Spain-based petrochemical firm Repsol says it has reached an agreement with Torrelavega, Spain-based plastic packaging producer Grupo Armando Alvarez Group (GAA) to jointly develop processes to create recycled-content polyolefins to be used packaging applications.

Collaborative aspects of the alliance including using mechanical recycling methods to produce recycled-content polymers that can be used in non-food contact flexible packaging applications; and for both companies to market circular polyolefins produced via a chemical recycling that would be suitable for food-contact applications.

Repsol and GAA say they have developed a new range of circular containers that incorporate high-quality recycled polyolefins, recovered by both mechanical and chemical recycling processes.

“This new alliance reinforces Repsol's objective, announced last December, to become a zero net emissions company in 2050,” states Repsol. The company says it is “committed to the efficiency of its industrial chemical processes and oriented to the circular economy, with the ambition to recycle the equivalent of 20 percent of the company’s polyolefins production.”

Repsol and GAA have developed what they call “the first homologated material for the easy-tear film application that incorporates Repsol Reciclex recycled material—thus becoming leading companies on the market and champions of the circular economy in packaging applications.”

Repsol also says the industrial bags it uses to market its pellets, which incorporate 30 percent postconsumer recycled material, were developed in cooperation with GAA. A reverse logistics system allows Repsol to recover used industrial bags that are reprocessed so they can be incorporated into bag reels GAA manufactures for Repsol.

For food-contact applications, the agreement between the two companies will allow for the production of Repsol Reciclex resins produced by the chemical recycling of postconsumer plastic scrap deemed not suitable for mechanical recycling.

In August, Repsol announced a separate agreement with Alicante, Spain-based plastics recycler Acteco to collaborate to increase the capacity of a recycled materials production plant Acteco owns. Repsol said the recycled products from the Alicante plant will be included in its Repsol Reciclex product line.

The board of directors of France-based environmental services firm Suez says it has reviewed the takeover bid being made by fellow French company Veolia and has labeled it a “hostile approach” that is “against the best interests of Suez and all its stakeholders, and in particular its shareholders, its employees and its clients.”

In a news release issued by Suez, the company says its board has concluded that “the overall structure of the transaction contemplated by Veolia is questionable and exposes Suez and its shareholders to a long period of disruption for the group, with a risk of a takeover on an unacceptable basis.” Adds Suez “Veolia’s takeover project comes with major antitrust and regulatory issues in France and abroad.”

The Suez board, which says it “affirms its full support to the management team,” also is reviewing the company’s progress on the Suez 2030 plan, and “unanimously reiterates its full support for Suez’s standalone strategic plan and the management team delivering this highly value-creative plan.”

The board describes the Suez 2030 plan as reinforcing the company’s status as “a global leader in environmental services” that positions the company as “an agile, innovative and highly technological company. The plan, says the board, “is endorsed by clients, municipalities and employees.”

Veolia and Suez are the largest providers of waste and recycling collection services in France, and each also processes and trades significant volumes of recyclable materials in France and the rest of Europe. Both companies also have environmental services footprints that extend to Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Goudsmit Magnetics, Waalre, Netherlands, has upgraded its eddy current nonferrous separator enabling the control unit to be expanded with an IOT (internet of things) module that sends data to a dashboard through the internet. This allows operators to see machine performance graphically and in real-time, including how fast the rotor is turning, the degree of vibration and the belt speed. The internet connection also offers the option of remote assistance, the Goudsmit service team is available online to monitor, resolve any malfunctions and perform software updates. The Profinet connection also enables integration of the unit into a processing line, so everything works together and the line can be controlled centrally, Goudsmit says

Mechanical upgrades have also been made to the separator. For instance, the EddyXpert and EddyFines machine lines have been more closely aligned to enable the interchangeability of modules. For companies that want to expand their systems in the future with a drum magnetic separator or other separation system, can easily replace or exchange modules, the company says.

Goudsmit says its eddy current separator can be combined to address various applications. In glass recycling, for example, the unit is equipped with manganese steel wear plates on the vibratory chute, drum magnet and/or the separation plate and paired with a wear-resistant rubber conveyor belt.

For the small fraction of bottom ash recycling, Goudsmit uses a 38HI magnetic rotor in combination with a feed belt separator instead of a vibratory chute. This helps to prevent caking of the cement-like mass and results in the best possible separation, the company says.

Coarse wood is best processed using an eddy current separator with a 12-pole magnetic rotor featuring a deep and powerful field, Goudsmit says. To give the coarse pieces sufficient space, the company recommends installing an extra-large chute and a separation unit.

21st Century Programming, Long Beach, California, has announced the launch and immediate availability of the first product in the ROM Infinite suite of innovative solutions for the recycling and waste industries: ROM Infinite Dispatch.

According to the company, ROM Infinite Dispatch provides management and monitoring of dispatches, drivers, equipment and customer activity.

“Everything we’ve learned, all we’ve heard from our customers, all the mistakes we’ve made and successes we’ve had, we’ve poured into ROM Infinite. We’re immensely proud of how it’s come out and look forward to the infinite possibilities of our new platform,” said Dave Kane, president of 21st Century Programming.

ROM Infinite Dispatch features streamlined dispatch planning, real-time views of the dispatching operation at multiple levels, immediate detection of issues and deviations from the plan, smart alerts and resolutions, and built-in instantaneous communications between dispatchers, drivers and customers. It also integrates the new ROM Smart Asset-Tracking devices that were specifically designed for the recycling and waste industries.

The user interface is customer tested, easy to use, very powerful and requires little to no training, the company says. The underlying hybrid-cloud platform requires zero management by customers and provides instant cloud backup and synchronization, end-to-end encryption, optional on-premises servers that can keep things going when the internet goes down, and more.

21st Century Programming is celebrating their 20th year as a leader of technological solutions for the recycling industry. Their flagship product, the Recycling Operations Manager (ROM), is in operation at over 400 facilities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

For more information on the ROM Infinite, visit www.rominfinite.com.