>> MUNICIPAL RECYCLING
WMRA Acquires Canusa Hershman Plants
Houston-based Waste Management Inc. has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Waste Management Recycle America (WMRA) has acquired two Canusa Hershman Recycling Co. (CHRC) facilities in Baltimore and Manassas, Va., and a third facility in Springfield, Va., that was co-owned by Canusa Corp. and the Washington Post Co.
In a news release, WMRA says the acquisition will enable the company to expand its residential, commercial and institutional recycling services in Maryland, Virginia and the greater Mid-Atlantic region. The new facilities, including a single-stream material recovery facility (MRF), will add more than 30,000 tons per month of sorting capacity to the company.
“The Mid-Atlantic region is a highly competitive market, and we are intent on providing our customers in this region with the highest level of service, including robust recycling options,” says Pat DeRueda, WMRA president. “Recent performance of the three facilities has been impressive, including their ability to expand operations and grow volumes. We look forward to adding these talented employees to the Waste Management team as we integrate the recycling facilities into our regional operations.”
Ethan Hershman, CEO of CHRC (profiled in the June 2003 issue of Recycling Today), adds, “It was a difficult decision to sell these facilities, but we’ve teamed up with a great company. I want to thank Jonathan Sloan and the management and employees of these facilities for bringing such enthusiasm and success to CHRC.”
After the sale, Canusa Hershman will focus on its brokerage business. The company also retains its packing plant in St. Albans, Vt.
>> SCRAP INDUSTRY NEWS
Arizona Scrap Metal Recyclers Form Joint Venture
Liberty Iron & Metal, Scholz AG, Southwest Metal Industries and We Buy Scrap LLC have formed a joint venture that will consolidate the respective companies’ Phoenix-area operations into a new company called Liberty Southwest Holdings LLC. The joint venture will include five facilities in the Phoenix area.
According to a press release, the principals of the four companies will remain active in the newly formed joint venture and will combine their diverse skills and experience to operate the newly created scrap metal company.
Liberty Southwest Holdings LLC will combine an auto shredding facility with retail scrap locations, wire chopping sites and nonferrous processing and trading.
“There is great balance achieved by integrating these companies,” says Henry Fleet, co-president of Liberty Southwest Holdings. “We have worked closely together for several years, and this is a natural progression for our businesses.”
Liberty Iron formed a joint venture with Germany-based Scholz A.G. in 2007. Including the Arizona deal, Liberty and Scholz have completed three joint ventures in North America.
Marc Olgin, co-president of the new company, says, “The people involved in this deal share an overall philosophy of operating good family run businesses. We are excited that we are bringing together a very talented group of people.”
>> MUNICIPAL RECYCLING
Waste Connections Acquires Hudson Valley Waste Holding
Waste Connections Inc., based in Folsom, Calif., has acquired Hudson Valley Waste Holding Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, County Waste and Recycling Service Inc. Founded in 1990, County Waste is the largest privately owned solid waste services company in New York’s Hudson Valley region, with total annual revenue of about $120 million. Waste Connections acquired the company’s six collection operations, three transfer stations and its recycling facility.
County Waste provides solid waste collection, transfer and recycling services through more than a dozen New York State counties.
“County Waste has copied our playbook in building a leading position within its markets, focused on controlling the waste stream and almost doubling in size over the past five years,” says Ronald J. Mittelstaedt, chairman and CEO of Waste Connections. “The company also has invested almost $50 million over the past 24 months in a new fleet, containers and facilities to position itself for continuing growth.”
County Waste opened a single-stream material recovery facility with 600 tons per day of capacity in October 2010.
Waste Connections is a solid waste services company that provides solid waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services. The company serves more than 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers from a network of operations in 29 states.
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Creative Recycling Forms Joint Venture to Recover, Recycle Rare Earth Metals
Creative Recycling Systems Inc. (CRS), based in Tampa, Fla., has entered into a joint venture agreement to form GreenRock Rare Earth Recovery Corp. The new company’s goal is to recover and recycle rare-earth elements found in consumer electronics, magnets, phosphors and industrial batteries.
In a press release announcing the joint venture, CRS says demand for rare earth elements will soon exceed total production, causing a potential global supply shortage.
GreenRock will use CRS’ processing and separation technology, along with its collection network, to capture rare-earth elements from components found in obsolete and end-of-life electronics. CRS’ experience and expertise in the recycling and material separation of consumer electronics is central to the joint venture, the company says.
By the end of 2011, CRS says it expects to have four facilities with the capacity to process 500 million pounds of electronics per year.
“The dwindling supply of rare-earth elements is an issue of the utmost importance,” says Jon Yob, CEO and president of CRS. “We are uniquely positioned to capture and facilitate the recycling of these finite elements in a truly closed-loop process.”
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Cascade Facilities in California, Florida and Indiana Certified as e-Stewards
The Seattle-based Basel Action Network (BAN) has announced that Cascade Asset Management’s facilities in Florida, Indiana and California are now e-Stewards certified. According to a BAN press release, the states of California and Florida now have their first e-Stewards-certified recycling option. Cascade’s Wisconsin headquarters became e-Stewards certified in 2010. All of the company’s recycling facilities are now certified to the standard, as required under the terms of e-Stewards.
Jim Puckett, BAN executive director, says, “Certified e-Stewards recyclers have undergone a rigorous independent audit process to ensure they are not simply dumping this toxic waste on developing countries under the guise of recycling that sadly is the norm in this industry. As a certified e-Stewards recycler, Cascade Asset Management can assure customers their obsolete electronics will be managed to the highest standards of responsibility.”
The accredited, third-party audited certification program has been endorsed by more than 70 environmental organizations, such as Greenpeace USA, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO and founder of Cascade, says, “E-Stewards certification validates Cascade’s ongoing commitment to responsible processing of IT assets. It’s a rigorous standard that evaluates all our operations, systems and downstream management to demonstrate conformance to the highest standard for responsibility in the industry.”
>> SCRAP INDUSTRY NEWS
Upstate Shredding Purchases Land for Scrap Yard in Scranton, Pa.
Upstate Shredding – Ben Weitsman, Owego, N.Y., has announced that it has acquired land to build a new scrap metal processing facility in Scranton, Pa. The new location will be named Ben Weitsman of Scranton. The plant is scheduled to be operational by June 1, 2011.
Adam Weitsman, president of Upstate Shredding – Ben Weitsman, says, “For 10 years we have been looking for opportunities to expand our business into Scranton. Over those years we evaluated a number of acquisition candidates, but none ever materialized. Now we’ve acquired land and are proceeding to construct what will be the finest, most modern scrap metal processing facility in the Scranton area.”
The new facility will serve retail and wholesale customers within a 120-mile radius with metal collections via a new trucking fleet and roll-off containers. The facility will be used as a feeder yard for Upstate’s shredders in Owego and Rochester, N.Y.
The Scranton location is the latest in a series of expansions Upstate Shredding has announced. In February, the company purchased Genesee Scrap, Rochester, N.Y. That location is currently undergoing a renovation, including the installation of a new, 10,000-horsepower auto shredder from Riverside Engineering, San Antonio, and a downstream nonferrous metal separation system.
In January, the company acquired Brenner Recycling of Hazleton, Pa. Since last December Upstate Shredding also has acquired scrap metal companies in the New York cities of Syracuse, Jamestown and Liberty and in Towanda, Pa., to add to its existing operations in the New York cities of Binghamton, Ithaca and Owego.
>> SCRAP INDUSTRY NEWS
Schnitzer Increases Revenue in Second Quarter
Portland, Ore.-based Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. has reported $722 million in second quarter fiscal 2011 revenue, a 28 percent increase from the figure for the same time last year.
“Building on the momentum generated during the first quarter, we delivered our strongest second quarter performance since fiscal 2008,” Tamara Lundgren, Schnitzer president and CEO, says. “Year-over-year, our revenues grew by 28 percent, our operating income grew by 61 percent and our earnings per share grew by 77 percent.”
Lundgren adds that each of Schnitzer’s business segments delivered higher revenues and improved operating income margins and that the company continues to grow through acquisitions and capital expenditures designed to improve its operating efficiencies and production yields.
“Our strong balance sheet and access to capital enabled us to complete the acquisition of six metals recycling businesses and four auto parts stores while funding continued investments in new technologies and operational efficiencies,” she says.
The company’s metals recycling business saw operating income increase by 45 percent for the quarter compared with the second quarter of 2010. Schnitzer attributes the improvement to strong global demand and higher sales prices for ferrous and nonferrous metals. In addition, aggregate ferrous volumes throughout the last four quarters continued to approximate the record volumes achieved in fiscal 2008, and nonferrous volumes are trending at a record run rate, according to the company.
During the second quarter, Schnitzer’s metals recycling business shipped 1.1 million tons of ferrous scrap and 121 million pounds of nonferrous scrap.
“During the second quarter, we achieved operating income per ferrous ton of $38, nearly double the prior quarter, largely driven by improved market conditions, steady intake of scrap and increasing contributions from our nonferrous operations,” says Lundgren. “Demand in the export market continued its upward trend from the first quarter, and the domestic ferrous markets rebounded, reflecting improving utilization at domestic mills.”
Export accounted for 78 percent of the company’s total ferrous sales volumes.
Revenue increased 30 percent year-over-year and 8 percent sequentially, driven by higher average selling prices for ferrous and nonferrous metals, the company says.
Schnitzer’s auto parts business also achieved record second quarter operating income, generating 24 percent growth compared with last year’s record second quarter results. Car purchase volumes also increased significantly from the prior year, Schnitzer says, reflecting the company’s organic and acquisition growth.
The company says its steel manufacturing business continues to be negatively affected by weak demand for finished steel products in its West Coast markets.
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
WMI Subsidiary Offers Collection Services in New York State
WM Recycle America, a subsidiary of Houston-based Waste Management, has introduced its WM NYeCycles Service, which the company says has been designed to help electronics manufacturers comply with the state of New York’s Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act.
As of April 1, 2011, the New York act mandates manufacturers of certain electronic equipment to establish convenient systems for the collection, handling and recycling or re-use of electronic scrap sold in the state.
WMI, through its WM NYeCycles Service, offers 148 permanent electronics recycling locations in the state. WMI claims it has more permanent locations that any other service provider in New York state.
WM NYeCycles Service offers various collection methods, including an established network of collection sites, mail-back programs and community electronics recycling events, all designed to help meet manufacturers’ collection goals and requirements, according to the company.
A list of WM NYeCycles Service sites in New York can be found at www.greenopolis.com/wm/nyecycles.
Regional Computer Recycling and Recovery, Victor, N.Y., will process the electronics collected through the WM NYeCyles Service.
>> SCRAP INDUSTRY NEWS
Brookfield Resource Management Purchases Land
Brookfield Resource Management, a scrap metal recycling firm serving New York City and Chicago-area markets, has purchased 10 acres of land in Wawayanda, N.Y., near its existing scrap metal yard. The company says it plans to build a regional recycling facility at the site that will include an auto shredder.
“The additional 10 acres complements the 38 acres we already own in Wawayanda and will enhance the integration of our proposed recycling facility into the local community,” says Tom Malone, president of Brookfield Resource Management, based in Elmsford, N.Y.
The property’s zoning would permit the recycling plant. Brookfield currently is seeking the necessary permits for the proposed facility. The company says it hopes to secure necessary approvals and begin construction during 2011.
>> C&D RECYCLING
Pasco Iron Brokers Kennedy Space Center Scrap
Pasco Iron & Metal, Land O Lakes, Fla., and its in-house brokerage company, Green Tree Recycling, say they have successfully brokered more than 4,000 gross tons of metal from the dismantling of Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39B, which helped to launch 53 space shuttle missions.
Pasco Iron & Metal and Green Tree Recycling have agreed to purchase the scrap metal from the dismantling task, which is being overseen by LVI Environmental Services Inc., New York. The material is being shipped directly from the job site in Cape Canaveral to melting facilities, according to Pasco.
The launch pad that was demolished was originally built for the Apollo program and was later modified to support space shuttle operations. Dismantling of the large structures began in September of 2010. NASA says the space created will help the agency accommodate and support new programs and operations.
>> NONMETALLICS
PepsiCo Develops Plant-Based PET Bottle
Beverage maker, PepsiCo, with headquarters in Purchase, N.Y., has developed what it is calling the world’s first PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources.
The new bottle is 100-percent recyclable, PepsiCo says, and is made from bio-based raw materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. The company says it expects to broaden the sources used to create the bottle to include agricultural byproducts from its foods business.
PepsiCo will pilot production of the new bottle in 2012. If successful, the company intends to move directly to full-scale commercialization.
>> NONMETALLICS
Paper Recycling Conference Speaker Lineup Takes Shape
The Recycling Today Media Group has announced that the 2011 Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show, to be held Oct. 23-25 in downtown Chicago, will feature a number of sessions that address the concerns and interests of paper recyclers, from international trade to operational issues to the changing landscape of the paper recycling industry. In addition to the regular programming, this year’s event will feature a second track, with programming from event partner, the Paper Stock Industries (PSI), a national chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., Washington, D.C.
The 2011 event also will include a trade show, featuring suppliers of equipment and services to the industry.
Speakers at this year’s event will include Vic Rice, senior vice president of Sweden-based CellMark Inc., and Pat DeRueda, president of Waste Management Recycle America, headquartered in Houston. Both men will take part in a roundtable discussion planned for Monday, Oct. 24, titled “The Processors’ Viewpoint,” where they will discuss their views on key issues driving the paper stock industry.
Also scheduled for Oct. 24 is the session titled “The Trading Triangle.” In this session, moderated by Bill Moore of Moore & Associates, Atlanta, speakers Mike Belus of GP Harmon, Jericho, N.Y.; John Daniel of Federal International, St. Louis; and Patty Norris of International Forest Products, Foxboro, Mass., will explore the factors paper recyclers look to when they consider exporting material.
Complete programming information is available online at www.PaperRecycling Conference.com/Schedule.aspx.
>> NONMETALLICS
Continental Waste Management Plans to Open Plastics Recycling Facility in Virginia
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has announced that Continental Waste Management LLC, based in Raleigh, N.C., is investing $6 million to establish a post-industrial and post-consumer plastic recycling plant in Covington, Va. The company also will produce plastic and wood composite products at the facility.
McDonnell says, “This project is tremendous for Covington and Alleghany County. Not only will Continental Waste Management create 100 new jobs for a region that is striving to rebound, they are able to put a former industrial property back into productive use. Virginia is gaining a great corporate partner in this environmentally conscious recycling company.”
Jim Cheng, Virginia secretary of commerce and trade, says, “I am confident that Covington will be a great fit for Continental Waste Management’s new operation. The company has access to a facility infrastructure that meets its production and recycling needs, and the region offers an eager, available workforce to fill the new jobs.” Mike Wade, Continental’s plant manager, says the new operation will take over roughly 25 percent of an idled plastics extrusion facility in Covington.
Continental Waste Management will be vertically integrated operation that will produce PET (polyethylene terephthalate) flake and pellet and molded plastic products for worldwide markets. The Covington manufacturing plant will begin operation in early summer of 2011 on a small scale, with full operation expected to start in 12 months, Wade adds. When fully operational, he says the facility should be able to process between 50,000 to 60,000 tons of plastic per year.
To assist in the project, McDonnell approved a $150,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund. Through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide funding and services to support the company’s recruitment and training activities.
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Supply-Chain Services Receives Certifications
Supply-Chain Services Inc. (SSI), an electronics recycling and technology asset recovery services provider based in Lombard, Ill., has announced that it has been simultaneously certified to five standards, including the Responsible Recycling (R2) and the Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS).
The firm also has earned the OHSAS 18001 certification for occupational health and safety management and has been recertified to the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 standards for environmental management and quality management, respectively.
SSI also holds NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) AAA Certification for data sanitization.
“Completing five certifications in one audit represents an unprecedented undertaking in our industry,” says Jade Lee, president and CEO of SSI. “Even the auditor who conducted our certification process marveled at our audacity to take on this extraordinary challenge, which demands full integration of the five certifications in order to pass.”
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Intechra’s Connecticut Facility Receives R2/RIOS Certification
The IT asset disposition (ITAD) company Intechra, headquartered in Jackson, Miss., has announced that its Hartford, Conn., processing facility has achieved R2/RIOS certification.
This certification program combines the Responsible Recycling (R2) practices, facilitated by the Environmental Protection Agency and key stakeholders, with the Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS) certification, developed by the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries. Intechra notes that companies achieving this certification are designated as Certified Electronics Recyclers.
“We are pleased to have completed the certification process for the Hartford facility,” says Michael Profit, Intechra president. “Coming on the heels of our R2/RIOS certification in both the Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas facilities, the certification of Intechra’s Hartford facility further reinforces our commitment to environmental stewardship, risk mitigation and our clients’ security.”
He continues, “We believe achieving this certification confirms our position as one of the top-tier ITAD vendors in the market. This accomplishment is a critical step in our objective to ensure that Intechra is well-positioned to demonstrate our commitment to sustaining electronics recycling industry standards and certifications in 2011. We are currently in the process of certifying our Reno, Nev., facility.”
>> NONMETALLICS
Agilyx Obtains Funding to Expand Operations
The company says its plastic conversion technology recycles mixed plastics into synthetic crude oil. Agilyx’ business model includes building and operating commercial scale systems and marketing synthetic crude oil as a feedstock to existing petroleum refineries.
>> NONMETALLICS
Green EnviroTech Secures $5 Million in Funding
Riverbank, Calif.-based Green EnviroTech Holdings Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Green EnviroTech Corp., a plastics recovery, separation, cleaning and recycling company, have signed a $5 million equity funding facility with Centurion Private Equity, an institutional investor managed by Roswell Capital Partners LLC, Alpharetta, Ga.
Subject to executing definitive documents, Centurion has committed to purchasing up to $5 million of Green EnviroTech’s shares upon Green EnviroTech obtaining an effective registration statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Green EnviroTech will use the proceeds to fund acquisitions and for working capital for its Riverbank, Calif., and Sheboygan, Wis., plant startups.
>> NONMETALLICS
Pennsylvania DEP Announces Tire Pile Cleanup Projects
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has started two projects to clean up nearly 400,000 abandoned tires at piles in Lancaster and Beaver counties.
According to a DEP press release, the agency’s Waste Tire Program developed a priority list of 17 abandoned tire sites in need of remediation based on a number of environmental and hazardous criteria. Topping the list was the McFadden pile, containing 350,000 tires in Fulton Township, and the 50,000-tire pile at Jake Ours Junkyard in Rochester Township.
These projects are the first to be funded by Act 24 of 2010 as set forth by the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act.
>> MUNICIPAL RECYCLING
Coca-Cola, Kroger, Nashville Groups Join to Promote Recycling
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. has designed the “Recycled and Win” initiative to boost the visibility of the municipal recycling program in Nashville, Tenn. The beverage company, along with the grocery chain Kroger and Nashville Metro Public Works and Metro Beautification and Environment are partnering to award city residents a $50 Kroger gift card if they are “caught” recycling the right way.
Single-family households in the metro Nashville Urban Services District (USD) received an educational mailer with images of acceptable recyclables. The mailer also contains a “Give it Back” sticker, which residents must place on their recycling bins for a chance to win a $50 Kroger gift card.
A Coca-Cola Prize Patrol vehicle began touring USD neighborhoods first Monday in April, checking the contents of the recycling bins. By the time the program ends in September, 260 gift cards will be awarded.
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Sims Recycling Solutions’ Nevada Facility Receives R2 Certification
Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS), with North American headquarters in Chicago, has announced that its Sparks, Nev., electronics recycling facility has been certified to the Responsible Recycling Practices for Electronics Recyclers (R2) standard.
R2 sets forth environmental, worker health and safety and security requirements for electronics recyclers.
This standard is supported by major electronic OEMs, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., the Information Technology Industry Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. state and local governments.
“We are pleased to have our Reno facility registered to the R2 standard,” says Steve Skurnac, president of Sims Recycling Solutions North America. “As the largest electronics recycler to receive this certification, we hope to set the standard for other recyclers in the industry.”
>> SCRAP INDUSTRY NEWS
Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce Recognizes Schupan & Sons
Schupan & Sons, a scrap metal recycler based in Kalamazoo, Mich., has been recognized by the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce with its 2011 Chamber Environmental Award.
Schupan & Sons was recognized for its efforts to making recycling easier and more accessible through its educational programs.
Schupan Industrial Recycling operation processes more than 80 million pounds of material per year. Schupan Beverage Container Recycling collects 70 percent of all the aluminum cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles covered by Michigan’s deposit law for recycling.
>> MUNICIPAL RECYCLING
Washington Partners with PepsiCo on Dream Machine Recycling Initiative
Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo has partnered with the Washington, D.C., DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) and the District Department of Public Works (DPW) on the Dream Machine recycling initiative. A total of 363 recycling bins will be placed throughout the DowntownDC BID area, offering what PepsiCo says is a convenient and rewarding recycling option for people while they are on-the-go, advancing the BID’s Greening DowntownDC initiative.
PepsiCo’s Dream Machine recycling initiative was created with Waste Management and Keep America Beautiful. With approximately 1,500 Dream Machines in more than 20 states to date, the program aims to increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate from 34 percent to 50 percent by 2018.
“This latest public-private partnership achieves the BID goal of providing citywide approaches to environmental issues while enhancing the quality of the visitor experience downtown,” says Richard H. Bradley, executive director of the DowntownDC BID. “This partnership will have real results. We are projecting a diversion of more than 1 million pounds of recyclable material annually from downtown waste.”
DPW Director William O. Howland Jr. says, “I am happy to welcome PepsiCo to the partnership between DPW and the DowntownDC BID. By contributing more than 300 new recycling cans, PepsiCo gives us a tremendous boost toward reaching our 45 percent diversion rate goal.”
For all the bottles and cans recycled in Dream Machine bins or kiosks in Washington and across the nation, PepsiCo makes a contribution to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering free, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities.
“The unemployment rate among young veterans today is 20 percent—its highest rate in the post-9/11 era,” says J. Michael Haynie, EBV founder and assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management. Haynie adds that bringing the Dream Machine program to the country’s capital “represents an opportunity for the city and its residents to play a direct role in helping our returning veterans create their own jobs in the most American way possible, through entrepreneurship.”
More information about PepsiCo’s Dream Machine program is available at www.facebook.com/DreamMachine.
>> ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
Metech Receives e-Stewards Certification
Metech Recycling, an electronics recycling company based in Worcester, Mass., has achieved e-Stewards certification.
The Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based nonprofit organization, created the certification program, which it released in 2010.
Metech Recycling is the seventh recycling company in the U.S. to achieve e-Stewards certification following independent audits of its facilities.
“We have been looking forward to e-Stewards certification ever since we agreed to be an e-Stewards Founder when the program was first formed,” says Chris Ryan, president of Metech Recycling. “I am proud of our compliance, quality and sustainability team that was able to demonstrate to the auditors Metech Recycling’s commitment and implementation of the e-Stewards standard, which is really the gold standard in our industry.”
The e-Stewards standard was designed to be consistent with international trade rules, such as the Basel Convention, and includes ISO 14001 certification as well. (The company also is certified to the ISO 9001:2008 quality management system standard.) The e-Stewards standard prohibits the export of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries as well as the disposal of toxic waste in solid waste landfills and incinerators. It also prohibits the use of prison labor in electronics recycling and includes practices designed to protect worker health and safety.
Metech Recycling provides complete materials processing and certified documentation of data device destruction. The company operates recycling facilities in California, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, North Carolina and Massachusetts.
>> NONMETALLICS
Seventh Generation Debuts Detergent Bottle Made of Recycled Fiber
Burlington, Vt.-based Seventh Generation, a brand of non-toxic household and personal care products, has introduced a new liquid laundry detergent bottle for its Seventh Generation’s Natural 4X product made from 100 percent recycled cardboard and newspaper. The bottle, designed with Seventh Generation’s partners at Ecologic Brands, features a fully recyclable or compostable outer shell made from 70 percent recycled cardboard fibers and 30 percent old newspaper fibers that supports a recyclable lightweight plastic pouch inside. The new bottle uses 66 percent less plastic than typical 100 ounce 2X detergent bottles, according to the companies.
The Natural 4X Laundry Detergent became available at the end of March.
“This is exactly what so many have been waiting for,” says Julie Corbett, CEO and founder of Ecologic Brands. “Twenty years ago, Seventh Generation created cleaning and personal care products that are safe for consumers and the earth. With the Ecologic bottle, Seventh Generation continues its mission by introducing a sustainable product that is good from the inside and out.”
The new bottle, made from recycled fibers, can be recycled into new packaging that can be recycled yet again up to seven times, according to the companies. When empty, the bottle’s shell can be popped open and recycled with household paper. The No. 4 plastic pouch and the No. 5 plastic cap also can be recycled where facilities exist.
“This is the one of most sustainably packaged products in the laundry aisle,” says Peter Swaine, Seventh Generation director of packaging development. “Consumers who use this product will automatically make a positive impact on the environment, even before their first laundry load.”
Explore the May 2011 Issue
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