Newsworthy

METALS

Alba sells off scrap metal facility

The Alba Group, an environmental services and recycling firm headquartered in Berlin, has sold its facility in Aschaffenburg, Germany, to the metals recycling group Bernhard Westarp GmbH & Co. The facility was part of the company’s Alba Metall Süd Rhein-Main GmbH division.

Alba says the sale is part of its strategic development to realign and sharpen its portfolio of businesses. Bernhard Westarp, located in Germany, has around 10 locations throughout Germany.

“Our goal is to push ahead with the widely discussed strategic realignment of our group,” says Axel Schweitzer, CEO of Alba Group plc & Co. “This includes further increasing our real net output ratio in the waste and metals segment, and strengthening our focus on those sectors in which we extract new raw materials through technology and innovation in the scope of our combination of waste management, as well as steel and metal recycling activities.”

Alba says its Aschaffenburg facility handled around 30,000 tonnes of scrap metal last year and was used primarily for purchasing and selling scrap metal.

Alba Group operates in Germany, Europe, the United States and throughout Asia.

 

PAPER

Veolia develops markets for nonrecyclable fibre

Veolia UK, headquartered in London, has introduced a new technology that it claims will transform nonrecyclable paper and cardboard from household waste at Southwark’s Integrated Waste Management facility into a pulp called Pro-Fibre. The material can then be used in a range of products such as insulation and construction materials.

Veolia says, according to the latest available data, the U.K recycles about 815 million tonnes of recovered fibre, about 70% of the paper generated in the country.

However, many different types of paper are rejected from recycling facilities because they have been contaminated with glass, sand, plastic, metal, food or grease. The contaminated paper has traditionally been sent to landfill or energy recovery facilities.

With its new system, Veolia UK says it will be able to recycle the material. To accomplish this, Veolia is investing £1 million ($1.565 million) into the new technology at its facility in Sheffield, England, which will be able to treat up to 20,000 tonnes per year and produce up to 14,000 tonnes of Pro-Fibre. The process includes capturing the nonrecyclable fibre fragments, pulping, cleaning, screening and mechanical pressing.

The Pro-Fibre process includes five steps that Veolia UK has developed that will enable the company to remove contaminants and create a pulp that can replace virgin materials currently used in the construction and packaging industry, including insulation materials and biodegradable pots. The company says a specialist partner in the paper industry is assisting with the project. The first batch of pulp is expected to be produced in early 2015, the company says.

Veolia says the Pro-Fibre product can be manufactured either wet or dry and is suitable for businesses looking for a cost effective and sustainable feedstock. It can be used as a raw material in manufacturing industries to create a wide range of products such as cellulose-based insulation, packaging products and construction materials.

Forbes McDougall, head of circular economy at Veolia, says, “This new technique allows fibres that would normally not be recycled now to be turned into a new product with a wide range of uses. Not only will this benefit the circular economy, but it will also help Veolia increase recycling rates across the U.K. We’re open to new applications and welcome ideas from manufacturers who would identify Pro-Fibre as a feedstock alternative.”

 

PLASTICS

Jayplas completes expansion project

The plastics recycling company Jayplas, based in Corby, United Kingdom, has installed a new extrusion and printing plant and also created a new packaging division. The company says the expansion project is part of its long-term investment to grow its nationwide recycling infrastructure.

The 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, located in Worksop, U.K., is supported by a new LDPE (low-density polyethylene) wash plant in Loughborough, U.K., which recently installed an Erema 212 to increase the company’s output of recycled plastic granules by 20,000 tonnes.

Jayplas says it will in turn produce processed plastic packaging products in a closed-loop process.

Jayplas says its new division is a direct response to the U.K. retail industry’s drive for greater sustainability within its supply chain by increasing the use of recycled plastics. The company says that for the first time retailers in the country will be able to reduce their carbon footprints by keeping all the stages of recycling—from collection to distribution—in-house and in the U.K. Previously, a significant percentage of the plastic scrap was exported to Asia.

The company’s new packaging division will offer organizations a complete range of sizes and types of recycled plastic bags that are designed and produced in the U.K. to each retailer’s own specifications as part of a closed-loop recycling process.

Through the process, Jayplas segregates and sorts the plastic scrap and then washes, reprocesses and converts it into recycled pellets at one of its three U.K. plants. The pellets are extruded into film before being converted into finished products.

“Our commitment to investing in the U.K.’s recycling infrastructure and closed loop solutions has put us at the forefront of the market, enabling us to provide a much shorter, traceable supply chain to our customers,” says Michael Maxwell, operations director for Jayplas.

PLASTICS

Aurelius Group acquires ECO Plastics

Aurelius Group, a midmarket Europe-focused investing firm headquartered in Germany, has acquired ECO Plastics, a United Kingdom-based reprocessor of plastic scrap.

Aurelius says it will supply operational improvement capabilities and financial support to the Hemswell, U.K., company’s current operations, with a core focus on long-term strategic development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ECO Plastics operates a plastics reprocessing plant that is capable of sorting 150,000 tonnes of mixed bottles per year, including 40,000 tonnes of bottle-grade recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) pellet. ECO Plastics says the tons of bottles it collects for recycling represents about 35% of all the plastic bottles collected in the U.K. every year.

ECO Plastics is able to produce 12 different streams of plastics, including food-contact-grade PET. Much of the sorting technology at ECO Plastics’ Helmswell facility was provided by the Norwegian company TITECH. The PET bottles segregated at the plant are granulated, dry washed and then sent within its facility for washing and extrusion into recycled PET pellet. Currently all other segregated streams are either shredded and washed or baled in their current form and supplied to one of ECO Plastics’ external reprocessing partners.

Tristan Nagler, managing director of Aurelius, says, “Aurelius is delighted to have acquired ECO Plastics, which has a strong position in the U.K. marketplace. For customers, suppliers and partners it will be business as usual, and we are committed to working with the company to deliver long term, sustainable growth. Aurelius has a strong track record in the industrials sector, providing both operational improvement as well as financial support to businesses. We are extremely excited about the future prospects of this business.”

Jonathan Short, ECO Plastics’ founder and deputy chairman, says, “This news is not just a vote of confidence in the future of ECO Plastics, but a vote of confidence in the promising future of the U.K.’s fast-growing recycling sector.”

ECO Plastics’ CEO Chris Brown adds, “We are looking forward to working closely with Aurelius as we enter this new chapter of the ECO Plastics story. Their involvement will bring significant operational expertise and financial support that will move the world’s largest and most sophisticated plastics reprocessing plant to another level.”

The acquisition of ECO Plastics is not Aurelius’ first foray into plastics recycling. The firm at one time had an ownership stake in Wellman International, a recycler of PET bottles and a large producer of polyester staple fiber products. Aurelius sold its stake in that company in late 2011.

 

PLASTICS

ERT, Axion land first order for Axplas

Two United Kingdom companies, Environmental Recycling Technologies plc (ERT) and Axion Polymers, have received the first order for Axplas, formulated recycled polymers tailored to ERT’s Powder Impression Moulding (PIM) technology.

The contract follows the commercial collaboration agreement between ERT and Axion to develop the recycled plastic powder formulations for use by end users using ERT’s moulding technology.

The agreement brings together Axion’s in-house expertise in polymer processing and quality assurance with ERT’s PIM technology, to prepare a set of standard PIM powder products under the Axplas registered brand name, say the two companies.

ERT says the 100% recycled plastics formulation ensures a consistency of blend and increased final product strength while simplifying the end customer’s production process and reducing process waste levels.

Under the terms of the agreement, ERT will provide the know-how and pilot scale test equipment to enable recycled plastic byproducts to be milled into controlled powder blends that can be molded using its PIM technology. The process is complemented by Axion’s polymer processing knowledge and blending facilities to enable a set of formulations to be created from the engineering plastics recovered by the company’s automotive end-of-life vehicle and waste electrical equipment recycling plants.

ERT receives a royalty on the tonnage shipped by Axion under the terms of the agreement. In support of the collaboration ERT has deployed a dedicated polymer technologist to concentrate on developing the recycled powder blends and the associated polymer tests to accompany the processing system.

Lee Clayton, ERT’s managing director, says, “We are delighted that our collaboration has generated its inaugural commercial order. Axion has demonstrated its commitment to develop Axplas PIM powder formulations, to support the rollout of our PIM technology for the recycling of plastic waste into commercial end user products.”

ERT develops technologies that focus on plastics recycling. The company holds the worldwide intellectual property rights to the PIM process.

 

EVENTS, ELECTRONICS

IERC 2015: Electronics recyclers gather in Austria

Innovative recycling strategies and challenging conditions were among the discussion points at the International Electronics Recycling Congress (IERC) held in Salzburg, Austria, 21-23 Jan.

According to the Switzerland-based event organizer ICM, 500 recycling executives and 63 exhibitors attended the three-day industry meeting. The conference was accompanied by workshops and tours of the Montanwerke Brixlegg refinery and recycling plant and the Müller-Guttenbrunn recycling group, both in Austria.

ICM reports that because of the generally lower metal content in the scrap and the decline in metal prices, market conditions for electronics recycling have deteriorated, necessitating more efficient treatment processes.

Sessions at the Congress also recognized that technologies to put this into practice are available, ICM reports. For example, a university professor from Taiwan presented a new chemical process designed to simply and effectively recover gold from electronic devices.

Presentations on e-scrap markets in Kenya, the United States and Eastern Europe demonstrated that market conditions can vary greatly. In Germany, while 8.8 kilograms of electronic scrap were collected per capita in 2010, in Poland the figure was only 2.8 kilograms. Sweden had the highest recovery level, at 15.9 kilograms collected per capita.

In another presentation, David Higgins from the International Criminal Police Organization Interpol spoke about the possibilities of tightening enforcement to prevent illegal exports. According to ICM, because of criminal business practices, recyclers may not be collecting the volumes needed for optimal use of their treatment plants.

 

ASSOCIATIONS

WRAP study says more recycling equals increased employment

A study released by two United Kingdom-based groups, WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) and Green Alliance, claims the growth of the recycling and reuse industries in the U.K. over the next 15 years could result in the creation of more than 200,000 jobs.

The report, “Employment and the circular economy: job creation in a more resource efficient Britain,” finds that the development of resource efficiency, unlike other industrial transitions, will require more labor.

The study forecasts that under the current development path, by the year 2030 the reuse economy could require an additional 205,000 jobs, which would reduce unemployment by around 54,000.

Walter Stahel, one of the founders of the U.K.’s circular economy concept, says, “A circular economy will directly create numerous jobs with a broad diversity of skills at local and regional levels, and give rise to new SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).”

In addition, Stahel says, a circular economy will create skilled jobs to develop the innovative processes and technologies needed “to most profitably close the loops.”

Stephen Machin, professor of Economics at University College London, says, “Creating jobs with decent pay as innovative technologies evolve is a challenge, given the U.K.’s traditional difficulties in generating good jobs for workers with low and intermediate skills. This report emphasizes the need for this kind of job creation.”

Liz Goodwin, CEO of WRAP, adds, “We’ve long been talking about the benefits of the resource efficiency agenda, working with businesses and turning ideas into action. But this report is the first of its kind that pinpoints exactly who, what and where benefits from the implementation of the circular economy. This signals a major new opportunity for Britain’s economy, and could deliver jobs where they’re needed the most.”

Matthew Spencer, director of Green Alliance, says, “At a time when many are worried about where jobs will come from in future, it is a tantalizing prospect to have a sector that offers a wide range of new jobs right across the country.”

 

KERBSIDE

Bee’ah unveils headquarters design

Bee’ah, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) integrated environmental and waste management company, has commissioned Zaha Hadid Architects of London to build its new headquarters building in the emirate of Sharjah.

Bee’ah says its new headquarters building is part of its ongoing investment to transform attitudes and behaviors by providing the infrastructure, tools and support to achieve their environmental goals, including working toward zero waste targets.

Zaha Hadid Architects says the building embodies these principles by providing the company with an administrative center of sustainable construction of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, with ultra-low carbon and minimal water consumption in operation and minimized material consumption in construction. The new building and site will also be used to demonstrate practical environmental awareness to the wider community.”

The company says the style of the building is inspired by its desert context and it is designed as a series of dunes orientated to optimize the prevailing Shamal winds, provide high quality interior daylight and views and limit harsh sun exposure.

 

RECOVERED FIBRE

UPM to permanently idle three paper machines

UPM-Kymmene Corp., headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, has announced plans to permanently close three paper machines in its network.

The machines to be closed are Paper Machine 2 at UPM’s Kaukas mill and Paper Machine 5 at UPM Jämsänkoski, both located in Finland, and Paper Machine 1 at UPM’s Shotton mill in the U.K. Production will be ceased at all three locations by the end of March 2015, the company says.

UPM adds that following consultation with its employees it is continuing with its planned closure of Paper Machine 3 at UPM’s mill in Chapelle, France. That closure was announced this past November.

The closures will reduce UPM’s coated and uncoated magazine paper capacity by about 460,000 tonnes and its newsprint capacity by 215,000 tonnes.

“The past months have been challenging for all of us,” says Bernd Eikens, executive vice president of UPM Paper ENA. “From the business point of view, the measures taken are necessary to improve our operating rates and profitability in the European paper business, which still suffers from overcapacity. By reducing capacity we ensure the efficient use of our remaining machines in Europe.”

UPM’ Kaukas paper mill manufactures coated magazine papers and has an annual capacity of 560,000 tonnes.

UPM’s Jämsä River Mills manufacture uncoated magazine papers, label and packaging papers, coated magazine papers, directory paper and newsprint. The mill has a combined annual capacity of 1.6 million tonnes.

UPM’s Shotton Paper manufactures standard newsprint with an annual capacity of 490,000 tonnes.

 

PLASTICS

MTM Plastics announces plant expansion

MTM Plastics, a plastics recycling company headquartered in Niedergebra, Germany, has unveiled its strategy to grow its operations. The company says that by the end of 2016 it plans to invest around €8 million ($9.54 million) to expand its production facilities in Niedergebra.

The company, which produces recycled-content polyolefins from mixed plastic scrap, says the expansion will include the addition of 20 new jobs.

MTM currently produces around 30,000 tonnes of granulate in Niedergebra. Starting in 2016, the company will provide for an output of nearly 40,000 tonnes. For the planned growth in sales MTM says it will focus on higher volumes and on improved quality in order to gain a higher price for its granulates.

With the expansion and investment the company also says that it will be able to undertake the following:

• get better input from bulk scrap collections;
• use a pre-product sorted according to type and colour, which MTM produces through a newly developed and patented separating process; and
• offer high-purity pellets and compounds suitable to be converted into high-quality plastic products.

The company processes polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plastics from pre-sorted plastic waste-polyolefin mixtures, which include commercial and industrial waste, bulky household waste collections and household packaging waste collections.

On completion of the new warehouses, MTM will shift its attention to enlarging the production area by around 20,000 square metres. The expansion means extending the present production space by 20 metres, demolishing an administration building and erecting a new administration building.

 

PLASTICS

Luxus receives grant to boost plastic recycling

United Kingdom-based plastics recycler Luxus has been awarded a grant of £600,000 (US$907,000) from the European Union to commercialize its Hycolene range of lightweight polypropylene (PP). The plastic contains as much as 60% recycled content.

Luxus is targeting the European automotive interior trim market with the Hycolene product. The plastics recycler says the investment will increase the sales potential for its lightweight PP range and enable the auto industry to increase its use of recycled-content polymers to satisfy both end-of-life (ELV) and changing emissions targets.

Luxus will collaborate on the project with the Stuttgart, Germany-based screw manufacturing firm Coperion to help with processing, tier 1 molding supplier IAC for materials trials and the auto manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to provide end user guidance.

By January 2015 the European auto industry is required to reuse and recycle 85% of the vehicle’s weight. Additionally, car companies are requiring suppliers to meet higher standards to improve the scratch resistance, provide greater stiffness and reduce total weight.

Peter Atterby, Luxus’ managing director, says, “We’re pleased that the commercial potential of our Hycolene range has been recognized by the EU. This investment will enable us to effectively make a fundamental step change in our technology as we aim to replace our filled compounds with next-generation reinforcing additives.”

Atterby continues, “These additives offer excellent tensile properties that don’t detract from the appearance of the molded compound, yet their adoption reduces weight by up to 12% per part and significantly improves scratch resistance to meet industry standards.”

He also says the new grades will offer a lower density while still delivering up to 60% recycled PP. This means that tier 1 molding suppliers should be able to produce more parts per tonne of the material, offsetting higher material costs.

 

ELECTRONICS

KMK Metal Recycling achieves WEEELABEX certification

WEEE Ireland has announced that KMK Metal Recycling, Tullamore, Ireland, a sizable waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling company in the country, has achieved WEEELABEX (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Label of Excellence) certification for the recycling of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and small mixed WEEE. KMK becomes the first WEEE recycling facility in Ireland and the U.K. to achieve the standard. Only 14 European groups have achieved the standard.

WEEE Ireland was founded by producers of electrical and electronic appliances to comply with the legal obligations imposed by the WEEE Directive. WEEELABEX’s standard is a European certification that covers the processing of electrical waste. Facilities that apply for the standard are audited thoroughly for their compliance with the WEEE Directive. The audit includes attainment of the stipulated recycling and recovery targets by all operators in accordance with the WEEE Directive and associated regulations. Companies achieving the standard are then certified as compliant WEEE recyclers.

In recognizing KMK’s achievement, Leo Donovan, CEO of WEEE Ireland, says, “KMK has been an excellent recycling partner for WEEE Ireland ever since we started WEEE compliance back in 2005. They have provided a quality recycling service at a competitive price. WEEE Ireland, as a former board member of the WEEE Forum, have been instrumental in the initiation design and implementation of the new WEEELABEX standard, and we are so proud that KMK has been able to achieve this very demanding standard.”

Amy Jackson, KMK’s compliance manager, says, “We are delighted to be the first Irish facility to acquire the WEEELABEX certification. This is not just an achievement for us but also for Ireland—Ireland, Holland and France are the leading European countries who require the WEEELABEX standard for recyclers of e-waste.”