The metal packaging products company Crown Holdings Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia, has announced plans to build a beverage can plant in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to meet growing demand for the product in Asia.

Crown says the new plant will be sized to accommodate multiple can lines and will have an initial annual production capacity of 725 million two-piece 33-centiliter aluminum cans per year. The facility is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2013 and will be Crown’s second beverage can plant in Cambodia; the company has a two-line operation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“Cambodia is growing at a steady pace, and this in turn is driving increased demand for our customers’ products, and we are experiencing a preference on their part for two-piece aluminum beverage cans,” says Jozef Salaerts, president of CROWN Asia-Pacific. “This newest investment is supported by a long-term contract with a major brewer and is consistent with the company’s growth plans. Crown has been manufacturing beverage cans in Southeast Asia for more than 40 years, and this expansion project underscores our commitment to support the growing needs of our global and regional customers and to help them continue to build their brands in the region."

Crown currently operates seven beverage can plants in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Earlier this year Crown Holding announced plans to build a new beverage can plant in Danang, Vietnam which is expected to begin commercial production in second quarter of 2013.

The California Department of Industrial Relations' (DIR) Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued 36 citations totaling $38,895 in penalties to American Reclamation Inc., a Los Angeles-based solid waste company, its South Coast Fibers Inc. recycling subsidiary and the company’s staffing agency, Steno Employment Services Inc.

According to an OSHA release, Cal/OSHA's investigation was triggered by a complaint from a Southern California advocacy group November 2011 about unsafe conditions workers had reported. 

“This serves as a reminder to all California employers that ensuring the safety of your workers is essential,” says Christine Baker, DIR’s director. “We stand ready to investigate complaints and enforce workplace safety laws.”

“Our investigation confirmed a number of serious risks to workers in the recycling industry,” says Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess. “Workers need to be trained on the hazards they face, and employers should have adequate safety programs in place to prevent serious injuries and illnesses. We appreciate the work of advocacy groups that educate workers on their rights and assist in bringing these kinds of workplace safety hazards to our attention so that we can do our job protecting workers.”

Cal/OSHA issued five serious violations, including: a failure to follow a written program to prevent workers' entry into machinery before the energy is shut off, an unsafe work platform raised on a fork lift and various unguarded pieces of machinery that could lead to amputations and other serious injuries.

The investigation also revealed multiple violations for the three companies that included no permit-required confined space entry programs, no heat illness prevention training, no drinking water for drivers and helpers in the field and an inadequate injury and illness prevention program.

American Reclamation operates refuse collection trucks in Los Angeles County. South Coast Fibers purchases, processes and markets all recyclables such as cardboard boxes, glass, metal, plastic and paper. Steno Employment Services, Inc. provides workers' compensation insurance and payroll services to both companies.

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) and its affiliated companies, headquartered in Tokyo, have announced that they have collected for recycling about 6 million used beverage cans (UBCs) in 2011. Showa Denko is a manufacturer and marketer of chemical products servicing a range of industries, including the aluminum industry. Showa Aluminum Can Corp., a consolidated subsidiary of SDK, started aluminum can recycling activities in 1972.

The activities spread across the Showa Denko Group in 2001.The collected aluminum cans are used by Showa Aluminum Can Corp. to produce new aluminum beverage cans. The group adds that it donates money generated through its recycling program to regional welfare organizations, charities and volunteer groups that aid people with special needs.

In addition to the recycling of aluminum cans, Showa Denko reports that it uses scrap plastic as feedstock at its Kawasaki, Japan, plant, gasifying it for use as synthesis gas for ammonia production.

SDK also announced plans to reorganize its industrial waste recycling program by integrating recycle programs independently managed by each plant into a companywide comprehensive program. The goal of the project is to promote further reduction of industrial waste generated by production processes.

As of May 2012, 9 SDK plants have attained zero emission through the new efforts. In total, the company as a whole reports that 2.2 percent of the company’s annual industrial waste is landfilled.

The company adds that as a first step to organize its companywide recycle program, SDK will reprocess organic discharges from its domestic plants through the plastic chemical recycle plant in SDK’s Kawasaki, Japan, plant where they are reused as raw materials to produce ammonia and liquefied carbon dioxide.

Phoenix-based Republic Services has inaugurated its Jacksonville, Fla., material recovery facility (MRF). The MRF, with processing lines built by Machinex started operating at the beginning of April.

“We believe Republic Services appointed Machinex for the project because of the design proposed, which truly took into consideration all of the market conditions for Jacksonville that were presented to the bidders,” says Nicolas Belanger, President of Machinex Technologies. “With a combination of dual-stream and the future conversion of single-stream, Machinex designed a solution to handle the needs of today with strong consideration of the growth for tomorrow. We brought them a different approach.”