The newest Noblelift lithium iron phosphate LFP/LiFePO4 electric 60Q and 70Q Series forklifts feature a IP4 rated waterproof design for indoor-outdoor applications to contend with traditional internal combustion (IC) forklifts while being emissions-free, cost-effective and designed for energy proficiency, according to the company. By keeping productivity at its peak, the series answers the call for high-density, high-throughput environments.

Available in 6,000-to-7,000-pound load capacities in double- or triple-stage masts of up to 255 inches (21.25 feet), Noblelift, with its North American location based in Des Plaines, Illinois, says its Q series lithium iron phosphate forklifts deliver reduced energy consumption and faster cycle times while having a safer more stable battery chemistry to avoid overheating and or explosion. The series is designed to perform in heavy-duty applications with equivalent performances of the traditional IC trucks in the market.

Faster and longer charge cycles allow more material to be moved, with 10,000 cycles requiring only 2.5 hours of charging versus 1,000 to 1,500 cycles with eight hours of charging and eight hours of cooling for lead-acid batteries, the manufacturer says.

No scheduled maintenance is required, and the battery is maintenance-free and does not require watering, gassing and cooling down.

Sonoco, Hartsville, South Carolina, has expanded its recycling efforts by using scrap materials from production of its EnviroCan paper containers in the U.S. as raw material at three of its uncoated recycled paperboard mills to produce new paperboard.

Elizabeth Rhue, Sonoco’s staff vice president of sustainability, says the company expects to divert from landfills about 3,300 tons of scrap materials annually from four of its U.S. paper container operations in West Chicago, Illinois; Greenville, Wisconsin; Jackson, Tennessee; and Norwalk, California. She says this material, which is projected to equal about 165 truckloads, will be sent to Sonoco paper mills in Menasha, Wisconsin; Newport, Tennessee; and City of Industry, California, where it will be used as raw material to produce 100 percent recycled paperboard with up to 85 percent postconsumer fiber.

“Sonoco is uniquely positioned as a leading recycler, paper mill operator and packaging converter to help deliver end-of-life solutions across our consumer and industrial packaging platforms. We are taking the lead to further demonstrate our ability to recycle our paper containers with metal ends not only through the steel stream, as they are largely done today, but also through the paper stream. And we look forward to growing consumer access to increase recycling of our paper cans through postconsumer recycling streams,” Rhue says.

Tim Davis, division president and general manager of Sonoco’s U.S./Canada paper operations, says this collaboration across Sonoco’s U.S. vertically integrated manufacturing network demonstrates the flexibility the company has to recycle and process fiber-based packaging through conventional paper mill pulping systems.

Netherlands-based social enterprise Searious Business says it has been working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on a project called Plastic Waste Free Island (PWFI) “to rethink the plastic generated on islands and stopping it from leaking into the surrounding marine environment.”

The company says not all plastics “are so easily replaced or mechanically recycled,” meaning “there will always remain some plastic products that require a different kind of treatment.” Finding advanced recycling technologies in these remote areas is challenging, says Searious Business, which is why it is undertaking a search for the most suitable technologies.

Searious Business points to plastic products including polyolefin bags and films, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) items such as six-pack yokes, potato chip packets, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polystyrene (PS) as having limited options “to process them into useful applications” in an island setting.

“Unfortunately, nonrecyclable plastics are not currently dealt with by the waste management [authorities] on the islands, and high volumes are piling up, causing severe environmental issues,” writes Searious Business.

Processes such as chemical recycling, pyrolysis, depolymerization and gasification can transform these polymers back into new material, so in cooperation with Dutch consultancy CE Delft, Searious Business says it will “carefully analyze the waste generation; evaluate and identify the most suitable technologies depending on island characteristics.”

Initial efforts will focus on three Caribbean islands (St Lucia, Antigua Barbuda and Grenada) and three Pacific Ocean islands (Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa).

The vision, says Searious Business, is to create a blueprint for Plastic Waste Free Islands “so that all solutions can be scaled up and rolled out to other islands across the globe.”

The Brussels-based International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF), in a recap of national statistics, says stainless steel production increased globally by 24.7 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2020.

The ISSF says the 14.5 million tons of stainless steel made in the first 3 months of 2021 also represent a 2.7 percent rise compared with the previous quarter.

The most dramatic year-on-year rebound has been in China, where nearly 37 percent more stainless steel was made in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time frame in 2020, when COVID-19-related lockdowns were in effect part of the time.

The previous quarter comparison, however, shows Europe as the big gainer, with output there rising by 11 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the final quarter of 2020. The United States, likewise, showed a 9.7 percent gain in output compared with the final quarter of 2020, when many states were still operating under workplace restrictions.

In a June 17 news item, metals information service provider Davis Index said demand for stainless steel scrap had been “very strong” since the beginning of June. Despite declining primary nickel prices, stainless steel scrap prices in the U.S. are not expected to follow suit and lose value this month, according to a scrap processor contacted by the news service.