LBX Co. LLC, Lexington, Kentucky, hosted a grand opening for its new Customer Experience Center June 13. The facility is located on 25 acres in Citation Business Park on Remington Way in Lexington, Kentucky. Company officials say the operation will accommodate customer experience programs, including dealer training, product demonstrations and community events.

“Today marks the culmination of a vision that started several years ago,” says Eric Sauvage, president and CEO of LBX. “A vision to better support our dealers, our customers, our employees and our community with our state-of-the-art 23,000-square-foot LBX Customer Experience Center. We are all very excited, and already have a full calendar for the 2019 usage of our new facility with product and service training, customer demonstration days, clinic tests and philanthropy events.”

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton, State Sen. Ralph Alvarado of Winchester, State Rep. George Brown Jr., along with other business leaders attended the grand opening, LBX reports in a news release. Bob Quick, president and CEO of Commerce Lexington, emceed the event.

LBX Co. LLC makes Link-Belt hydraulic excavators, scrap material handlers, demolition equipment and forestry equipment.

Sweed, Gold Hill, Oregon, has released a new solution for recovering copper from low-yield wire. The new Turbo Mill helps nonferrous scrap processors to separate copper wire from the plastic surrounding it. 

According to a news release from Sweed, the company noticed an increasing number of inquiries about low-yield copper wire. The company decided to design and manufacture a machine that could address the gap its customers were experiencing. The new design allows for more adjustment of the process while being a much sturdier piece of equipment, Sweed reports in a news release. 

The Turbo Mill beats the material around, tumbling it over to pulverize any remaining insulation, Sweed reports. The friction rips the plastic away from the copper wire, which is turned into tiny pellet-like pieces. In this shape, the balled copper flows freely like fine sand, allowing it to separate easily from the plastic; straight fine wire will nest and entrap plastic making it difficult to separate effectively.

“Our Turbo Mill effectively and efficiently processes No. 2 copper wire and other fine wire, making it easier to separate,” says Chris Salyer, Sweed’s engineering director. “Before it hit the market, the primary source for customers in the United States for a turbo mill was through international manufacturers.”

Also, Sweed’s Turbo Mill provides benefits in the copper liberation process. “Because it makes the balled copper easier to separate from the plastic, the Turbo Mill increases copper recovery,” Salyer says. 

Sweed Turbo Mill end product result.

The recovered copper also has an increased purity because the process that removes it from the plastic ensures that the two materials are completely separated. “It increases your processing capability,” Salyer adds. “Without a Turbo Mill, in our entry-level chopping line, someone might use an eighth-inch screen, which allows for 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of processing per hour. With a Turbo Mill, you can use a larger 3/16-inch or ¼-inch screen, which more than doubles your throughput and lets you process 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of material every hour.”

With a line that ranges from 40 horsepower to 150 horsepower, Sweed’s Turbo Mill can integrate into any existing system. Also, once a Turbo Mill is integrated into the system, it stays simple to run and maintain, Sweed reports in a news release.

“It usually feeds right from the granulator, and only needs standard maintenance every million pounds or so,” Salyer says. “Once it’s up, it just runs itself. It just goes.”

At the Impulsion MTL International Fleet Forum event June 3, two Quebec-based companies—The Lion Electric and Boivin Évolution (BEV)—unveiled what they refer to as the world's first Class 8 truck with a powertrain and automated collection hopper that are 100 percent electric.

Marc Bédard, founder and CEO of The Lion Electric Co., says, "We are very proud that The Lion Electric Co. is ready to commercially launch its first all-electric Class 8 waste collection truck. Lion and Boivin Évolution combined their know-how to make this world premiere a reality.”

Conceived, designed and manufactured for the electric market, the Lion8 chassis and the BEV all-electric, automated side-loading hopper will be used to collect household waste, recycling and organic material.

The companies say the advantages of the Lion8 with BEV side-loading hopper include:

• Range of up to 250 miles or a full day of operation up to 1,200 homes on a single charge
• No noise pollution
• Optimal visibility and turning radius
• Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (43 percent of GHG emissions in Quebec come from transportation and heavy-duty vehicles)
• No hydraulic fluid needed for pumps, pipes and hoses. All hopper and arm movements are powered by the battery that drives electric motors for each function.
• Overnight recharging when the truck is not in operation and when demand for electricity is lower, which reduces energy costs
• Savings of up to 80 percent on total energy costs
• Sixty percent lower service costs due to the low-maintenance electric powertrain that has fewer components
• Oil-free operation with few moving parts
• Longer lasting brakes due to regenerative braking system
• Custom built in Quebec to withstand North American weather and road conditions

Bédard adds, “It's one more step in our quest to electrify heavy-duty vehicles.”

Claude Boivin, founder and CEO of BEV, says, "We can be very proud of this 100 percent Quebec technological breakthrough that will transform waste collection through better performance and a smaller ecological footprint."

A Greenpeace report released today, Packaging Away the Planet, ranks 20 of the largest U.S. grocery retailers for the first time on their efforts to eliminate single-use plastics. The assessment found that across the board, U.S. supermarkets are failing to adequately implement plastic reduction in their packaging, Greenpeace says.

ALDI, Kroger, and Albertsons Companies scored the highest in this year’s assessment, while Meijer, Wakefern, and H-E-B were the worst.

“Grocery retailers across the country sell obscene amounts of products in throwaway plastics every single day, yet none of them are acting with the urgency needed to address the pollution crisis they’re causing,” says Greenpeace Plastics Campaigner David Pinsky. “Not only do these companies have the resources to reimagine their stores with refill and reuse systems, they can use their buying power to pressure consumer goods companies like Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Unilever to act as well. The question is whether retailers will take responsibility for this mess and act.”

Greenpeace evaluated retailers on their policies, plastic reduction efforts, transparency and innovation and initiatives.

ALDI, with U.S. headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, scored the highest of all retailers because it has a plastic reduction target, a comparatively comprehensive reduction plan, greater transparency and a commitment to implement refill and reuse systems.

Kroger, Cincinnati, was the only top-five retailer to commit to ban single-use plastic checkout bags and has joined Loop, a new refill and reuse initiative, but the company has not yet released a comprehensive plastics reduction plan, Greenpeace says.

Albertsons of Boise, Idaho, scored near the top for its commitment to decrease plastic usage, but the company has not yet set an overall reduction target.

Trader Joe’s of Monrovia, California, finished fourth in the ranking, as it has begun to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging from its stores nationwide. Sprouts of Phoenix rounds out the top five retailers of the list, as the company is actively engaging suppliers and experts to develop a more comprehensive strategy on single-use plastics, Greenpeace says.

Walmart, Hy-Vee, Target, Costco and Wegmans finished in the top 10, but Greenpeace says they have a long way to go toward implementing comprehensive plans to address throwaway plastics. While Whole Foods recently announced a handful of initiatives on plastics, the retailer finished in 11th for its failure to act at the scale needed to tackle the pollution crisis, Greenpeace says.

Greenpeace’s report utilized a combination of publicly available information and survey responses to formulate the retailers’ scores. None of the supermarkets scored above 35 out of 100 this year. This year’s report will serve as a baseline for future reports from Greenpeace.

“It’s not enough for a retailer to eliminate plastic straws or make small changes to produce bags and walk away from this issue,” Pinsky says. “Retailers must develop comprehensive public policies to eliminate single-use plastics and remain transparent with customers as they implement those plans.”

Greenpeace says it plans to follow up with retailers to assess progress on plastic reduction initiatives and report those efforts publicly.

Last year, the organization released the 10th edition of Carting Away the Oceans, which similarly ranked retailers on sustainable seafood efforts.