News Room

STAY CURRENT

www.recyclingproductnews.com

CONNECT WITH US @RecyclingPN

CUTTING-EDGE MACHINEX MRF TO SERVE SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Australia’s most recent MRF, located in Seaford Heights, South Adelaide, was inaugurated this fall in collaboration between the Southern Region Waste Resource Authority (SRWRA) and Re.Group. This facility can process 60,000 tonnes per year of single-stream recycling; commodities include plastics, paper and metal. RDT Engineering and long-time partner Machinex were commissioned to design and equip the facility with highly automated components such as seven MACH Hyspec Optical Sorters, two MACH Ballistic Separators and two additional screen separators.

According to David Rowland, RDT Engineering’s chief executive officer, “RDT is extremely proud of our long partnership with Machinex. Their world-leading technology has been integral in our projects across Australia and New Zealand. We are thrilled to be currently installing Machinex’ new SamurAI robots. This innovation will boost the efficiency of the site and sets it as Australia’s newest state-of-the-art MRF.”

Jonathan Ménard, VP sales and strategic positioning at Machinex commented, “From one project to another, the close collaboration developed over the years between RDT Engineering and Machinex allows for great results. Their extended experience integrating recycling technologies is instrumental to achieve this cutting-edge system’s optimal performance.”

CMI COMMITS TO 70 PERCENT ALUMINUM BEVERAGE CAN RECYCLING RATE BY 2030

Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) members in the U.S. have committed to achieving a 70 percent recycling rate by 2030. The aluminum beverage can recycling rate was approximately 45 percent in 2020, and the industry aims to attain even higher recycling rates beyond 2030, with an 80 percent rate by 2040 and more than 90 percent by 2050. According to CMI, these targets will improve the circularity of the aluminum beverage can while demonstrating the industry’s dedication to ensuring the aluminum beverage can remains the most sustainable package on the market. The industry plans to publish a road map in early 2022 with details on how these targets will be achieved.

NEW ATLAS SHOWS SCOPE AND LOCATIONS OF GLOBAL PLASTIC WASTE DUMP SITES

The Seattle-based global environmental watchdog organization, Basel Action Network (BAN), has worked with academics at Columbia and Yale Universities on the release of The Atlas of Plastic Waste. The Atlas is a collaboration between the Basel Action Network (BAN) and graduate students Matthew Gordon (Yale) and Anna Papp (Columbia), mapping thousands of plastic waste dumps scattered around the world. The project aims to harness human discoveries, along with inputs from satellite and computer technology to identify and map sites in every country where plastic waste ends up in the terrestrial environment.

According to BAN, the goal is to provide an evolving database that will raise awareness with environmental officials and the general public on the unsustainable characteristics of plastic and how it has become an unwanted geographic feature of our collective landscape and biosphere.

ALOCA’S UPGRADE PROCESS AIMS TO SALVAGE LOW-QUALITY ALUMINUM SCRAP

Alcoa’s newly announced ASTRAEA process can convert low-quality aluminum scrap to quality levels exceeding commercial smelter purity requirements, potentially making supplies of unused aluminum scrap, such as Zorba, much more valuable. According to Alcoa, their new process can take any post-consumer aluminum scrap, regardless of alloy combination, and upgrade it to highly pure, commodity-grade material. This pure metal can then be blended with less pure scrap to produce a metal that meets purity thresholds high enough for most rolling mill and extrusion applications. The process substantially increases the types of post-consumer aluminum scrap that can be used as raw material.

ISRI CONGRATULATES U.S. HOUSE FOLLOWING PASSAGE OF OCEAN SHIPPING REFORM ACT

Following months of advocating on behalf of the recycling industry regarding unfair ocean shipping detention and demurrage charges, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has released the following statement in support of the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of the Ocean

Shipping Reform Act:

“ISRI congratulates the U.S. House of Representatives for the passage of this important piece of legislation, following months of supply chain backlogs and harm to our nation’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an important first step toward addressing both the long-term unfair shipping practices employed by ocean carriers and helping to solve the nation’s supply chain disruptions that are impacting the recycling industry as well as every sector of our nation’s economy. We urge the U.S. Senate to move quickly to also pass this bill. ISRI will continue to work with our coalition partners to advance this bill and improve our nation’s transportation networks.”

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

Turn to page 16 for our recap of the year, including our picks for the top equipment and technology introductions, and for the most impactful news stories of 2021.

WM FIVE-YEAR RECYCLING INVESTMENTS TO EXCEED $700 MILLION BY 2022

Waste Management (WM) expects to invest $200 million USD in recycling infrastructure in 2022, bringing the company’s total investment in new and upgraded recycling facilities to over $700 million since 2018. Driven largely by increasing demand for recycled content products, WM says its growth has enabled the capture of more recycled materials and increased access to recycling for customers. Since 2019, WM reports recycling of specific types of plastic such as polypropylene (#5 PP), including items such as shampoo, medicine bottles and yogurt cups, has increased by as much as 40 percent. The company has also stated plans to outfit 95 percent of its residential recycling facilities with updated technology, by 2023.

MORE NEWS

www.recyclingproductnews.com

SCRAP UNIVERSITY PARTNERS WITH CARI AND ISRI ON TRAINING FOR RECYCLERS

Both the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI) and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) have established partnerships and formalized education agreements with Scrap University. Established at the end of 2020, Scrap U founders Kate Fraser and Brad Rudover, along with their faculty, have developed the industry’s first scrapyard training and metal identification certification program.

The Certified Scrap Metal Professional (CSMP) program provides comprehensive training for operators and employees of scrapyards with a focus on metal identification and upgrading, covering almost every ferrous and non-ferrous grade through a series of online video-based lessons, quizzes and a final exam.

As part of the agreement with ISRI and CARI, all association members now have access to Scrap University’s education, training and certification at discounted rates.

COMPETITION BUREAU CHALLENGES GFL ACQUISITION OF TERRAPURE

Canada’s Competition Bureau is challenging GFL Environmental’s 2021 purchase of Terrapure Environmental Inc. According to the Competition Bureau, prior to the transaction, Terrapure was GFL’s closest competitor in multiple markets in Western Canada. The Bureau concluded that the transaction has likely substantially lessened competition in the collection and processing of industrial waste on Vancouver Island, in the B.C. Interior and in Central Alberta, as well as into Saskatchewan. On November 30, 2021, the Bureau filed an application with the Competition Tribunal for a court order requiring GFL to sell any assets necessary to remedy the likely substantial lessening of competition resulting from the acquisition.

GFL Environmental stated that it intends to work cooperatively with the Competition Bureau to resolve this matter.

CALGARY AGGREGATE RECYCLING AWARDED $8 MILLION GRANT TO CONSTRUCT CANADA’S FIRST SOIL REUSE FACILITY

Calgary Aggregate Recycling (CAR) has been awarded $8 million in funding from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) to develop a fully operational soil reuse facility — the first of its kind in Canada and second in North America, according to the company. This new soil reuse facility will be built within CAR’s current facility and will recycle contaminated and mixed soils unsuitable for use in new construction, leading to significant waste reduction, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, economic recovery and long-term sustainability. The facility will have the capacity to recycle 600,000 tonnes of excavated construction materials annually, redirect 510,000 tonnes of soil from landfills, and reduce GHG emissions in Alberta by an estimated 22,567 tonnes per year.