Beachwood, Ohio-based recycled-content aluminum producer Real Alloy, which filed for bankruptcy in November 2017, is shuttering its melt shop in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.

The company issued an update on its bankruptcy reorganization on Jan. 18, 2018, that states in part, “As part of the company’s continued focus on rationalizing costs and improving efficiency, Real Alloy [will] cease operations at its Mount Pleasant facility, which was acquired from Beck Aluminum at the end of 2016.”

The statement continues, “Real Alloy expects to utilize available production capacity in nearby Indiana and Michigan facilities, and feels that shutting down the facility allows the business to better utilize production capacity and reduce overall capital needs.”

In other news pertaining to its reorganization, the company has indicated it has received additional DIP (debtor-in-possession) financing that “allows Real Alloy to continue uninterrupted operations throughout the reorganization process, giving Real Alloy the authority to make payments to suppliers and service providers as well as to continue to pay employees wages, salaries and benefits.”

The company’s managers have also reported that “since the filing of Chapter 11 in November 2017, Real Alloy has successfully negotiated contracts for 2018 production with several longstanding customers including major multinational automobile manufacturers and large-scale aluminum producers. The Company’s average tenure on its relationship with these customers is over 20 years. Real Alloy has continued to work closely with its suppliers and critical vendors throughout this restructuring process, and has received strong support from customers and vendors alike.”

Atlanta-based WestRock Co. has announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Illinois-based KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp.

Founded in 2005, KapStone produces and distributes containerboard, corrugated products and specialty papers, including liner and medium containerboard, kraft paper and saturating kraft. KapStone also owns Victory Packaging, a packaging distribution company with facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

According to its website, KapStone operates four paper mills: two in South Carolina, one in North Carolina and the former Longview Fibre mill in Washington state, which it acquired in 2013.

“KapStone is a great fit with WestRock,” states Steve Voorhees, CEO of WestRock. “[Its] complementary corrugated packaging and distribution operations will enhance WestRock’s ability to serve customers across our system, particularly in the western United States, and the addition of [its] specialty kraft paper products that we do not make enhances our differentiated portfolio of paper and packaging solutions.”

The news release issued by WestRock also points to KapStone’s ability to consume virgin fiber feedstocks at a high percentage. The transaction “increases [the] mix of virgin fiber-based paper in WestRock’s paper portfolio,” the release states. “KapStone’s 3 million tons of paper is made using 78 percent virgin fiber and 22 percent recovered fiber. This increases WestRock’s overall mix of virgin fiber from 65 percent to 67 percent.”

The acquisition cost is valued by the two companies at approximately $4.9 billion, based on a $35-per-share purchase price and WestRock’s assumption of $1.36 billion in KapStone debt.

KapStone’s chairman, Roger Stone, and its president and CEO Matt Kaplan agreed to vote their shares in support of the transaction, “subject to certain limitations.”

“The agreement to combine with WestRock is a testament to the tremendous company we have built and the hard work and accomplishments of the KapStone team,” says Kaplan. “As we began to understand WestRock’s principles, we realized how closely aligned our cultures are. As a result, we believe strongly that this will be beneficial to both our employees and customers.”

The two companies indicate the acquisition will enable WestRock to supply additional corrugated packaging to Victory Packaging and will “accelerate WestRock’s plans to improve margins in its North American corrugated packaging business.”

As of late January 2018, the transaction remains subject to closing conditions that include a vote by KapStone’s shareholders. Pending those conditions being met, the transaction is expected to close by the end of September 2018.

Pre-merger, WestRock employs some 45,000 people at more than 300 operating and office locations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. KapStone employs about 6,200 people at more than 90 locations in North America.

Vortex De-pollution, Denver, has announced it is distributing tilting container loaders from New Zealand-based A-Ward.

The company will supply MiTilt, a tilting container loader for the scrap recycling industry, throughout North America.

Trace Nichols, sales development manager for Vortex De-pollution, says the tilting container loaders help companies to be more efficient in their operations as well as to reduce logistics costs. Additionally, the hydraulically powered containers help to maximize container space.

“You can load a container in 20 minutes,” Nichols says.

He adds, “The container loader is made to reduce the logistics costs and make you more efficient. You can load a container much faster with this.”

Nichols says the tilting container loaders are ideal for companies shipping loads overseas. They work for 20-foot and 40-foot containers.

A-Ward explains on its website that the MiTilt “allows a container to be tipped at your chosen angle—anywhere between -10° to 90°. By loading from above, you have access to 100 percent of the internal container volume. Shipping containers are inserted either directly with a standard trailer, or from above with a forklift, crane or reach stacker.”

For more information, contact Nichols by email at trace@vortexdepollution.com or by phone at 303-900-4040, ext. 301.

Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman and Leesburg, Virginia-based American Wood Council (AWC) President and CEO Robert Glowinski issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) issuance of new guidance to reclassify certain major sources as area sources under the Clean Air Act.

Jan. 25, 2018, EPA says it “issued a guidance memorandum withdrawing the ‘once in always in’ policy for the classification of major sources of hazardous air pollutants under section 112 of the Clean Air Act.  With the new guidance, sources of hazardous air pollutants previously classified as ‘major sources’ may be reclassified as ‘area’ sources at any time, provided the facility limits its potential to emit below major source thresholds,” according to the association’s website.

“This guidance is based on a plain language reading of the statute that is in line with EPA’s guidance for other provisions of the Clean Air Act,” Bill Wehrum, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, says in a press release announcing the change. “It will reduce regulatory burden for industries and the states, while continuing to ensure stringent and effective controls on hazardous air pollutants.”

AF&PA’s Harman says in a statement:

“For too long, the air permit process has been overly bureaucratic, slow and outdated, thereby causing unwarranted red tape, costs and delay for the regulated community. In some cases, these problems have been created by agency interpretations that are not even consistent with the plain meaning of the Clean Air Act as written by the people’s duly elected representatives in Congress. The old ‘once in, always in’ approach contradicted both the law and common sense by treating a source as major even if production process changes or controls permanently reduced emissions levels to the minor source level.

We applaud EPA’s new guidance, which is faithful to the text of the Clean Air Act and will not only reduce unwarranted red tape but will remove disincentives to voluntary efforts and technical innovations that could reduce emissions.

“This action is consistent with our recommendations to EPA and the Department of Commerce in response to President Trump’s early directive on streamlining permitting and reducing regulatory burdens to promote domestic manufacturing.”

AWC’s Glowinski says:

“Reforming the cumbersome environmental permit system is essential to reviving the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing. Eliminating the old ‘once in, always in’ policy is a step in the right direction to streamline the air permitting systems.

We are pleased that EPA has returned to the plain reading of the Clean Air Act for air toxic regulations. The old policy arbitrarily put a facility into a regulatory time warp from which it could never escape.

Eliminating the OIAI [once in, always in] policy creates incentives for facilities to reduce emissions below the regulatory thresholds, which is a win for the environment and a win for business.

The regulatory burdens of complying with a MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) standard are significant, especially for smaller mills, which this policy could help. Mills that are able to reduce their emissions below the threshold, and this guidance gives them an incentive to do so, should be freed of unnecessary reporting, monitoring and recordkeeping requirements as long as they operate controls to stay below the cutoffs.

Consistent with today’s action, we encourage EPA to make the appropriate changes to the regulations as soon as possible.”

AF&PA says it represents producers of pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and wood products that manufacture more than $200 billion in products annually.

AWC says it represents North American wood products manufacturing, representing 86 percent of the structural wood products industry.