Hong Kong-based Nine Dragons Paper Ltd. has signed an agreement to acquire assets from Richmond, British Columbia-based Catalyst Paper in a transaction being valued at $175 million.
The sale includes Catalyst’s paper mills in Rumford, Maine, and Biron, Wisconsin, along with associated staff at Catalyst’s facility in Dayton, Ohio.
“This transaction allows Catalyst to repay a significant portion of our debt and focus on our British Columbia operations,” says President and CEO Ned Dwyer.
Catalyst has three mills in British Columbia that employ some 1,300 people.
Under terms of the agreement, Catalyst will provide transition support services to Nine Dragons to help develop certain operational and administrative functions required for the two paper mills.
The Rumford mill operates three paper production lines that have a combined annual production capacity of approximately 550,000 metric tons. The mill can produce coated one-side, coated freesheet and coated groundwood grades.
With two kraft pulping lines and a dryer, the mill has a combined annual pulping capacity of roughly 520,000 metric tons for kraft pulp (hardwood and softwood grades), of which about 400,000 metric tons are used for internal consumption, with the remainder being sold on the open market.
The Biron mill operates two paper production lines with a combined annual production capacity of nearly 340,000 metric tons, primarily in coated groundwood grades.
Nine Dragons indicates it intends to invest in growing both mills’ capacity for producing packaging paper and pulp products.
International, Legislation & Regulations
Departments - Newsworthy
Recent news from the various sectors of the recycling industry
Indonesia and Vietnam have introduced new policies pertaining to imports of scrap materials.
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, says that as of April 1, 2018, the Indonesian government began implementing a 100 percent inspection policy for recovered paper imports at the shipment’s point of origin.
“It is our understanding this is a policy impacting the global recovered paper industry,” ISRI says in its May 31 weekly Leadership Update e-newsletter.
The new procedures are outlined in a notice from inspection company Cotecna, ISRI says, which can be read at https://bit.ly/2LZny5h. These measures include differing procedures depending on whether the materials are from one yard or from multiple local or distant yards. Total weight and container details must be provided to the inspection office within four days.
“This situation will create burdens on exporters in terms of time, cost and storage,” ISRI says. “More importantly, along with [the late May] announcement on Vietnam, this measure confirms what ISRI worried could happen—with China’s import restrictions in place and materials diverting to new customers in Southeast Asia, these governments look to be considering imposing burdensome import restrictions and requirements that will challenge the industry’s ability to recover from China’s shrinking market.”
Regarding Vietnam’s import policy, ISRI says it has obtained a copy of a letter, available at https://bit.ly/2J7iga1, announcing restrictions on paper and plastic scrap shipments from all supplier countries that the Tang Cang-Cai Mep International Terminal of Vung Tau province in Vietnam sent to shipping companies.
ISRI’s message reads, “This notice comports with rumors that Vietnamese customers had no more room for imported materials and that the buildup of containers of recovered paper and plastic scrap diverted from China [was] causing delays at Vietnam’s main import terminal. The restrictions include:
Starting June 15, all recovered paper and plastic scrap cargoes must have valid import permits and a letter indicating the date the container will be picked up by the domestic customer. If those documents are not included, then the containers must be diverted.
From June 25 through Oct. 15, the port authority is not accepting containers of plastic scrap.
From June 25 through Oct. 15, the port authority will clear containers of recovered paper as if they comply with the requirements in the first bullet point.
Oct. 15, the port authority will review the situation and issue further guidance as needed.
ISRI says it is confident this move has more to do with port capacity constraints rather than being a permanent regulatory shift. However, the association adds that it “will be vigilant about watching these developments and, as always, provide you updates as they come in.”
ISRI directs members with questions to contact Adina Renee Adler, ISRI senior director of government relations and international affairs, at aadler@isri.org.
China sets rules for third-party preshipment inspection agencies
The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has alerted its members to the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC) announcement No. 48 of 2018, which it says provides the Implementation Rules on the Supervision and Administration of Pre-shipping Inspection of Imported Solid Waste Used as Raw Materials, which took effect June 1, 2018. The announcement is pertinent to third-party preshipment inspection agencies.
The BIR writes in its alert that the GAC “will be responsible for the supervision and administration of preshipping inspection agencies in the context of their services of inspection, loading under supervision and stamping with sealing marks and the issuance of the preshipping inspection certificate for exports of waste as raw materials to China.”
The agency states that exporters of scrap to China “may expect news on the first third-party preshipment inspection agencies to have been successful in applying to the GAC and so may provide their services in late July at the earliest.”
The BIR invites preshipment inspection agencies to contact BIR Trade & Environment Director Ross Bartley at rbartley@bir.org for more information.
Recycling trade organizations are quick to tout—and rightfully so—the dual “green” benefits of efficient recycling. Recycling can be as green as the U.S. dollar when it provides cost-effective ways for manufacturers to save money on raw materials costs, and it offers scrap generators revenue rather than a disposal cost.
The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) is one group putting considerable effort into publicizing the numerous “green” environmental aspects of recycling, in part with its March 18 Global Recycling Day campaign.
It certainly seems to serve the best interests of for-profit recycling companies to publicize both benefits of their industry sectors, and now might be a critical time to do so in a global capacity.
China’s government, seemingly defying both “green” benefits of recycling, has demonized imported secondary raw materials as “foreign garbage,” and the attitude toward scrap materials is spreading to neighboring Asian countries.
"Now might be a critical time for for-profit recycling companies to publicize the benefits of their industry sectors.”
The subsequent effects of this campaign may be yielding results the Chinese government did not expect. On the financial ledger, China’s paper companies reportedly are paying far beyond the going global price for scrap paper as of mid-2018 as they try to wring out new supply from within China’s borders.
The nation’s containerboard prices logically have followed suit by increasing, prompting some containerboard buyers within China to seek imported rolls of finished board.
In the other “green” category, China’s disdain for scrap is likely to cause its manufacturers to turn to mined, extracted and forested resources. That flies in the face of the nation’s “blue skies” campaign to clear air pollution and, likewise, strikes one as contrary to China’s presence as a signee of the Paris Agreement, pledging to take consistent steps to reduce carbon emissions.
At the BIR World Recycling Convention in late May, the speculation among presenters and attendees as to how the spreading distaste for scrap imports will play out was bountiful. Whether for dollars-and-cents reasons or resource conservation purposes, both “green” arguments make as much sense as they ever have, providing recyclers with hope that the rest of the world will come to its senses.
CORRECTION: In its May 2018 issue, Recycling Today incorrectly ran a photo of a preshredding machine in its article, “Sheared for a profitable trip,” which focused on metal shears and balers. I, personally, and Recycling Today regret the error.
URR G-Balers result in disappearing downtime
Custom Content - Custom Content | URR
Maryland-based Duffy Box & Recycling has watched baler jams and downtime nearly disappear thanks to its G-Balers from Unlimited Recycling Resources LLC (URR).
“Our single-ram open-end G-Baler has the ability to run double wire, which is a huge benefit when running plastics.” – Fred Moran, managing partner, Duffy Box & Recycling
Duffy Box & Recycling, based in Taneytown, Maryland, recycles a range of secondary commodities for industrial and commercial customers throughout the Eastern United States. As it handles items including old corrugated containers (OCC), discarded cores, office paper, wood crating and several types of metal and plastic scrap, it needs adequate baling capacity to keep up with the inflow.
Fred Moran, a managing partner with Duffy Box & Recycling, credits Chino Hills, California-based Unlimited Recycling Resources LLC (URR) for having provided the right baling equipment to keep Duffy’s recycling operations running quickly and smoothly.
Duffy currently operates four machines provided by URR, including two horizontal manual-tie balers, one horizontal single-ram auto-tie baler and one two-ram auto-tie baler. Moran describes Duffy as a “full service-industrial recycler” that runs its balers one shift per day. (He says Duffy also has a “niche business of giving a second life to cardboard boxes.”)
With large OCC boxes being among the items frequently handled by Duffy, Moran says of his URR horizontal G-Balers, “Having one of the largest hoppers made has worked well for our operation’s throughput.”
Moran says the G-balers have helped dramatically reduce downtime in other ways. “The de-blocker has worked well to keep our downtime to a minimum from jam-ups,” he comments, another factor pertinent to OCC baling.
The URR horizontal G-balers operated by Duffy also have been critical in improving its plastic scrap processing operations, says Moran. “Our single-ram open-end G-Baler has the ability to run double wire, which is a huge benefit when running plastics,” he comments. “The sliding lid option on our two-ram G-Baler is a nice feature for running plastics as well,” adds Moran.
Thanks to both the design of the G-Balers and the commitment of URR’s staff, Moran anticipates a long tenure for his machines. “Having the rams running on rollers is a great feature for the smooth running and long life of the machine,” he says of the design. Regarding his experiences with URR, Moran says when he’s had questions the company “took a hands-on approach and resolved all issues.” He adds, “URR has been very supportive during and after installation.”
With an expanding installation base of satisfied customers, URR Co-Founder Dan Gregory says he and his colleagues are anxious to show the company’s product line in action to potential customers. “We know recyclers want to see prospective solutions in action, and we’re happy to show off what G-Balers are accomplishing,” he states.
http://urrgbaler.com, 4195 Chino Hills Pkwy., Chino Hills, CA 91709, Ph: (909) 972-0808
Providing (and first seeking) answers
Custom Content - Custom Content | Eriez
To solve scrap separating challenges, Eriez has looked beyond its own talented staff to forge partnerships with leading research institutions.
Recyclers of scrap materials rely on increasingly sophisticated technology to process and sort the stream of obsolete items that yield the ferrous, nonferrous and plastic scrap that goes right back into the productive economy.
Equipment and technology provider Eriez—based in Erie, Pennsylvania, but with offices and facilities around the world—has created a product line tailored to meet challenges faced by recyclers of automobiles, appliances, electronics and other complex scrap streams. (This includes its Rougher Cleaner Scavenger [RCS] eddy current separator system with specific settings designed to maximize zorba recovery in downstream auto shredder systems, pictured below.)
Eriez employs engineers and experienced product designers, developers and installers in the United States, Europe and Asia, fielding its own team of in-house talent that brings projects from the inquiry stage to installation quickly and with optimal results.
Eriez CEO Tim Shuttleworth and Executive Vice President of Global Technology Mike Mankosa say the company also has cultivated a culture of innovation, which includes partnering with university research departments to tap into additional intellectual and laboratory resources these academic institutions can provide.
Science departments with research capabilities at the University of Kentucky, the University of Utah and Virginia Tech each have worked in cooperation with Eriez to research specific aspects of metals and minerals separation that are related to scrap industry process development.
Eriez worked with Virginia Tech advanced degree candidate Scott Koermer on “circuit analysis” mathematics research to evaluate different auto shredder downstream separation configurations. (Koermer went on to work at a large auto shredding facility in the northeastern U.S. before recently returning to become a Ph.D. graduate assistant at Virginia Tech.)
“Eriez maintains contacts at many universities and works with faculty members to develop projects,” says Mankosa. “We typically bring the idea to them and they identify a high-potential graduate student.”
Eriez has cultivated a culture of innovation, which includes partnering with university research departments to tap into additional intellectual and laboratory resources these academic institutions can provide.
Projects at the University of Utah and the University of Kentucky involved electro-eddy current separators and rare earth minerals separation, respectively. A fourth recent project has involved partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Fort Worth, Texas-based UHV Technologies Inc.
Eriez has partnered with UHV (which also operates under the name nanoRanch) and a large U.S. Midwest-based scrap firm to enter the DOE’s ARPA-E competition to explore advances in postshredder mixed metals sorting in light of China’s increasingly restricted market for those materials.
The message from Eriez is: If recyclers meet a processing or separation barrier, Eriez can call upon its many resources to meet the challenge.
Brian Taylor
