DS Smith Recycling has announced plans to close its materials recycling facility (MRF) in Southampton, U.K. In deciding to shutter the MRF, the company notes that the facility had been losing money since it was acquired as part of DS Smith’s acquisition of SCA Packaging July 1, 2012.
 

In a statement announcing the planned closure, DS Smith says volatility in prices for the recyclables the MRF handled as well as the competitive nature of the industry, resulted in continued losses at the plant over the past several quarters. The company did note that due to the losses it had shifted the MRF’s operations to focus on higher grade materials. Due to the shift to higher grades, DS Smith has reduced the MRF’s operations to a single fixed shift that operated, on average, 48 hours per week.
 

Despite significant investments in the facility, the plant has not realized an anticipated return. The value of the business, its performance and returns has been poor, which the company deemed unsustainable. Under current and anticipated market conditions, the business expects this position to be exacerbated and this view is supported by unsuccessful attempts to find a potential buyer.
 

Due to the forecasted scenario, DS Smith has decided to close the MRF. The company says it does not operate large scale MRFs in any other part of its business in the U.K. and continental Europe. DS Smith’s strategy in growing its wider facilities management business has been to secure long-term supply partnerships with organizations that operate a much wider range of recycling and recovery facilities.
 

In deciding to close the plant, DS Smith will shift to work with the existing network of recycling facilities to ensure the needed amount of clean recovered fiber is obtained to meet the company’s requirements, rather than processing the recyclables needed to meet DS Smith’s mill requirements.
 

The paper recycling aspect of the Southampton facility can be profitable. However, DS Smith Recycling says the current cost of operating the facility is too difficult. After closing the MRF, DS Smith Recycling says that it in the short term it will service customers of the Southampton facility from other sites. Longer term, the company says it has an opportunity to invest in larger dedicated source segregated recycling facility within the same geographical area.

Peter McGuinness, CEO of DS Smith Recycling, says, “We are conscious that this period of consultation provides for an unsettling period for employees, especially at the Southampton facility. Provisions have been put in place to support staff at this difficult time. We are extremely grateful for the staff’s dedication and ongoing commitment to delivering a high level of service to our customers.”
 

Following its acquisition of SCA’s U.K. operations, DS Smith has undergone an analysis of its various operations. The company has closed facilities in Croydon and Basildon, U.K., and is in discussions with operations at Stoke-on-Trent and Gosport. Additionally, the company says discussions are ongoing with the company’s operations in Silverton and Plymouth, U.K., where the opportunity to merge the two facilities into a super depot within the same area is being discussed.  
 

Following the closure of the three facilities DS Smith will operate 20 facilities. DS Smith Recycling, a part of DS Smith, recycles around 5.4 million metric tons of recovered fiber per year. Additionally, the company diverts around 250,000 metric tons of waste to alternative technologies. The company operates around two dozen recycling facilities throughout Europe, primarily in the United Kingdom.
 

DS Smith Paper manufacturers test liner and other paper grades in the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy. In addition to its recycling division, DS Smith also operates DS Smith Packaging and DS Smith Plastics.

 

Wausau Paper, a Mosinee, Wis.-based paper company, has started a process to identify alternatives for its paper segment. According to Wausau, the change will position the company to focus its management efforts on continuing the growth of its tissue business.
 

In early 2012, Wausau exited its print and color business, narrowing the focus of its paper segment to specialty products. Since then the company retained financial advisors to assist its board of directors in evaluating alternatives for the remainder of its paper segment.
 

To accomplish this, the company recently began the start-up phase of a $220 million tissue capacity investment at its Harrodsburg, Ky., paper mill site. According to Wausau Paper, the tissue project will accelerate growth of its tissue segment and establish its position in the away-from-home tissue markets through improved product performance and the introduction of new-to-the-market premium recycled products.
 

“Our tissue segment has demonstrated strong profitability and exceptional growth over the last decade,” Wausau president and CEO Hank Newell, says. “We believe our shareholders’ interests will be best served through a singular focus on successfully marketing the capacity and capability of our new tissue machine and sustaining the historically strong growth and profit performance of our tissue business.”

 

 

The private equity firm BNY Mellon-Alcentra Mezzanine Partners, a division of Alcentra and part of BNY Mellon Investment Management, has recently invested $10 million to support Alston Capital Partners’ purchase of Battery Solutions Inc., a Howell, Mich., battery recycling solutions provider. 
 

Battery Solutions helps companies recycle spent battery waste. The company designs and operates recycling programs and collection systems and provides for logistics, disassembly, chemistry identification, sorting, separation, processing, regulatory compliance and documentation. The company operates throughout the United States and has developed flexible battery recycling solutions to handle all battery chemistries.
 

Alcentra Senior Vice President Justin Kaplan says, “We believe Battery Solutions is a high-growth company. We look forward to working with Alston Capital and the company’s management team to help Battery Solutions better serve its customers and identify growth opportunities.”

 

Kroll Ontrack, based in Minneapolis, has launched the Ontrack Eraser 4.0, which it describes as “a feature-rich enterprise data erasure solution that includes expanded drive wiping capacity, VMware eraser capabilities and new reporting and security management functionality.” Kroll Ontrack provides data recovery, data backup, data destruction, electronic discovery and document review services.

 

Abhik Mitra, product manager for Kroll Ontrack, says, “A 2012 Internet Security Threat Report revealed that 234 million identities were exposed in 2011 because of breaches, reiterating the importance of effective, secure data wiping. Whether you are a corporation that needs to recycle a large number of drives that are end-of-life or to redeploy a set of machines, Ontrack Eraser 4.0 can handle the specifications of your environment and the scope of your job—all while ensuring proper protocol is being maintained.”

 

Specific features and functionality of Ontrack Eraser 4.0 include:

According to Kroll, the advanced capabilities of Ontrack Eraser 4.0 allow enterprises to build a fully automated, efficient and cost-effective wipe process for a large number of devices. 

 

In addition to the enterprise software, Kroll Ontrack also has a mobile erasure service to help corporations address their erasure needs and meet their compliance and security requirements.

 

More  information about Ontrack Eraser 4.0 is available here.