GP begins operations at new Oregon recycling facility

Georgia-Pacific (GP), Atlanta, has begun operations at its GP Toledo material recovery facility (MRF) in Toledo, Oregon. The MRF has applied GP’s Juno technology, which is designed to recycle highly contaminated recovered fiber and mixed materials. Christer Henriksson, president of Juno Technology at Georgia-Pacific, says GP has been piloting Juno since 2013 at a plant in Savannah, Georgia, and began construction on its Toledo MRF about two years ago.

“The pilot plant was used to prove our concept of recycling municipal solid waste, typically called MSW,” he says.

As of May, the Toledo MRF has been up and running, processing commercial MSW from accounts throughout Oregon. Henriksson says the plant has the capacity to process about 100,000 tons of material per year and has the potential to recycle up to 90 percent of the material that enters the MRF.

Henriksson says the company only needs 10 employees to run the plant, which operates 24/7. The facility uses a technology called “autoclaving,” he says, which is typically used by hospitals to sterilize waste materials. “We use that technology to cook and sanitize the incoming waste.”

After the autoclave, materials are mechanically separated into different commodity streams, such as paper, plastics and metals.

Henriksson says all the MRF’s recovered fiber is consumed by GP’s containerboard mill in Toledo, which is next to the MRF, to manufacture linerboard for corrugated boxes. Other recovered items, such as metals and plastics, are sold in their respective markets.

He says about 10 percent of the MSW that can’t be recovered at the Toledo MRF is sent to landfill. That includes materials such as glass, dirt and fines.

Henriksson says the company is looking to add a second MRF that uses Juno technology in the Northeast United States, a third MRF using the technology in Europe and a fourth location using the technology in Asia. “We plan to start engineering the next two sites before the end of this year,” he says.

“[Juno] is a disruptive technology for the landfill industry,” Henriksson says. “We see there is a lot of demand because it’s very hard to build new landfills. People are shipping their MSW a long way to get to landfills because they are not typically located near cities. But future Juno plants will be built close to where waste is generated, such as large cities,” he explains.

Federal judge terminates Chicago recycler’s lawsuit

A federal judge has dismissed Chicago-based Southside Recycling’s lawsuit against the city of Chicago. Southside Recycling, which has constructed a scrap recycling facility on the city’s southeast side, filed a federal lawsuit in mid-May seeking a court order directing the city of Chicago to issue a large recycling facility permit to the company. The lawsuit alleges the city wrongfully failed to issue the last permit needed for the facility to begin operating, despite acknowledging for months that Southside Recycling had satisfied its requirements.

Southside Recycling and RMG Investment Group LLC filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Chicago against the city of Chicago and Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. The company sought a court order that would direct Arwady to issue the final permit, alleging that the city broke its agreement with RMG and violated the company’s constitutional rights by taking private property without just compensation. The company also sought more than $100 million in damages arising from the permit delay.

U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. rejected Southside Recycling’s claim that its constitutional rights were violated. He writes that the arguments in the dispute are better suited for state court and that the case is terminated.

“Southside Recycling will immediately seek a prompt ruling in state court ordering the city to issue the permit, based on the city’s broken promises and the fact that we have met every requirement imposed by the city’s own rules, which businesses have a right to rely upon,” Southside Recycling states in response to the ruling. “Despite multiple attempts since early May to understand how and when the city intends to proceed, the additional analysis that it is purportedly intending to perform remains undefined and the timing undetermined.”

The company adds that it is “damaging to the environment and the local metal recycling market” that its project is on hold while “the only other shredder in Chicago continues to operate without pollution controls.”

Southside Recycling refiled the lawsuit in Illinois state court July 1.

Triple M acquires Ontario scrap firm

Brampton, Ontario-based Triple M Metal LP has announced the acquisition of Peterborough Iron & Metal (PIM), which operates scrap facilities in Peterborough, Port Hope and Minden, Ontario, in the eastern part of the Canadian province.

“We are excited to bring PIM under the Triple M Metal LP umbrella and leverage our international reach with PIM’s local presence,” states Triple M President Oscar Moniz in a company website posting. “For the time being, the yards will continue to run under their current names.”

Moniz also credits Mark Dickomeit, who has been a partner and owner/operator of PIM for the previous 10 years, for having “grown PIM to be a significant player in eastern Ontario.” He adds, “We are excited to have Mark and his dedicated team join our growing organization. This addition reflects our organization’s commitment to maintaining our position as Ontario’s premier metals recycler.”

Moniz continues, “With a strong customer base and strategically located yards, the PIM acquisition is in line with our short-term and long-term sustainability goals. The additional feeder yards and processing sites further strengthen our presence in Ontario and help to solidify our place as Ontario’s largest scrap metal processor.”

During the previous four decades, Triple M “has evolved into one of the largest independent scrap companies in North America,” he says.

Including the newly acquired PIM sites, Triple M now operates 19 sites in Ontario and 31 in North America. In addition, Triple M’s sister company Matalco is a multilocation consumer of aluminum scrap, producing billet in several melt shop locations in the United States and Canada.

US Plastics Pact releases national strategy

The U.S. Plastics Pact, a consortium led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact Network, has released a national strategy to ensure all plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

The strategy, titled, “Roadmap to 2025,” is supported by nearly 100 corporations, startups, research entities and nongovernmental organizations across the plastics packaging value chain, as well as by state and local governments. According to a news release from The Recycling Partnership, the strategy includes mandatory reporting and specific time frames to realize targeted outcomes for a circular economy for plastics.

“The current state of U.S. infrastructure coupled with the lack of incentives to utilize recycled content in plastic packaging have put immense strain on the value chain,” says Emily Tipaldo, executive director of The U.S. Plastics Pact. “The road map is designed to help U.S. industry leaders act on the significant systemwide change needed to realize a circular economy for plastics by 2025. The time frame is short, and the workload is immense, but if we choose to do nothing, the visions of a circular economy across the U.S. will give way to the status quo. We look forward to working with all our members to drive this critical change.”

The U.S. Plastics Pact, which was formally launched in August of last year, developed the road map to ensure systemic change and accelerate progress toward four specific targets that address plastic scrap:

• defining a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and taking measures to eliminate problematic packaging by 2025;
• ensuring 100 percent of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025;
• undertaking actions to effectively recycle or compost 50 percent of plastic packaging by 2025; and
• ensuring the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging reaches 30 percent by 2025. 

In issuing “Roadmap to 2025,” the U.S. Plastics Pact and its signatories will approach each of these 2025 targets by supporting upstream innovation through an ecosystem of coordinated stakeholder initiatives.

“To meaningfully address the plastic waste crisis in the United States, we must unite the critical stakeholders—industry leaders, waste management systems and policymakers—under a cohesive action plan,” says Erin Simon, head of Plastic Waste and Business at World Wildlife Fund. “The road map will be the key for setting a national strategy that reaches our set targets and measures our progress in a consistent, transparent manner.”

According to The Recycling Partnership, the “Roadmap to 2025” follows precedents set by other pacts in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact Network, with hopes of bringing one unifying voice to plastic packaging guidelines, policy, education, labeling, access and infrastructure. Unlike any other existing U.S. initiatives, The Recycling Partnership says the U.S. Plastics Pact provides overarching leadership and accountability by aligning to develop a national strategy, advance shared goals and measure the strength of progress through annual reporting.

Vice President of Circular Ventures at The Recycling Partnership Sarah Dearman says, “The ‘Roadmap’ is an important step toward igniting systems change for the circularity of packaging in the U.S.”

ITAD provider adds Florida location

Cascade Asset Management, a Madison, Wisconsin-based company that provides information technology asset disposition (ITAD) services to businesses and institutions, has added a third location. The processing facility in Orlando, Florida, is the company’s first outside of the Midwest. In addition to its Madison location, Cascade has a facility in Indianapolis.

“Cascade has been working with customers throughout Florida for 14 years, and Orlando is a great central location to reach all parts of the state within an easy day’s drive,” Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO of Cascade Asset Management, says of the new location.

“We were planning to expand our business from the Midwest into another geographic market during the summer of 2020, but the pandemic put that on hold,” he continues. “We evaluated a number of locations across the country for expansion, and Orlando came out on top.”

Cascade will provide its full range of services, including logistics, data destruction, resale, recycling and reporting, out of its new location at 4428 36th St. in Orlando. The 15,900-square-foot facility is equipped to process all types of enterprise technology, including computers, mobile devices, data centers and peripheral hardware, the company says.

Peters-Michaud says Cascade Asset Management selected the site in early April of this year. “With demand for our services greater than ever, we wanted to get this facility up and running to be ready as companies get back to business.”

Peters-Michaud says, “The market Cascade serves—enterprises in health care, finance and insurance—is strong and growing in Florida, and we estimate there are more businesses in the area that can benefit from our services. Also, there’s strong interest and support of responsible and secure electronics recycling by the city of Orlando and its sustainability initiatives.”

Vern Hill will lead daily operations at Cascade Asset Management’s Orlando location. He has more than 20 years of experience, having been with Cascade since 2001, serving as field technician manager at the company’s Madison headquarters. In his new role, Cascade says Hill will guide a team of seven associates, some of whom also have relocated from Cascade’s Madison and Indianapolis facilities.

In a news release about the new location, Cascade says it plans to add 35 positions at its Orlando location focused on technology hardware testing and logistics over the next three years.

Peters-Michaud says initial capacity at the Orlando location based on current staffing and existing client needs is about 50,000 pounds, or 4,000 devices, per month, though Cascade expects capacity to increase to 200,000 pounds per month, or more than 20,000 assets, by 2023. “We hope to grow and expand as demand for services requires.”

The company has a hard drive/solid state drive shredder from Allegheny Shredders in Delmont, Pennsylvania, on order as of June.

Peters-Michaud says, “A flash media and cellphone shredder is installed and operational. Cascade will also perform manual disassembly of e-scrap into commodity grades for e-Stewards-conforming off-site processing at audited third-party facilities.”

Peters-Michaud says Cascade’s Orlando site is primarily set up as an ITAD operation with testing and sanitization technology installed to overwrite data on and to refurbish computing devices, including desktops, laptops, monitors and printers; data center equipment, including servers and switches; and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

“Also, Cascade is unique in that our own staff provide on-site inventory, data destruction and equipment packing/hauling services using our own fleet and NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) security certified processes,” he says. “Having more locations closer to clients allows us to ensure we can handle equipment from their dock to our processing facility under a secure chain of custody.”

Peters-Michaud says the company reuses 30 percent of the items brought in by weight but expects that rate to be higher in Florida.

“The health care, finance and insurance sectors tend to have a higher reuse rate than manufacturers, and we expect to service more of those higher reuse sectors in the Florida market,” Peters-Michaud says.

Cascade is in the process of obtaining NAID AAA and e-Stewards certifications for the new site. Peters-Michaud says, “The NAID audit is expected to take place in five-to-six weeks,” as of mid-June. “NSF International is scheduled to perform an on-site audit in Florida in mid-November for our e-Stewards, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. The actual certifications are typically issued by the certifying bodies one-to-four weeks later.”