Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA), Westchester, Illinois, has opened a new branch location in Commerce City, Colorado. The company, an auto salvage and auction firm, is a business unit of KAR Auction Services.

The company says the new location will enhance its presence in the Denver market and provide customers with more options and efficient service at auction. In addition to buying and selling operable vehicles, IAA also purchases “salvage and total loss” vehicles.

IAA says the opening further demonstrates the company’s commitment to its customers through continued expansion and highlights an increased footprint of more than 165 facilities throughout North America.

“IAA is committed to giving our customers the highest level of customer service and the easiest options at auction -- whether buying or selling vehicles,” says John Kett, IAA’s CEO and president. “We have experienced strong growth in Denver and we are pleased to demonstrate our commitment to the local community with a new environmentally friendly facility in Commerce City. We continue to hold the largest footprint in our industry, with more than 165 locations in North America and growing.”

The new Denver East facility increases IAA’s capacity in the Denver market to more than 60 acres. The facility was constructed to include a number of environmentally friendly features, including LED lighting, enhanced insulation materials and the use of recycled asphalt for the surface, fly ash for the base material and recycled concrete for the rock base.

The company also announced plans to purchase 30 acres in Bergen, New York. The company is looking to move its Rochester, New York, location to Bergen.

A local press report says the Genesee County (New York) Economic Development Corp. has given the company approval to operate at the site.

Two Canadian organizations involved in the packaging industry in Quebec -- Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ) and the Carton Council of Canada (CCC) -- have signed a collaborative agreement that seeks to promote initiatives “to optimize the curbside collection value chain in Quebec.” The objective of the agreement is to increase the quantity of recyclables being collected and to improve recycling rates for shelf-stable cartons and gable-top cartons that are collected through the province’s curbside collection program.

“ÉEQ is proud to partner with such a dynamic industry organization, with whom we share common goals that include the dissemination of best practices and the optimization of the curbside collection value chain,” says Maryse Vermette, president and CEO of ÉEQ. “We believe that this approach is a winning one for all system stakeholders, and we hope to inspire other groups to follow suit and help increase the quantity and quality of the material collected.”

The two partners have committed to supporting one another’s efforts and collaborating in three areas: sharing and dissemination of information through communication tools and participation in task forces; the introduction of joint awareness and education initiatives through the promotion of practices and the support of municipalities; and financial support for initiatives needed to optimize the curbside collection value chain.

“We share the same vision of Quebec curbside collection and hope to jointly establish awareness channels across the province,” says Élisabeth Comère, CCC’s vice president for government affairs. “Our partnership will help overcome obstacles associated with the misconceptions of some stakeholders about curbside collection as it pertains to carton recycling and will enable us to promote the options that exist for carton end markets. The support of ÉEQ will give us a major boost in achieving our objectives.”

ÉEQ is responsible for developing the schedule of contributions and collecting the contributions from companies that are then redistributed to fund the province’s municipal curbside recycling services. The CCC represents shelf-stable and gable-top carton manufacturing companies. Its founding members are Elopak, Evergreen Packaging, SIG Combibloc and Tetra Pak.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has chosen the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER), based in Vienna, West Virginia, to manage and maintain the statewide collection, transportation and recycling network for Oregon’s State Contractor Program for electronics recycling that is conducted under Oregon E-Cycles.

Under the program, all manufacturers are participants in the state contractor program unless they choose to participate in and meet the qualifications for an individual or group recycling program.

DEQ continues to administer the overall Oregon E-Cycles program.

Through a competitive bid process, NCER demonstrated its ability to fulfill program requirements and provide additional time-saving tools that it will use to operate efficiently and provide savings to manufacturers funding the electronics recycling program.

NCER has implemented the Oregon E-Cycles state contractor program since the program began in 2008.

“NCER is very excited to continue working with the Oregon DEQ to manage the state contractor program for Oregon E-Cycles,” says Jason Linnell, NCER’s executive director. “For the past six years, the NCER-managed contractor program has provided convenient electronics collection for Oregonians with rigorous environmental standards for recycling, all while providing a cost-effective solution for manufacturers.”

DEQ’s new contract with NCER will begin Jan. 1, 2015 and end on Jan. 31, 2018. It includes an option to extend for one to three years.

NCER reports to Oregon DEQ and is tasked with the following overall objectives, among others:

• Provide efficient and cost-effective statewide collection, transportation and recycling services for computers, monitors and TVs on behalf of participating manufacturers. Beginning in January 2015, Oregon E-Cycles will expand to include the collection and recycling of printers and computer peripherals such as keyboards and mice.
• Provide convenient and available year-round collection services statewide free of charge to households, businesses and non-profit organizations that employ 10 or fewer individuals, or any person giving seven or fewer covered electronic devices to a collector at any one time.
• Provide oversight to assure that collectors, transporters and recyclers participating in the state contractor program adhere to Oregon DEQ’s environmental management practices and collection system standards.
• Provide accurate, auditable tracking and reporting on the amounts of devices returned and managed through the state contractor program and on payments for services provided. 
• The Oregon E-Cycles website provides a database of collection locations and a list of manufacturers who are compliant with the program and other program information.
   

Covanta Haverhill, Haverhill, Mass.

The waste management and renewable energy firm Covanta, headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, has reached an agreement with the city of Boston that will result in the city shipping about 140,000 tons of solid waste per year to Covanta’s Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facilities in Massachusetts. The agreement began July 1, 2014.

“We’re very pleased to have been chosen yet again by the city of Boston to provide reliable and sustainable waste disposal services at our EfW facilities.” says D. Scott Peterson, Covanta’s market area vice president. “This new contract term continues our current 14-year-long standing partnership. By choosing energy-from-waste, the city is able to generate clean energy from solid waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would have been created had they chosen to send their waste to landfills.”

Covanta SEMASS, West Wareham, Mass.

“Covanta has been a very good and reliable partner,” says Michael Dennehy, Boston’s interim commissioner for Public Works. “Their generous support over the years for programs such as Boston Shines and the consistent dependable disposal options Covanta provides Boston have had a positive impact on the cleanliness of Boston neighborhoods.”

Covanta owns and/or operates four EfW facilities and seven transfer stations in Massachusetts. In total, the Massachusetts facilities process more than two million tons per year of solid waste generated from residential and commercial customers throughout the state.