycle management.”

Climate change is driving a lot of policy, not only with governments, but also with large manufacturers. A lot of them have made commitments to be carbon neutral by a certain time, or carbon negative, and you’re going to see a lot more of this happening.

Tony Perrotta CEO, Greentec

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E-WASTE He says if they are working with a data centre cleanout, for example, where a client is actually replacing their data equipment, or they’re merging or moving data centres, it requires a whole different type of mapping process.

Perrotta emphasizes that logistics, while critical, is a particularly challenging part of their ITAD business. “We’re mostly a B2B company, so we service businesses. Some of our business clients have public drop off. Some electronics retail chains, especially in the mobile communication space, have 300 or 400 stores. They get consumers to drop off at their sites, and we collect it.

“Logistics tracks where we are going for pickups. Where is the material located? Is it on multiple floors? Where is it on the floor? Some of the buildings we collect from have 30,000 square feet per floor, so it could be in one area or in another. Often, it’s multiple floors and they have freight elevators, which need to be booked. All of these logistics need to be mapped out.”

Because of all of this, the software in the systems Greentec uses has to be really good at managing logistics. “Our trucks are all picking up, out doing jobs where they are either shredding devices on-site or we’re picking up, or we’re decommissioning entire data centres,” Perrotta says. “We do a lot of sensitive, on-site services, so they need to be GPS-tracked and they need to have a chain of custody. When we’re bringing back these devices with sensitive information, we need to have a chain of custody on that, and it all goes into one centralized system.”

According to Perrotta, while this ITAD mapping strategy is

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In 2022, Tony Perrotta’s Greentec became the first recycler in Canada to be R2v3 certified.

currently unique to Greentec, it will likely catch on. “Previously, like most recyclers, we didn’t have a fully integrated mapping process. We’d have one system for this, another system for that. It would be a patchwork.”

CHANGING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

From a business perspective, the biggest change Greentec has seen, especially since the start of the pandemic in 2020, is simply a huge increase in demand for refurbished used electronics.

“I would say, we have seen a 35 percent increase in the demand for reusable devices,” Perrotta says. “We process a lot of phones, we do a lot of laptops, tablets, desktops, and monitors.

We also process some data centre equipment, like servers and switches. Those five product types are the bulk of what we repurpose. We also do parts harvesting; we’ll repurpose memory chips, CPUs, those types of components. Since the start of the pandemic there’s been a huge increase in demand for all of it.”

Since March 2020, Perrotta says another big change has been adapting to a whole new element of compliance requirements that have been added to their operations. They have put in safety measures to keep employees safe and properly distanced, adding new levels of standard PPE. Everybody has to wear a mask, and they have on-site temperature checks as well as COVID-19 testing.

While the pandemic has brought about changes to their operating procedures, labour challenges, and has contributed to the increase in demand for refurbished devices, a lot of the major changes happening currently in the electronics industry are being driven by climate change. He says the electronics industry has been identified as one of eight sectors with larger carbon footprints than others, in part because of how products are made and used.

“If you look at the life cycle of some of these electronic devices, especially the new monitors, the flat screens and LCD monitors, for example, they use fluorinated carbon. Fluorinated carbon uses much more carbon than a standard CRT device.

There’s also a large carbon footprint in the manufacturing of these devices (especially with the use of IC chips and some of the other components which are adding carbon into production) and from the entire supply chain, including mining, manufacturing, 7:05 PM

and distribution.

“The usage of devices also creates carbon emissions,” he continues. “For the smaller devices (aka, endpoint devices) like mobile phones, tablets, and laptops, not as much is being generated in usage as there is on the data centre side. At some data centres, hard drives and servers are working constantly, using up a lot of energy and creating a lot of emissions. In the supply chain, it’s the opposite, where the endpoint devices create more carbon emissions in the upstream supply chain, in distribution, for example, and the data centre devices create less carbon emissions upstream. Every time you are able to recover and extend the life cycle of devices, you’re contributing to a circular economy and having a positive impact on GHGs.” He continues, “Climate change is driving a lot of policy, not only with governments, but also with large manufacturers. A lot of them have made commitments to be carbon neutral by a certain time, or carbon negative, and you’re going to see a lot more of this happening. Climate change policy and regulations are going to be big drivers for manufacturers to produce devices that use less carbon and are more recyclable, repairable, and with extended life cycles.

That’s all going to come into play in the next 5 to 10 years and we’re going to see a big move towards it.”

THE ROAD AHEAD

One of the central challenges for all businesses currently is a shortage of labour.

“It has affected everybody, but I think we’re fortunate that it hasn’t affected us as much as other organizations. We’re 85 employees, and we’re hiring another 10 or 11 people this year.”

He says companies today have to be more innovative in the way they attract talent, and in the way they acquire talent. “In today’s labour shortage market, you really need a talent acquisition strategy. You’re going to live and die by that because, if you can’t get the people to do the work, you’re not going to be successful.”

Labour challenges are also, in part, driving a gradual shift towards increased automation in recycling, in general, though Perrotta says in e-waste, there is little being done to advance automation.

“We have to literally reinvent the wheel, and reverse engineer everything that’s

already been engineered as a product.

Automation is a lot easier to do when you’re building new products, but when collecting and recycling, there’s little automation to it currently.”

He says while there are companies out there that sell automation solutions for e-waste recycling, if they wanted to set up an ITAD operation or recycling plant, there’s even less technological support available.

Going forward, he says they will con-

tinue to focus on certifications, not only on the environmental sustainability side of the business but also on the data security side, including federal government certification.

“That is our focus going into 2022,” says Perrotta. “We also are focused on having an operation that’s completely carbon-neutral, and having the capability to accurately report on carbon. In 2022, we have quite a few projects on the go, that’s just one of them.” RPN

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27

E-WASTE

E-WASTE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSITION TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

BY MARK KASPER

E

-waste – defined as electronics that are nearing the end of their useful life – is piling up at rates faster than ever before. Yet the recycling rate for e-waste is less than 20 percent globally, and in the U.S. it is less than 10 percent.

This is a clear area of concern, as it is uncertain as to how the other 80 to 90 percent of e-waste is being managed during the disposal process and the location of final placement. Many electronics contain toxic heavy metals and materials such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. E-waste that is improperly discarded can potentially leach into groundwater and soil which can be harmful to human health and our environment.

Though called “waste,” there is inherent value in the materials of used electronics that should be recognized for reuse, recycling, or refurbishment to minimize the actual waste that might end up in a landfill or improperly disposed of in an unprotected dump site either in the U.S. or abroad.

When electronics have reached their end-of-life, they must not only be handled in a responsible and compliant manner, but organizations must also focus on solutions that reduce their potential environmental impact due to their hazardous components.

To improve collection and the circular economy, more countries are taking action and creating policies around e-waste and its handling.

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The recycling rate for e-waste is less than 20 percent globally, and in the U.S. it is less than 10 percent.

Below, we will explore ways to transition to a circular economy for this material.

IMPROVING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY OF E-WASTE

Recycling and waste diversion professionals involved in the environmental health and safety (EH&S) and sustainability efforts for their company should keep used and expired IT equipment and electronics handling top of mind during the change and disposal process to ensure proper destruction and final placement. Whether due to the risk of sensitive information exposure, or because the hardware could be unethically disposed of, recycling professionals should have clear insight into where their company’s e-waste goes and what is done with it.

According to the EPA, an undetermined amount of used electronics are shipped from the U.S. and other developed countries to countries that lack the capacity to reject imports or to handle these materials appropriately. Without proper standards and enforcement, improper practices may result in public health and environmental concerns, even in countries where processing facilities exist. If e-waste is instead sent to a legitimate, certified recycler, then no environmental harm is caused, and the commodities generated can go back into the reuse market as part of the circular economy.

To improve collection and the circular economy, more countries are taking action and creating policies around e-waste and its handling. The annual Global E-waste Monitor reports that, since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy, legislation or regulation has increased from 61 to 78 countries. However, regulatory advances in some regions are slow, enforcement is poor, and policy, legislation, or regulation

The annual Global E-waste Monitor reports that, since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy, legislation or regulation has increased from 61 to 78 countries.

does not yet stimulate the collection and proper management of e-waste due to lack of investment and political motivation.

For effective electronics disposal and recycling that promotes a circular economy, companies like Clean Earth have established a dual focus: benefitting the environment by reducing waste while safeguarding private data. An organization’s dedicated e-waste management partner should serve as a critical part in the life cycle of electronic waste products. An e-waste management partner should be committed to proper end-of-life management of electronics containing sensitive data and components hazardous to the environment backed by proper permits, certifications, and available reporting.

COVID-19’S IMPACT ON E-WASTE RECYCLING

One of the main issues worsening e-waste is the extremely high consumption rate of electronics. Per capita, around the globe, people are purchasing more electronics year over year.

In fact, on average, the total weight (excluding photovoltaic panels) of global Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) consumption increases annually by 2.5 million metric tons.

Though there was a dip in electronic purchases in Q2 and Q3 of 2020 because of the pandemic, that rate has already picked back up.

The relevance of electronic devices expires faster and faster due to the rapid advancements in technology. As a result, e-waste volumes are increasing. From toasters to remote controls, everything is becoming a “smart” device, with more products being developed with PC boards and other electronic components.

At the start of the pandemic, multiple industries around the world saw an increase in the amount of people working from home, along with the education system across transitioning to online learning. These transitions created a gap between the expired electronics now at residences and the disposal and data destruction process at offices or facilities.

In addition, the demand for electronic devices increased where they were once not needed. Collectively with these changes, people around the world were challenged with how to discard more data-sensitive electronics. Fast forward to to-

day, many companies are transitioning to remote work and are cleaning out offices. All of these new transitions from the start of the pandemic to today have created more risk for e-waste to be improperly discarded.

Right now, due to COVID-19, there is a tight labour market, and some e-waste handlers may be experiencing a reduction in labour and therefore employees may not have the vast amount of training and experience required to properly manage the material. Therefore, it is important to find a trusted e-waste management partner with the insight and experience that will bring companies transparency and peace of mind to the e-waste recycling and disposal process.

FUTURE OF E-WASTE AND THE RIGHT TO REPAIR MOVEMENT

In July, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. One part of the executive order instructed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to stop manufacturers from preventing repairs from refurbishers or end users. The FTC outlined rules that manufacturers have to follow, such as releasing components and information on how devices are assembled. This is a change, as electronic manufacturers were not previously required to disclose such information. But now, by having this information available, people can start to understand how to fix these devices themselves or through a refurbisher.

By nature, manufacturers are not incentivized to create products that are long-lasting or easily repaired by others.

The “right to repair” movement, with the previously mentioned legislation behind it, aims to further increase access to once-proprietary information, giving individuals or refurbishers the ability to repair and modify their consumer electronic devices. This is a significant potential shift because oftentimes the manufacturer requires the consumer to use only their offered services. The “right to repair” means refurbishers can extend the life of the product for its current user or find it a second home with a new user, therefore reducing the number of devices that are discarded. This movement could mean less e-waste is produced.

If this movement is successful, it would mean that authorized refurbishers would have access to documentation, software, and other tools that would enable them to put these devices back into the reuse market.

Beyond the right to repair, the future of electronics recycling is ensuring secure data destruction. Consumers and businesses need to feel assured regarding what happens to their data when their electronics are spent. Every cellphone, GPS, and laptop says a lot about an individual and their habits – how they bank, what they buy, where they drive – and it needs to be protected. All e-waste recycling solutions should also confirm that data from discarded electronics is safe and secure, and teams handling the material should do their part to promote the correct treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment to enable reuse and recycling.

MARK KASPER is the chief operations officer of Clean Earth.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

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MRF OPERATIONS

TEST BEFORE YOU INVEST TESTING MATERIALS BEFORE INVESTING IN SORTING TECHNOLOGIES SERVES TO REDUCE RISK, VALIDATE PROCESS

BY RICK ZETTLER

A

s the recycling industry grapples with increasing purity standards and a dwindling labour pool, automation and advanced sorting technologies are key to delivering a high-quality recycled product at the desired profit margin.

It is important to install the right equipment to sort the planned material stream to optimize return on investment (ROI).

It’s also critical to configure a flexible system that can adapt to future material stream changes and legislation mandates.

“The industry must think about material recycling similar to a manufacturing environment,” comments Bill Close, business development manager for Wendt Corporation. “We establish well defined practices that automate handling at each station to deliver a finished product with consistent results every time.”

Material analysis and testing play roles in purchasing the right automated system to provide these results. No matter the operation’s size, all companies can benefit from partnering with the right provider.

“We conduct roughly 600 tests annually at our test centre in Germany,” says Andre Lehmann, test centre manager, recycling, Germany for TOMRA Recycling in Mülheim-Kärlich. One of seven facilities worldwide, this main TOMRA Test Center is configured with the full array of the company’s latest sorting technologies.

A key supplier of TOMRA optical sorters for North America, Van Dyk Recycling Solutions operates North America’s largest

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test centre in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is newly equipped with five different TOMRA optical sorters, offering a “try before you buy” tool for waste processors as well as industry stakeholders.

“Our test centre can simulate many processes within a material recovery facility that you would find anywhere in North America,” says Alex Wolf, technical director for Van Dyk. “We run tests to validate results, open our facility to associations, brand owners, and packaging manufacturers, and test with high-volume plastics processors.”

The industry has matured to the point where not all materials and applications need to be tested.

“We don’t need to test materials like plastic bottle sorting, since we have a vast amount of data, experience, and installations handling the material,” says Lehmann. “However, new applications or difficult-to-process materials need process validation.”

TESTING EVOLUTION

Over the last two decades, companies like TOMRA and its plant building partners have evolved their testing facilities to reflect the challenges of the time.

“We have one test plant for automobile shredder residue (ASR), but it has gone through six different generations,” says Close. “Today, our facility is set up like a lab.”

The company’s lab has stations that include the TOMRA

Companies must take a holistic approach to designing a circuit that includes the right mix of equipment and technology. Testing with a trusted technology provider can help to maximize ROI.

Automation and advanced sorting technologies help deliver a high-quality recycled product at the desired profit margin.

TOMRA’s test centre in Mülheim-Kärlich, Germany.

FINDER for recovering non-ferrous metal fractions from ASR; X-TRACT using X-ray technology to sort Zorba to Twitch for furnace-ready recycled aluminum; and COMBISENSE for colour sorting heavy non-ferrous metals.

“Today, we can conduct our testing with four super sacks of material,” adds Close.

There was a time when sorting automation with sensor-based sorting was new. “In 2007, we had to convince our customers they needed to purchase optical sorters to reduce manual sorting,” recalls Wolf. Truckloads of material were shipped to testing facilities to validate the process and justify the investment.

Today, technology providers and plant builders have many installations where customers with similar waste streams can visit. As a next step, customers can send samples of their materials to a test facility to validate the process. Machines with high-resolution sensors include a myriad of technologies – near infrared, camera, X-ray, electromagnetic, laser, and deep learning – all designed to validate even the most complex sorting challenges with more accuracy.

“Before, material recovery facilities could get by with a higher percentage of contaminants in the final product, but that has changed with the end-market situation,” explains Wolf.

Ty Rhoad, regional director Americas for TOMRA Recycling adds, “This is why it’s critical to invest in the right sorting

Depending on complexity and objectives, it can take as little as a day or up to a week or longer to conduct testing.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

31

MRF OPERATIONS

TOMRA and its plant-building partners test materials with different sorting technologies to get the most ideal equipment to meet established goals.

technologies to meet the desired purity goals in the required number of steps.”

The Van Dyk test centre includes two TOMRA AUTOSORT units, AUTOSORT FINES, FINDER, and X-TRACT, along with a new technology to meet the emerging interest in flake sorting. “We are seeing a higher demand for plastic flake in North America, so we have added a new AUTOSORT FLAKE unit to our testing line,” says Wolf. In its short tenure, multiple tests have been run on the unit for customers.

The global increase in demand for flake sorting prompted TOMRA Recycling to open its new test centre in Parma, Italy. The facility is dedicated to plastic flake sorting and the development of new applications and solutions in the fields of polyolefins (PO) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) flake sorting.

“With our new Parma centre, we continue to advance solutions for recycling plants targeting to successfully upgrade plastics. The sorting line includes AUTOSORT FLAKE and INNOSORT FLAKE, which recover plastic flakes (PET, PO, PVC) as small as 0.079 inches (2 mm),” explains Rhoad. “AUTOSORT FLAKE excels in applications where contaminant levels are low, but quality standards are high. INNOSORT FLAKE will sort more contaminated streams and is available with a PO-specific sensor to sort polyolefins.”

GETTING THE RIGHT MIX

“We had a small shredder operator once ask for a FINDER to recover more non-ferrous fractions from the ASR stream,” says Close. Wendt Corporation ran material samples at its test centre and found that the sorter alone would not help the company reach its goals. “FINDER was a part of the solution, but the company needed other components as well,” he adds.

With the most recent technologies, recyclers should not go into plant upgrades or new system installations thinking that one component will be the solution. Rather, companies must take a holistic approach to designing a circuit that includes the right

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mix of equipment and technology. Testing with a trusted technology provider can help to maximize ROI. “Just as we are experts with sorting technology, recyclers must be aware that they are the experts with their materials, what products and impurities make up their stream and the desired outcome,” mentions Lehmann. “They must advise us whether they need 98 percent or 99.5 percent purity. We will test the material with different sorting technologies to get the best equipment for the desired number of handling steps.”

The process usually starts with meetings between sales and the customer. Depending on the material, the plant builder and/or technology provider may recommend visiting a plant with similar material flow, recommend a material test or do a mixture of both.

“Often, the test is a confirmation of what sales is recommending,” says Wolf. “However, we are seeing an increase in the amount of unusual material and non-standard applications, so in these instances testing is a must.”

When testing material, recyclers are responsible for proper material preparation. “We recommend that customers pre-treat the material with upstream processing equipment prior to sending it to TOMRA, so it will be similar to what our equipment will sort in the plant,” says Rhoad.

Plant builders like Wendt Corporation and Van Dyk often offer more upstream processing equipment as part of their test facilities, so less material preparation may be required.

“In addition to TOMRA machines, Van Dyk’s test centre includes an elliptical screen along with other mechanical 2D and 3D material separators,” says Wolf.

For processing end-of-life vehicles, “our test lab includes magnets, screens, and eddy currents in addition to the TOMRA FINDER, X-TRACT, and COMBISENSE,” adds Close.

Regardless of where testing occurs, all recommend in-person visits to the facility when their material is running. “It is beneficial for customers to see their material being tested and

how the different technologies are employed to help reach their goals,” says Lehmann.

Close adds, “We know it works. It’s best if the customer can see, learn, and understand how the testing works.”

TOMRA process engineers examine the material and consider the customer’s objectives to determine the necessary technology or blend of technologies required. They measure production capacity, determine air demands, and evaluate the material recovery and purity. Generated reports consist of flow charts with the recommended sorting technologies and the required steps to reach goals.

“Depending on material complexity and objectives, it can take as little as a day or up to a week or longer to conduct testing,” explains Lehmann. On average, it takes between 8 to 10 weeks from first meetings to test completion and reporting.

PUSH TO AUTOMATE

As the industry advances automation, testing is key to success. “We are always pushing the boundaries, and we now have plants that sort to furnace-ready aluminum,” says Close. “There is a vision of full plant automation with workers in a control room that receive and react to data, where quality control hand picking is handled by robots.”

Deep learning and artificial intelligence are assisting the industry to advance this sorting automation. “With TOMRA GAIN, we use deep learning to sort more complex material fractions, and we can tie the entire system – or multiple systems from different loca-

GRAPPLES

MAGNET GENERATORS

With the most recent technologies, recyclers should not go into plant upgrades or new system installations thinking that one component will be the solution. tions – together with TOMRA Insight data reporting,” says Rhoad.

Wolf agrees, adding that the industry has always set its sight on reducing labour through more automation. However, he sees limitations with today’s technology in reaching the fully autonomous plant.

“Full automation drives up the investment, which may negatively impact the ROI of the overall project,” says Wolf. “We have seen this with the advent of robots. They are not the silver bullet answer to everything as originally thought, and it’s all application dependent.”

RICK ZETTLER is a technical writer based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

33

EQUIPMENT ROUNDUP

QUICK CHANGE SYSTEM TURNS SCRAP HANDLERS INTO MOBILE SHEARS HOW SENNEBOGEN’S VARIO TOOL IS HELPING ONE MACHINE DO THE WORK OF MANY

W

hen Kelly Frantzich went shopping for new material handlers for Pacific Steel & Recycling, he got more than he bargained for.

The company’s management team had agreed that some of its smaller yards needed more processing capacity. Frantzich, as the firm’s equipment manager, was fielding requests to several OEMs for mobile shears mounted on a wheeled machine. Colleen Miller at SENNEBOGEN said yes to the request, then bought an 830 M paired with a new engineered multi-function system that SENNEBOGEN had recently introduced in Europe.

As Miller explained to the Pacific Steel managers, the new SENNEBOGEN Vario Tool would give their yards a mobile shear that could still perform traditional scrap-handling duties. The Vario Tool is designed especially for scrap processing and demolition work. A unique coupling system connects the boom and a custom stick to one of several attachments including a shear, orange peel grapple, clamshell bucket, lifting hooks, or even a magnet, without having to get out of the machine.

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recyclingproductnews.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

IMPROVED MACHINE UTILIZATION

According to Frantzich, “We were intrigued by the idea for some of our smaller yards where we don't get full utilization of a shear machine and material handler. Or it might be a good fit for larger yards where we’re doing some offloading, plus we get the shear too. The Vario Tool is designed to complete all the required connections for each attachment automatically, so operators are able to switch from one to another, in two minutes or less, without leaving the cab.”

With the Vario Tool system installed on a wheeled SENNEBOGEN 825, 830, or 835, Frantzich says having one machine able to do two jobs or more, would allow significant savings, compared to a single-use machine that would otherwise be utilized only 15 to 20 percent of the time.

Jack Stoken, operations manager at Pacific Steel’s facility in Kalispell, Montana, agrees. Stoken’s yard was the first to receive one of the three Vario Tool machines that Pacific Steel ordered.

“We are a mid- to smaller-sized yard for this company with

Stoken says that, along with the Vario Tool feature, service support was a deciding factor in going with SENNEBOGEN. One of Stoken’s technicians is among a group of seven Pacific Steel & Recycling staff who were enrolled in

E RID

ASP shops receive the same training and same access to parts as a SENNEBOGEN distributor.

Pacific Steel has been working with SENNEBOGEN machines in various locations since 2007. “SENNEBOGEN has proven themselves to us,” says Frantzich. “They are in for the long haul; material handlers is all they do. It’s a good quality product.”

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SERVICE SUPPORT WAS A DECIDING FACTOR

the hands-on factory training program at SENNEBOGEN’s training centre in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The yard is also supported by a local heavy equipment shop who now have a factory-trained SENNEBOGEN mechanic on their team. Located just 10 minutes from the Pacific Steel facility, they were quick to enroll in SENNEBOGEN’s ASP – Authorized Service Provider program.

G DU AS • ST DI & O ESE DO L • R C EL ON ECT TR RI OL C EQ UI PM EN T

our scrap iron business. We have a scrap handler and we have a Genesis shear on another machine. We handle a lot of shred here, with relatively little heavy iron. But we needed a little bit more capacity because we were falling behind in our processing,” says Stoken.

Stoken’s SENNEBOGEN 830 M arrived this past September, equipped with the Vario Tool and two attachments: A Genesis 555 rotator shear and a hydraulic grapple.

“Adding a new 830 with the Vario Tool attachment seemed to make sense,” he says. “The 830, with its high-flow hydraulics circuit, has plenty of power to run the shear. It will be a scrap-handler most of the time but it will also fill in as a shear. It’s less costly to buy one machine versus two; it gives us more options and it’s able to cover both of the other machines if one goes down.”

Stoken continues: “Our main demand is unloading customers, feeding balers, loading trucks. Right now, our shear is out of the yard on a large project, so we have the 830 filling in with the shear.

This allows us to offer more services to our clients without sacrificing productivity in the yard. Changing the attachments is very easy and can be done in under two minutes. We will be mounting a camera on the boom to give the operator a better look when coupling.

It will get even quicker as they get more experienced with it.”

F

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

35

EQUIPMENT ROUNDUP

SHEARS

FOR SCRAP PROCESSING & DEMOLITION

LABOUNTY MSD LEGEND SERIES

1 CATERPILLAR S3070

36

recyclingproductnews.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

2

3

SHEARCORE FORTRESS FS95

ROTAR RSS SERIES

4 1

LaBounty’s full lineup of MSD Legend Series shears round out the company’s mobile scrap shear portfolio and can be equipped with InSite, which provides real-time data to optimize shear performance and productivity.

InSite is an advanced telematics platform that provides actionable information about the shears’ condition and activity, such as job tracking, job site mapping, and remote diagnostics. With the InSite app, users have access to valuable information that helps customers optimize shear performance. The Legend Series shears deliver 360-degree rotation with improved balance, a more durable lower jaw, long-lasting index blade, and wear bar protectors for maintaining heavy-wear surfaces.

2

Designed specifically for excavators working in scrap and demolition applications, the Cat S3070 offers an ideal force-toweight ratio that yields faster cycle times and more cuts per hour. Its 360-degree rotating configuration allows the shear to be positioned in optimum cutting positions without moving the carrier. The new speed valve cuts down on the “wasted” close-to-contact time resulting in more cuts per hour – processing up to 28 percent more tons per hour. The structures are built to endure 40 percent over the anticipated load, and the hydraulics have a 4:1 pressure margin in key components.

Hand tools are all that’s needed to replace individual wear components. The blades and tip can be swapped in about 45 minutes.

3

The ShearCore Fortress FS95 is engineered with an optimized structure for long life and high strength to weight ratio. The shear is designed with maintenance in mind that includes a large, removable access panel for component replacement. There is a significantly enlarged pivot group that eliminates the need for auto guide and dramatically improves the performance and durability of the shear, along with a massive two-piece piercing tip which doubles the size of the protected area. The upper and lower jaws are made from 6-inch high-yield structural plate steel which significantly reduces the need for laminations.

4

The Rotar RSS Series is fitted with replaceable cutting knives and completely encased nose knives. The jaw design forces material deep into the jaws, where cutting power is at its maximum. The body is assembled from highgrade performance steel and wear-resistant materials. The shears have a strong rotating upper head and a heavy-duty, double-rowed slewing ring.

The hydraulic motor and the gearbox in the upper head generate high torque, allowing the shears to be moved in every possible position. The hydraulic cylinder with integrated speed valve allows the jaws to close quickly. The RSS can also switch from speed to power mode when more cutting power is needed.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

37

EQUIPMENT ROUNDUP

SHEARS

FOR SCRAP PROCESSING & DEMOLITION

EPIROC SC 6200

1 OKADA OS SERIES

38

recyclingproductnews.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

2

3

GENSCO ZATO CAYMAN II

KINSHOFER DXS SERIES

4 1

The Epiroc SC 6200 hydraulic steel cutter for 30- to 75-ton excavators delivers 360-degree endless hydraulic rotation allows optimal positioning and precise handling. An integrated speed valve results in faster working cycles. The cutting blades and piercing knives are replaceable. When operating, forcing the material to where the cutter exerts the greatest force, the optimally shaped jaw cuts through steel easily, no matter the size. Epiroc also offers HATCON (Hydraulic Attachment Tools Connectivity) for fleet management by monitoring operating hours, location, and service intervals of tools. The GPS function is available factory mounted or as a retrofit kit for premium range breakers and drum cutters. Data can be accessed through a computer or phone.

2

Okada’s OS Series Scrap Shear is versatile work tool made for cutting ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, concrete, pipe, solid round I-beams, and plate materials. The OS Series Shear is engineered for the 13,000- to 20,000-pound-class carrier, as well as skid steers in the 6,500 to 11,000 pound class – which provides flexibility to access hard to reach areas of demolition jobs. The Model OS 60 delivers up to 159 tons of cutting force.

3

The new Zato Cayman II mobile scrap and demolition shears feature an increased jaw apex.

They can mount to a carrier’s second- or third-member position with a special design for material handlers. A regen valve improves cycle times by up to 35 percent. Indexable cutting blades are tapped and threaded for easy removal.

Enclosed piercing tips are designed to discharge heat.

The shears have a shrouded pivot design with a spherical ball joint. A dual adjustment clutch on the moving jaw provides stability and alignment which can increase cutting power. They also have a waterproof design and a corrosion-resistant finish.

4

The Kinshofer DXS mobile shear series with 360-degree rotation has been engineered to achieve an optimal power to weight ratio. This tool can be used for a wide variety of jobs including concrete and steel construction demolition, scrapyards, conditioning of industrial mixed scrap, and even processing steel-reinforced concrete. All wear cutting blades can be turned four times and, whenever material gets jammed, they can be loosened from outside. The piercing tip is also exchangeable and weldable.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | recyclingproductnews.com

39

EQUIPMENT APPLICATIONS

TWIN-SHAFT SHREDDERS FOR EFFICIENT, ACCURATE SIZE REDUCTION LINDNER’S SYNCHRONOUS CUTTING SYSTEM USES SIMPLE PRINCIPLES FOR ONE-STEP SIZE REDUCTION

T

he way a twin-shaft shredding unit works is fairly simple: two tools moving in opposite directions draw in the collected waste material for shredding and rip it into smaller pieces. If it is purely about volume reduction, this can be achieved with conventionally designed shafts. Some applications, however, require specific particle sizes for their processes.

Plants that recover energy

from waste wood, for example, are usually designed with a standardized particle size in mind. Oversized particles in the material stream can block the conveyors and too many fines can negatively affect combustion or lead to lumps jamming the facility. Therefore, if the required size is not obtained in the first shredding step, the material must be treated further.

Additional processing is costly and reduces the

The geometry of the cutting edges uses the Archimedes’ screw principle to ensure an aggressive material intake.

40

recyclingproductnews.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

Urraco shredders can produce a standardized particle size with less than 4 percent fines during waste wood shredding.

recycler’s profit margins.

To avoid these problems, Lindner’s synchronous fine cutting system is specifically designed based on two simple principles.

ALL ABOUT THE ANGLES

The easiest way to achieve smaller particle sizes would be to reduce the gap between the individual cutting tools.

Conventional shaft pairs crush the material with rippers acting in parallel. If the effective working range were extended, the amount of force required and the energy consumption would increase significantly. However, if the angle between the knives is changed, they act just like scissors, effectively applying force to a much smaller area. This massively increases the individual tools’ impact while maintaining the same energy consumption.

Using Lindner’s SF cutting unit, due to the arrangement of the knives, rippers, and small blocks, material is shredded up to four times in one pass. According to Lindner, this results in smaller

particles with a low percentage of fines, and since less force is needed, the shafts are subject to less stress, which in turn reduces maintenance and increases the cutting unit’s service life.

ARCHIMEDEAN SCREWS FOR UNIFORM OUTPUT

The second design principle that Lindner utilizes consists of a shaft with two cutting edges that are not parallel to each other. Due to this arrangement, the two shafts act like two Archimedean screws rotating in opposite directions. This aggressive intake increases throughput and mixes the final fraction to create an output that is as homogeneous as possible.

According to Lindner, with just a single pass, its twinshaft shredders from the Urraco or Miura series equipped with these tools produce a standardized P100 particle size with less than four percent fines during waste wood shredding and, depending on the configuration, will process from 20 to 120 metric tonnes per hour.

Model 4 The new model 4 E-Z log Baler is just what mid size scrap yards have been asking for! Priced right for any yard — small, mid size, or large!

Like the Model 3, the NEW Model 4 has no set up time and a very low cost to operate.

The one man operations are all handled from the newly designed cab. With the 400º rotation crane and a reach of 27’ adding the continuous rotation grapple, it makes loading the larger chamber a breeze.

Taking your loose scrap to a highly sought after shreddable log.

— Cycles in under 2 minutes!

— Produces up to 70 tons per day.

— Fully portable in the closed position.

— New seat design for more operator comfort.

LAST WORD

LAST WORD DRYWALL RECYCLING: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

BY JASON HAUS

R

ecovering and reusing drywall has long been a challenge for the C&D recycling industry. Questions about how to recycle this material are fielded regularly by the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA) from both the public and government officials, as everyone wants to see this ubiquitous product recovered. When sent to a construction material recycling facility, mixed in with other C&D debris, drywall breaks up into small pieces or into smaller fines material, which can create challenges.

C&D fines, usually about 3-inch or less, are an unavoidable byproduct of processing construction materials into usable end products, because of modern demolition techniques that mainly use excavator attachments to break down buildings at the job site. Material then bounces around in the back of a truck on its way to the recycling centre. About 30 percent of the output from a C&D recycling plant consists of fines created from this process, and the most common end market has been as alternative daily

In response to the industry’s increasing needs, the CDRA has established a new Gypsum Recycling Committee that will be made up of all stakeholders in the recovery of wallboard, from manufacturers and contractors to processors and end markets. cover (ADC) for landfills. However, when not handled or applied properly at the landfill, hydrogen sulfide gas can develop, and that rotten egg smell does not go over well with any facility’s neighbours. Besides ADC, alternative end markets for C&D fines include soil enhancement and the cement industry.

Still, an overall lack of sustainable end markets is a major challenge for drywall recyclers, especially for post-consumer demolition drywall. Because of concern over contaminants, most government agencies do not allow recycling of this type of material. In British Columbia, however, it is allowed, and

42

recyclingproductnews.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

CDRA Sponsor Member New West Gypsum has long been able to not only recover gypsum, but process it efficiently and to high enough standards so that it can very effectively be used in the production of new drywall.

B.C. and New West Gypsum are rarities. Most of North America allows only construction cut-offs to be recycled, and markets are limited almost everywhere. While closed loop recycling of drywall is far from common, there is currently some pressure on drywall manufacturers to find ways to create them more often.

Recently, there has been a big push to recycle more drywall.

Most recently, in response to the industry’s increasing needs, the CDRA has established a new Gypsum Recycling Committee made up of all stakeholders in the recovery of wallboard, from manufacturers and contractors to processors and end markets.

Initial goals of this committee include: • Creating a drywall diversion policy to develop clear definitions on what types of wallboard can and should be recovered and marketed back to manufacturers, with the goal of creating more closed loops.

• Developing end product specifications that recyclers have to meet in order to sell recovered material back to drywall manufacturers.

• Creating best management practices for contractors and processors.

• Working with drywall companies to set post-recycled content rates for new drywall.

• Promoting the fact that recyclers must be third-party certified, using a program developed to an ISO level, so accurate diversion rates can be obtained, and promoting the fact that drywall manufacturers should use a similar certification program to demonstrate the recycled content of their products.

• Defining specifications for other end products made from recycled drywall.

The committee will also be updating the CDRA’s current Gypsum Recycling Protocol to reflect these actions, and the CDRA’s website at cdrecycling.org. Any CDRA member can become a part of this committee, which met for the first time, virtually, on January 19.

Challenge accepted, drywall recycling.

JASON HAUS is CEO of Dem-Con Companies, Shakopee, Minnesota, and is a past president of the CDRA.

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ADVERTISER INDEX 3 Tek............................................................................... 3 American Baler......................................................13 BKT Tires......................................................................9 Buffalo Turbine.....................................................35 CP Group...................................................................25 Gensco Equipment............................................33 Herbold Meckesheim USA........................... 45 Industrial Netting............................................... 26 ISRI............................................................................... 43 Machinex Industries Inc................................48 OverBuilt Inc.......................................................... 27 PMR...............................................................................21 R.M. Johnson Co................................................... 41 SENNEBOGEN LLC........................................... 47 Shred-Tech................................................................. 7 SWANA...................................................................... 45

HOW RECYCLING CENTRES CAN ENHANCE WORKPLACE SAFETY WITH MACHINE UPDATES

TORXX Kinetic Inc...............................................35 VAN DYK Recycling Solutions....................... 2

THE STATE OF AUTO RECYCLING: COMMENTARY FROM AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLERS OF CANADA

46

recyclingproductnews.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

E H T D N O BEY

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sheared the sawhead on r to ta ro e th EN, and they n for rnoon. The pi ached out to SENNEBOG part! I’m te af e th in 0 It was 5:0 and they re as a 500 lb ence. lled my dealer the next morning! That w a good experi right off! I ca 0 en :3 8 be ’s by It s . u st to fa had the part t it to us that Coventry, RI they could ge Tree Service, k amazed that ic w ar W o, Derek Onepp anley, NC arehouse in St 0,000 sq.ft. w n 24 hours for any part 10 ’s EN G O SENNEB te withi % order-fill ra th America. maintains a 98 service in Nor in y tl en rr cu ne hi for any mac

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NO COMPROMISE WHEN IT COMES TO SAFETY 1

Internal guard rail protecting the individual from falling into ejection chutes

81" height clearance

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Safety sensors monitoring optical sorter’s mode (maintenance and cleaning, operation)

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Retractable mobile plateform ensuring safety and stability during maintenance while eliminating fall protection and customary tie off requirements

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Splitter on rail Main splitter rotating during operation preventing material accumulation

THE OPTICAL SORTER DESIGNED FOR PERFORMANCE & SAFETY Delivering some of the most secure sorting systems for 30 years, Machinex continues to provide innovative equipment designed for SAFETY. Our internal Health & Safety Committee combines numerous certified CMSE® - Certified Machinery Safety Expert members, whom are highly engaged when designing equipment such as the Mach Hyspec optical sorter. Constantly focusing on industries’ requirements for SAFETY, Machinex Experts actively contribute to drafting those requirements as proud members of the National Waste & Recycling Association ANSI Z245 Accredited Standards Committee.

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