Setting a sustainable example

Metals recycling company EMR Ltd. is a family-run business with operations spanning the United Kingdom, Europe and North America, counting more than 4,000 employees working at more than 150 locations.

Headquartered in Warrington, England, with North American headquarters in Camden, New Jersey, the company has set what it calls ambitious decarbonization goals, including achieving net-zero carbon emissions across its network by 2040. To do that, EMR has set out to use 100 percent renewable electricity at its facilities, develop new green metal production processes and implement new emissions-reducing technologies, among other targets, while also maintaining a high level of service.

An example of EMR’s push toward its net-zero goals is its Becker, Minnesota, site, which the company says is the most advanced automobile shredding facility in the world.

With its shredder already running on 100 percent renewable energy, EMR added to the facility’s environmentally friendly profile in November 2023 by installing an 895e electric material handler from North Carolina-based equipment company Sennebogen LLC, the North American division of Germany-based Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH.

In EMR’s view, the machine has fit into the 42-acre facility’s operations exactly as intended as it continues to feed the shredder.

“By continually and objectively evaluating how we work, we find ways to reduce our environmental impact,” Site Manager Jake Hansen says in a 2023 news release announcing the addition of the electric material handler. “It’s about looking at our business through the lens of sustainability. If we want to make really substantial improvements to our facility’s sustainability, technology can play an important role.”

“As we move towards becoming a net-zero business, EMR not only looks to reduce its carbon emissions but also improve operational efficiency, and the electric material handler enables us to do this. This investment also plays a vital role in future-proofing our business.” – EMR Ltd.

The right fit

EMR says the electric material handler was part of the plans the company drafted during the inception of the Becker site’s shredder plant.

“This meant that the infrastructure and flow planning to accommodate the electric material handler was done well in advance,” the company says. “This investment is formed as part of the substantial improvements to our facility’s technology as we strive to reduce our environmental impact.”

According to Sennebogen, the 895e is the largest material handler in the world, with a 500-kilowatt engine, an operating weight of approximately 420 tons and a reach of up to 131 feet. The manufacturer also claims the machine produces zero emissions and can reduce operating costs by 50 percent.

At EMR’s Becker facility, the company says the material handler has been impactful since its commissioning, saving more than 250 gallons of diesel per week.

“This not only reduces operating costs but supports EMR on its mission to further reduce on-site emissions,” EMR says. “We are continuously exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprint and investing in new technologies that allow us to accomplish our sustainability goals.”

In addition to end-of-life vehicles, the machine handles metals originating from a variety of industries, such as construction and demolition, industrial and manufacturing, as well as scrap purchased from the general public. The facility accepts ferrous metal; nonferrous metals such as copper and brass; vehicle batteries; appliances; aluminum cans, sheet or siding; and wire, among other items.

“These materials can be anything from a can to an aircraft carrier, and they all play a part in the 10 million tons of material the EMR group recycles every year,” the company says.

Going green

EMR designed its Becker facility to be a model of sustainability, starting with its shredder. In addition to using 100 percent renewable energy and low-emissions production, the shredder facility is fully enclosed, further reducing the risk of pollutants running off of material during rainfall, for example, into the surrounding soil and contaminating the local water table.

“Being fully enclosed means that the air can be processed through our state-of-the-art pollution control equipment, treating the polluted air and stopping it from leaving,” according to the company.

EMR adds that all stormwater runoff from the site is controlled by two stormwater ponds. “With the capability of holding over 10 million gallons of water—roughly the size of 15 Olympic swimming pools—these pounds ensure that no stormwater leaves the site and negatively impacts the local community.”

The electric material handler has added to the facility’s sustainability profile, serving as the latest of several investments across the entirety of EMR’s operations as it makes its push toward its 2040 net-zero goal by electrifying its equipment.

“As we move towards becoming a net-zero business, EMR not only looks to reduce its carbon emissions but also improve operational efficiency, and the electric material handler enables us to do this,” according to the company. “This investment also plays a vital role in future-proofing our business, ensuring we are using the latest technology and that our colleagues are trained to do so.”

EMR also has invested $2.5 million in a new rail line at the Becker site to ensure the recycled materials produced at the facility can be transported more sustainably throughout the continental United States.

“The arrival of the new Sennebogen crane is just the next piece of the puzzle—reducing the carbon emissions and exhaust fumes created while recycling material using diesel,” Hansen says in the 2023 news release. “As EMR sites across the country strive to continue to create a positive environmental impact, EMR Becker is providing a great example of how to do it. That’s something that my team is, rightly, very proud of.”

The author is associate editor of Recycling Today and can be reached at cvoloschuk@gie.net.