Agilyx, an environmental technology and development company based in Tigard, Oregon, has expanded its plastic recycling capabilities to include producing feedstock for ethylene processing facilities, known as crackers, that can be used to make ethylene and propylene. The company says this achievement, enabling production of new plastic from scrap plastic, is a circular method for manufacturing feedstocks used to produce polymers.
“This expansion of our production capabilities is a significant step in addressing environmental issues associated from the evolving plastics industry,” Agilyx CEO Joe Vaillancourt says. “Agilyx has spent many years combining a differentiated technology, demonstrating deep expertise in the chemical characterization and conversion of a wide variety of waste plastics and polymers into a broad set of fuels and chemical substrates.”
He adds, “We are eager to provide sustainable and economic alternatives to the petrochemical industry and our growing set of strategic partners.”
Based on 14 years of research, scrap plastic materials management and commercial operations, Agilyx says it has developed a set of new chemical recycling pathways for scrap plastics to produce fuels and chemical substrates. The company says its products have an average carbon footprint that is 40 to 70 percent lower than traditional manufacturing. From its initial commercial product—a Toxic Substances Control Act- (TSCA-) registered synthetic crude produced from a broad range of difficult-to-recycle mixed plastics—Agilyx expanded its technical platform to produce styrene oil.
Agilyx subsequently built a commercial facility capable of recycling otherwise nonrecyclable polystyrene (PS) material into a styrene monomer that is appropriate for use in manufacturing virgin PS products, the company says.
Agilyx says its new product expands the amount of mixed plastics, including polyethylene and polypropylene, that can be diverted from landfill.
The Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has announced that containerboard production increased by 4.2 percent in July 2018 compared with July 2017. Year to date, according to the AF&PA, containerboard output has grown by 1.5 percent.
Momentum also grew during the summer months, with the AF&PA saying the July 2018 containerboard output figure is up by 3.8 percent compared with the previous month.
The containerboard mill operating rate was 99.4 percent this July, 2.5 percentage points higher compared with July 2017.
Production for export in July 2018 was at its highest level so far this year and was 2 percent higher than in July 2017.
The trade organization also has reported that total boxboard output in the U.S. in July increased by 1.9 percent when compared with July 2017 and by 4.1 percent when compared with the previous month.
The production of recycled-content boxboard increased this July compared with both the previous month and with July 2017.
Casella Waste Systems Inc., a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company based in Rutland, Vermont, has reported its financial results for the three-month period ended June 30.
The company reports revenue growth of 7.6 percent, or $11.6 million, compared with the second quarter of 2017, for total revenue of $165.6 million for the quarter. Overall solid waste pricing for the quarter increased 4.3 percent, driven by strong collection pricing (up 4.9 percent) and robust landfill pricing (up 4.1 percent) from the same period in 2017.
While the waste side of Casella Waste Systems performed well in the second quarter, the company’s recycling business was challenged by declining commodity pricing for paper and cardboard. “Our average commodity revenue per ton was down roughly 55 percent year over year in the quarter and down roughly 12 percent sequentially from the first quarter to the second quarter,” John W. Casella, chairman and CEO of Casella Waste Systems, says.
He continues, “Commodity prices have stabilized in June and into July, and we are pleased that our trailing SRA (Sustainability/Recycling Adjustment) fee is now fully recovering higher recycling costs in our hauling operations, albeit the program is designed to recover costs and as a result has pressured margins.”
Casella says the company still is absorbing commodity pricing risk on several legacy third-party processing contracts at its material recovery facilities (MRFs). he adds that Casella Waste’s variable costs have increased because it has had to slow processing lines to improve quality and was paying higher costs to transport commodities to new markets. “Looking forward to 2019,” he says, “we expect recycling to provide a positive tailwind even if commodity prices stay at historically low levels as several third-party recycling processing contracts will reset over the next 12 months.”
Casella Waste Systems reports net income of $1.7 million for the quarter, $55.4 million more than in Q2 of 2017.
Bin makers agree to offer standardized recycling labels
Seven makers of residential recycling bins have agreed to offer recycling education labels designed by Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization Recycle Across America (RAA) for customers who order them.
The North America-based bin manufacturers are Bearsaver, Bigbelly Smart Waste and Recycling Systems, CleanRiver Recycling Solutions, EZ Dump Commercial, Landmark Studio & Design, Max-R and Securr. The companies have agreed to offer the stickers at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) level on recycling, compost and trash bins ordered by customers.
RAA says its labels are designed to make it easy for the public to recycle properly and to help eliminate the public’s confusion at the bin, which has been pointed to as a cause of high contamination rates in recyclables collected in curbside programs.
“This a historic moment to have these leading bin manufacturers come together to promote and offer the standardized label solution to help recycling thrive,” says Mitch Hedlund, RAA founder. “[Having] these great bin manufacturers step up to fix the public’s confusion at the bin with the standardized label solution [is] critical at this time.”
TFC Recycling terminates contract with Virginia city
Chesapeake, Virginia-based TFC Recycling has decided to terminate its contract to process recyclables collected through the curbside recycling program of the city of Norfolk, Virginia.
According to an online article from Norfolk-based WTKR-TV, TFC Recycling pointed to challenges in exporting collected material with high contamination rates, even after processing it.
In 2017 and 2018, China has increasingly tightened its restrictions on plastic scrap imports, and this year several nearby Asian countries also have erected barriers to these imports.
The contract between TFC Recycling and the city of Norfolk allows the recycler to opt out with three months’ notice, according to the TV station.
Norfolk is reportedly seeking a new material recovery facility (MRF) operator to accept its recyclables by November.
The TV station quotes a TFC Recycling vice president who says items that don’t belong in a recycling bin have become commonplace in recycling bins in Norfolk and some other cities served by the company. The station’s reporters say they saw “a basketball, luggage and lots of plastic bags” among the unwanted items at a TFC Recycling MRF.
TFC Recycling Vice President Paul Stacharcyzk also asked viewers and readers to avoid placing pizza boxes and other items contaminated with food into the bin, since “there’s no market for that.”
The report indicates TFC Recycling and the city of Norfolk could re-enter a contract, but TFC Recycling’s Stacharcyzk tells the station that Norfolk residents will have to concentrate on placing exclusively “paper, bottles and cans” into bins for the agreement to work.
Australia-based Sims Metal Management has reported sales revenue that grew by nearly 27 percent and underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) that rose by 60 percent in its fiscal 2018 compared with the prior year. The company’s 2018 fiscal year ended June 30, 2018.
The metal recyler’s underlying NPAT of AU$192 million ($140.9 million) resulted in earnings per share of 93.2 Australian cents (68.4 cents), up from 59.9 Australian cents (43.4 cents) the prior fiscal year.
Sims Metal Management’s sales revenue of AU$6.45 billion ($4.73 billion) in its 2018 fiscal year was 27 percent higher compared with the 2017 figure. The company credits increased volumes and higher average sales prices for the boost.
Sims Metal Management says its underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) improved in its North America Metals, Australia and New Zealand Metals and Global E-Recycling business units. The company points to higher income from its investments in United States-based SA Recycling and in Australia-based renewable energy unit, LMS Energy, as positive factors influencing earnings.
The positive results were “partially offset by lower underlying EBIT from the Europe Metals segment,” the company says. In Europe, “Despite higher sales volumes, in part due to the acquisition of Morley Waste Traders, competitive pressure for intake volume was a key factor leading to the profit decline,” the company says.
Sims Metal Management notes the possibility of further escalations in global trade wars potentially having an impact on commodity prices and volumes. “This uncertainty is clearly a caveat that needs to be considered in the outlook for fiscal year 2019,” the company states.
BlueScope considers expansion of Ohio steel mill
Australia-based BlueScope Steel Ltd. says it is considering expanding its North Star Steel mill in Delta, Ohio, thanks to what it labels a more promising outlook for the North American steel sector. The steel mill is an electric arc furnace (EAF) operation with an annual capacity of 2.1 million tons per year of hot-rolled coil steel.
In an appendix to its most recent financial report, BlueScope says, “A comprehensive study has been initiated to evaluate adding between 600,000 to 900,000 metric tons (661,000 to 992,000 short tons) per annum of steelmaking capacity [in Ohio], through the addition of a third electric arc furnace and a second caster.”
The steelmaker has given the project an initial estimated price tag of from $500 million to $700 million and adds, “The project is expected to take two or three years to develop if we proceed.” BlueScope says it expects to provide an update on the project assessment in about one year.
In BlueScope’s 2018 fiscal year, which ended June 30, the company says its North American mill generated 13 percent more sales revenue compared with the previous fiscal year and that the mill’s “underlaying EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization)” increased by 7.5 percent compared with the year before.
The steelmaker says it sells approximately 90 percent of its Ohio mill output in the Midwest U.S., with its end customers consisting of “broadly 50 percent automotive, 35 percent construction, 5 five percent agricultural and 10 percent manufacturing/industrial applications.”
BlueScope also comments that the mill has “high capacity utilization rates” and that “uncertainty around imports associated with Section 232 as well as improving world prices [have] helped support higher domestic [steel] prices” in the U.S.
In terms of its scrap feedstock, Waterloo, Indiana-based MetalX has been investing in a large auto shredder yard in Delta, Ohio, across the road from the BlueScope mill.
St. Louis-based Alter Trading Corp. has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase substantially all the assets of Tenenbaum Recycling Group (TRG) of Little Rock, Arkansas. The acquisition unites two scrap metal recycling companies that are both more than 120 years old and have very similar cultures and histories of success, Alter says in a news release regarding the purchase.
Alter has operations in Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Fifteen of those locations have auto shredders on-site, while TRG operates two auto shredders in North Little Rock and Rogers, Arkansas.
The addition of TRG’s 10 locations—nine in Arkansas and one in Reeds Spring, Missouri—further expands Alter’s geographic reach and gives it more than 70 facilities total. Alter says it intends to continue to operate TRG’s existing locations.
Bob Ellis, senior vice president and general counsel for Alter, says the TRG name will be retained because of the strong tradition it represents. In time, he says, “an Alter Trading Co.” or similar wording will be added to the TRG name.
“This acquisition is the next important milestone in our growth strategy, and we are pleased to add another premier, family-owned, scrap metal recycler to Alter,” says Robert Goldstein, chairman of Alter Trading. “We are committed to the seamless integration of these two exceptional companies, and we look forward to joining the business communities in Arkansas and southern Missouri.”
“We knew that someday we would take advantage of the right opportunity to exit the industry to pursue our individual passions and could not be more proud of the Tenenbaum team for their accomplishments to this point,” Harold Tenenbaum, who serves as chairman of the TRG board, says. “The Tenenbaum and Goldstein families have been friends and business associates for decades, and now that relationship will help preserve everything the families have championed.”
Jay Robinovitz, Alter president and CEO, says, “The Tenenbaum family will be a tough act to follow. The company and its current leadership team, led by CEO Jack Grundfest, are held in high regard in the industry and have built a remarkable company.”
Ellis says the TRG executive team and managers will remain with the company following the purchase.
Transpere acquires IMS Electronics Recycling
Carrollton, Texas-based Transpere Corp. has acquired IMS Electronics Recycling, which has locations in Poway, California, and Columbus, Ohio.
Yulan Peng-Lewis, chair of Transpere, says the deal grows the company’s national footprint from its single location in Texas.
Rick Lewis, Transpere CEO and president, says, “IMS Electronics Recycling has been a proven leader in the ITAD (information technology asset disposition) and e-scrap industries for many years. We are excited to bring IMS onboard to the Transpere team. We are convinced that with this acquisition, Transpere will be able to better serve our existing clients and will provide additional capacity to generate new relationships.”
