ITAD provider adds Florida location

Cascade Asset Management, a Madison, Wisconsin-based company that provides information technology asset disposition (ITAD) services to businesses and institutions, has added a third location. The processing facility in Orlando, Florida, is the company’s first outside of the Midwest. In addition to its Madison location, Cascade has a facility in Indianapolis.

“Cascade has been working with customers throughout Florida for 14 years, and Orlando is a great central location to reach all parts of the state within an easy day’s drive,” Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO of Cascade Asset Management, says of the new location.

“We were planning to expand our business from the Midwest into another geographic market during the summer of 2020, but the pandemic put that on hold,” he continues. “We evaluated a number of locations across the country for expansion, and Orlando came out on top.”

Cascade will provide its full range of services, including logistics, data destruction, resale, recycling and reporting, out of its new location at 4428 36th St. in Orlando. The 15,900-square-foot facility is equipped to process all types of enterprise technology, including computers, mobile devices, data centers and peripheral hardware, the company says.

Peters-Michaud says Cascade Asset Management selected the site in early April of this year. “With demand for our services greater than ever, we wanted to get this facility up and running to be ready as companies get back to business.”

Peters-Michaud says, “The market Cascade serves—enterprises in health care, finance and insurance—is strong and growing in Florida, and we estimate there are more businesses in the area that can benefit from our services. Also, there’s strong interest and support of responsible and secure electronics recycling by the city of Orlando and its sustainability initiatives.”

Vern Hill will lead daily operations at Cascade Asset Management’s Orlando location. He has more than 20 years of experience, having been with Cascade since 2001, serving as field technician manager at the company’s Madison headquarters. In his new role, Cascade says Hill will guide a team of seven associates, some of whom also have relocated from Cascade’s Madison and Indianapolis facilities.

In a news release about the new location, Cascade says it plans to add 35 positions at its Orlando location focused on technology hardware testing and logistics over the next three years.

Peters-Michaud says initial capacity at the Orlando location based on current staffing and existing client needs is about 50,000 pounds, or 4,000 devices, per month, though Cascade expects capacity to increase to 200,000 pounds per month, or more than 20,000 assets, by 2023. “We hope to grow and expand as demand for services requires.”

The company has a hard drive/solid state drive shredder from Allegheny Shredders in Delmont, Pennsylvania, on order as of June.

Peters-Michaud says, “A flash media and cellphone shredder is installed and operational. Cascade will also perform manual disassembly of e-scrap into commodity grades for e-Stewards-conforming off-site processing at audited third-party facilities.”

Peters-Michaud says Cascade’s Orlando site is primarily set up as an ITAD operation with testing and sanitization technology installed to overwrite data on and to refurbish computing devices, including desktops, laptops, monitors and printers; data center equipment, including servers and switches; and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

“Also, Cascade is unique in that our own staff provide on-site inventory, data destruction and equipment packing/hauling services using our own fleet and NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) security certified processes,” he says. “Having more locations closer to clients allows us to ensure we can handle equipment from their dock to our processing facility under a secure chain of custody.”

Peters-Michaud says the company reuses 30 percent of the items brought in by weight but expects that rate to be higher in Florida.

“The health care, finance and insurance sectors tend to have a higher reuse rate than manufacturers, and we expect to service more of those higher reuse sectors in the Florida market,” Peters-Michaud says.

Cascade is in the process of obtaining NAID AAA and e-Stewards certifications for the new site. Peters-Michaud says, “The NAID audit is expected to take place in five-to-six weeks,” as of mid-June. “NSF International is scheduled to perform an on-site audit in Florida in mid-November for our e-Stewards, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. The actual certifications are typically issued by the certifying bodies one-to-four weeks later.”

Mobile shears quickly became workhorses on demolition sites and at scrap yards after they were introduced to these markets in the late 1970s.

In several scrap applications, the hydraulic shear has replaced torch cutting, primarily for perceived productivity and labor-saving purposes but also for worker safety reasons.

Using a mobile shear to cut scrap steel and other recyclables, nonetheless, involves the exertion of powerful force to cut through metals designed to be strong and resistant to damage. For all shearing operations, safety should be a consideration, Terry Sturgell of Wisconsin-based ShearCore says.

Trained to maintain

At active job sites, such as scrap yards and demolition sites, undertaking maintenance tasks on mobile material handling machines and their attachments can leave a mechanic performing the work exposed to the other moving machines and trucks nearby.

For that reason, Sturgell says, ShearCore and other companies design shears to be easy to maintain and to be sturdy enough to minimize the need to perform repairs. ShearCore, part of Exodus Global, designs and makes the Fortress line of hydraulic mobile shears.

Sturgell says preventive maintenance inherently is safer than emergency repairs, in part because it can be performed in a designated area the yard or work site.

“By addressing and minimizing many of the things that can go wrong in the field, we allow for a tool to stay working longer and then have its maintenance done in a designated area,” he says. “We also make it so that when a technician does have to do maintenance in the field, it can be done in a more efficient and safe manner and be completed in a timelier manner.”

However, scrap recycling is not always a process where things go exactly to plan, Sturgell adds. “We all recognize that doing maintenance in a controlled environment is not always possible and often needs to be done in the field on a job site or in the yard.”

Wherever the work is done, a key to performing maintenance tasks quickly and effectively is training, he says. “Every job site is a bit different, so we offer on-site training for all of our customers,” Sturgell says.

“That said, there are basic things that apply to all applications, especially when it comes to maintenance, and that is why we also offer training at our factory, maintenance documentation and toolkits so that maintenance can be provided safely and effectively.”

Designing for endurance

Training operators and mechanics thoroughly is one way to increase the safety quotient at a scrap yard or a work site. Another is to design and build a shear that is less likely to experience a catastrophic failure and all the risks such an incident can entail.

Manufacturers of mobile shears compete with each other to offer products that can withstand harsh conditions and earn a reputation for avoiding downtime. Sturgell says ShearCore was well-aware of those demands when it introduced the Fortress FS145.

“We designed the FS145 with certain criteria in mind. We focused on high cutting capacity packed into a lower weight and shorter center of gravity tool,” he says of the Fortress FS145, which was introduced in 2019.

ShearCore has been marketing the FS145 to demolition contractors for high-reach applications, Sturgell says, though the model is “designed to process all types and sizes of scrap, meeting the needs of our customers, including scrap metal recycling facilities, large demolition projects, ship dismantling or even [underwater] projects and just about anything in between.”

Specifically, the shear contains fewer pieces and fewer welds, offering what Sturgell calls “a bit more structural stiffness, which cuts cleaner and more efficiently.” He says that is where a well-designed shear can make a difference in terms of safety: “Fewer pieces and fewer welds also means fewer things to go wrong or fail, leading to a longer lasting tool.”

Another design feature of the FS145 involves the use of bolt-on wear parts and what Sturgell calls “superior coverage and replacement wear plates with extra thickness in the chin area.

“Those things reduce a company’s time spent building up high wear areas and changing wear parts like blades and tips,” he says. Or, put another way, they reduce time spent on tasks that take operators out of their cabs and into a situation where they are performing maintenance tasks in an active area.

When maintenance is necessary (and some amount always is), manufacturers still can make decisions that affect safety. “We kept maintenance personnel in mind when designing our access panels and hydraulic components, allowing for easier access,” Sturgell says of his company’s shears.

Safe journey home

Providing workers the best opportunity to operate a mobile hydraulic shear safely can start with the research and shopping process as the best shear for the job can mean scheduled maintenance work predominates rather than emergency repairs.

Shear buyers who make the right choice and follow up appropriately will benefit on several fronts, Sturgell says. “A good maintenance process with the emphasis on safety will extend the life of the shear, reduce downtime, prevent jamming and increase productivity.”

As has been increasingly emphasized by trade associations serving scrap recyclers and demolition contractors, attention to equipment maintenance and workplace safety goes beyond the financial and operating cost considerations.

“We all have families at home that love us and, at the end of the day, we recognize the importance of getting home safely to our families,” Sturgell says. “That is why doing things safely is of the utmost importance.”

The author is senior editor with the Recycling Today Media Group and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net.

BCA Industries ES2000 shredder

BCA Industries, Milwaukee, has released its customizable ES2000 shredder, also known as The Beast, that is designed to shred ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, electronic scrap and truck tires. The shredder:

• is available in stationary and portable units
• includes 24-inch diameter hard-faced knives that use a base AR-500 alloy, 55-inch-by-72-inch-by-44-inch cutting chambers and 8-inch 4130 Chromoly steel shafts
• is designed to shred 15 to 35 tons of metal or dense materials per hour with 179,000 foot-pounds of torque per knife
• uses a pressure compensated variable displacement pump that allows the rpm to increase and decrease based on loads

Visit www.bca-industries.com for more information.

Amrep rear-load refuse trucks

Amrep, Charlotte, North Carolina, has released a rear-load refuse truck. The truck:

• is equipped with a Hardox AR500 and AR450 steel body
• features a design that is proven to require less overall maintenance that can result in cost savings
• offers increased control over contamination of recyclables by giving haulers the option to examine and sort through content manually as opposed to automated side loader models
• can be serviced and maintained through Wastequip WRX and Amrep’s Wastebuilt brands

Visit www.amrepproducts.com for more information.

Noblelift LFP/LiFePO4 electric forklifts

Noblelift North America, which is based in Des Plaines, Illinois, has introduced its lithium iron phosphate LFP/LiFePO4 electric 60Q and 70Q Series forklifts. The forklifts:

• feature an IP4-rated waterproof design for indoor and outdoor use
• are available in 6,000- to 7,000-pound load capacities in double- or triple-stage masts of up to 255 inches
• deliver reduced energy consumption and faster cycle times while having a safe, stable battery chemistry to avoid overheating
• are designed to perform in heavy-duty applications with equivalent performance to internal combustion trucks
• move materials for 10,000 cycles after 2.5 hours of charging versus 1,000 to 1,500 cycles after eight hours of charging for lead-acid battery models

Visit www.nobleliftna.com for more information.

Machinex debuts Mach Vision, Intell dashboard

Machinex, a waste and recycling technology manufacturer based in Plessisville, Quebec, has debuted two new products aimed at increasing sorting capabilities at material recovery facilities (MRFs).

According to a news release from Machinex, Mach Vision and Intell use Machinex artificial intelligence (AI) and were developed by the equipment manufacturer’s research and development team. 

Mach Vision is a data acquisition station powered by AI that can use a combination of technologies, including infrared hyperspectral imaging, visual recognition and metal detectors, to analyze material streams.

According to Machinex, the system provides a great understanding of material composition in real-time, allowing MRF operators to benefit from valuable data on system efficiency and the composition of the material stream. With this information, operators can respond quickly to changing trends to optimize plant performance, the company says.

“This new equipment is a real game-changer for MRF operations since they can now be based on smart processing,” says Chris Hawn, CEO of Machinex Technologies, the company’s U.S. division, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The Mach Vision system allows operators to be aware of the breakdown of material streams by material type, composition and contamination. They will be able to target areas for potential improvement of operations and plant adjustments, as well as create an instantaneous shift in behavior before [the] next collection,” he adds.

According to the company, Mach Vision is connected to Intell, which Machinex created to provide MRF managers with detailed information on their operations by connecting to equipment such as Mach Vision, SamurAI robots and MACH Hyspec optical sorters. The Intell dashboard provides real-time data capture to help MRF operators fully comprehend the material stream as seen by the AI and other technologies used by the connected equipment. Machinex says this capability can allow for a data-driven decision process that allows MRF operators to optimize the performance of their processing systems.

The Intell system provides key performance indicators, such as the flow composition, volume per material type, material trends per given period and the total material seen on the belt, Machinex says.

Amos Manufacturing shredder line includes 125-horsepower dual-shaft shredder

Amos Manufacturing Inc., Alpena, Michigan, offers a full range of shredders, including a 125-horsepower dual-shaft shredder.

According to a news release from Amos Manufacturing, its shredders are custom-built based on the requirements of each application. Each solution is tailored to accommodate an operation’s feeding, shredding and conveyance of material. Additionally, if a complete solution is needed, Amos says it can provide the auxiliary equipment that supports a turnkey solution.

The 125-horsepower dual-shaft shredder features a low-speed, high-torque cutter design that shreds metal with ease and efficiency, reducing the particle size and providing consistency for further processing and more efficient handling, according to the company. This also allows for an increase in the density of scrap material, helping to cut costs associated with transportation.

Amos says its shredders are designed to reduce volume and create more consistently sized material, which increases the efficiency of additional downstream operations.

The company offers shredders from 1 to 400 horsepower and beyond, with a wide selection of industrial shredders for a variety of applications. A complete solution can be provided based on the type of materials being processed, throughput, particle size, feeding method and other operational requirements.

Pellenc renews emphasis on ‘design for recycling’

Stating “Design for recycling is emerging as one of the key solutions” to boosting recycling rates, France-based equipment and technology provider Pellenc ST says it is creating a dedicated Design for Recycling unit in 2021.

“Companies know that they need to rethink their manufacturing processes to reduce their environmental impact,” the firm says. These issues have become a central concern in their new product design strategies, as well as in the eyes of consumers.”

Referring to itself as a supplier of intelligent sorting solutions for materials processing, Pellenc says it works closely with recycling deposit-return scheme operators, brand owners and designers of packaging, coloring agents and additives around the world.

“To accelerate the development of the circular economy and further support those partners, Pellenc ST is innovating and creating a dedicated Design for Recycling unit in 2021,” the manufacturer says. “The role of that unit is to meet the specific needs of packaging producers. The team helps such producers develop test protocols and shares its business expertise through diagnostics and recommendations for improvements.”

The Pellenc ST Test Center will be available to “validate the ‘sortability’ of [proposed] packaging in the real-life conditions of a material recovery facility (MRF),” the company states. “This approach allows Pellenc ST to stay abreast of market developments, anticipate the arrival of new materials and take those materials into account in its technological road map.”

As an example, Pellenc says it was involved from the outset in validating the sortability of dark packaging made without using carbon black, conducting tests at the Test Center that were incorporated into subsequent approval protocols for black packaging.

The technology provider says it is developing close partnerships with technical centers and research laboratories specializing in each of the major materials sectors. “That collaboration makes it possible to carry out recyclability tests and provide packaging manufacturers with a general overview of the end-of-life of their products,” Pellenc adds.