The West Virginia Attorney General’s office, led by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, has led an investigation that resulted in the indictment of Jon Comer, a contractor doing business as Jon Comer Construction LLC, Summersville, West Virginia, who allegedly failed to complete the expansion of a recycling facility for the Greenbrier County Solid Waste Authority.

According to the AG’s office, the Greenbrier County Solid Waste Authority hired Comer’s company to upgrade its recycling drop-off and storage building for a county-wide program. The Solid Waste Authority paid $73,500 in advance for the construction, but the project was never started.

The project received public funds through a $150,000 grant from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Seeing as construction never took place, the Solid Waste Authority was in violation of the grant’s terms and must repay $150,000 to the DEP.

The DEP’s Rehabilitation Environmental Action Program (REAP) Recycling Assistance Grants Program awards funding to state solid waste authorities, county commissions, municipalities, private industries and nonprofit organizations.

Comer could face up to 10 years in prison and/or a $2,500 fine.

“Our office leaves no stone unturned when investigating fraudulent and deceptive business practices,” West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey says. “Our diligence ensures taxpayers will be protected and schemers will be brought to justice.”

Owl’s Head Alloys Inc., a secondary aluminum producer based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has announced plans to add a fourth furnace to its production facility there. The $3 million investment for a new scrap-melting furnace is needed to keep up with growing demand from its customers, according to the company.

The new furnace, projected to come online in May 2018, will increase Owl’s Head’s capacity by 42,500 tons of scrap per year. Presently, the company melts about 120,000 tons of aluminum scrap per year.

Owl’s Head processes a range of aluminum scrap, including used beverage containers (UBCs), automotive wheels, painted siding and highway signs. The company sorts and shreds the recycled aluminum products, melts the processed aluminum to customer specifications and casts it into ingots or sows or provides it in molten form. The company then ships to end consumers in the automotive, beverage can and construction industries. Company President David Bradford comments, "All end markets are pretty strong right now, although the automotive market is an area of great opportunity.”

“Owl’s Head Alloys has created a significant presence and reputation nationally in the secondary aluminum recycling industry simply by doing business as we should – delivering exceptional quality, serving our customers’ interests over our own and maintaining integrity,” says Kevin Mays, CFO of Owl’s Head. “This expansion allows us to continue meeting our customers’ growing needs as well as provide additional economic development in our community.”

To assist in the project, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) has preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives of up to $150,000 through its Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.

In addition, Owl’s Head is eligible to receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies can receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives.

“Owl’s Head Alloys is a tremendous success story, and their expansion plan is wonderful news for both Bowling Green and the surrounding communities. It is exciting to see companies like Owl’s Head prosper in Kentucky,” states Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevins.

“Their aluminum recycling operation is another indicator of the high demand for aluminum and the health of our primary metals sector overall,” the governor adds.

Van Dyk Recycling Solutions (VDRS), Stamford, Connecticut, says it has recently installed a sorting system in Mexico that is recovering 72 percent of the incoming municipal solid waste (MSW) it is processing. The MRF is sorting 500 tons of MSW per day, recovering organics and recyclables and creating engineered fuel, according to the supplier. 

The system was installed for integrated waste management company Grupo CIP, Mexico City, which operates sanitary landfills in 12 Mexican states, generates energy from waste and provides waste collection and transfer services.

In a video about the installation produced by VDRS, Alberto Salcedo of Grupo CIP says the company selected VDRS for the project because its solutions provided the best technology at the lowest cost with the most efficiency.

VDRS Mexico and Latin America Sales Manger Ricardo Orozco says because this equipment is the first of its kind in Mexico, the staff at Grupo CIP was unfamiliar with much of the technology, so it placed a lot of confidence in VDRS. He adds that VDRS invested considerable time answering the company’s questions and explaining critical information.

In the video, Juan Carlos Lopez, Grupo CIP plant manager, says VDRS has supported the company since the beginning. “Van Dyk has guided us through everything,” he says.

“We are convinced that the future is in facilities that repurpose solid waste,” Salcedo says in the video.

The video can be viewed below.

Statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) are pointing to substantial drops in imported scrap volumes in January 2018 compared with previous months and years.

Scrap metal shipments into China fell to 490,000 metric tons in January 2018 compared with a volume of 700,000 metric tons the previous month and 660,000 metric tons in January 2017, according to an online report from Reuters.

The January 2018 volume figure, which is down 30 percent from the previous month and 5.7 percent from one year ago, includes aluminum, copper and ferrous scrap. However, as China exported some 2.2 million metric tons of ferrous scrap in 2017, the predominant effect is likely on aluminum and copper scrap shipments.

The copper scrap January 2018 total of 200,000 metric tons was down 27.5 percent from one year ago, according to Reuters.

The drop in volumes is tied to Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) policies to prohibit and restrict many types of imported scrap materials. The actions include an outright ban on some two dozen types of scrap and impending purity levels on others that recyclers contend cannot be met.

According to Reuters, citing the GAC data, when nonmetallic scrap is included, China’s January 2018 import total for scrap materials fell by 50.3 percent compared to January 2017. Import quota licenses issued to scrap paper and plastic buyers have been severely limited.

The GAC statistics show January 2018 imports of scrap paper to China fell by 44.6 percent compared to one year earlier, while imports of plastic scrap dropped by 94.4 percent compared to the previous month.