Bunting, with corporate headquarters in Newton, Kansas, has promoted Alan Why to the position of U.K. sales manager. He will oversee all external sales activity for the company for products that include magnets, magnetic separators and metal detectors.

Why has developed magnet-related business for Bunting, which has European manufacturing facilities in Redditch and Berkhamsted in the United Kingdom, over a seven-year period, the company says. 

Bunting is a leading designer and manufacturer of magnetic separators, metal detectors, magnets, magnetic assemblies and magnetizing equipment. 

Since joining Bunting in 2013, Why has grown business for magnet-related products in the automotive, mechanical and electrical industries, according to the company.

Why’s engineering career began as a radio-frequency (RF) electronics design engineer and evolved into the role of sales and marketing director of a small electronics company serving the defense electronics market. 

As the U.K. sales manager, his responsibilities cover an expanded industrial and geographical area. As well as continuing to support customers with magnet-related requirements, Why also will work on projects in the recycling, quarrying and process industries.

“This is a very exciting opportunity,” Why says. “The Bunting brand has never been stronger in the U.K., and I am looking forward to coordinating the strategy and implementing the plans to further expand our customer base.”

“Alan is a well-respected and experienced member of our sales team and has the vision to take us forward,” says Simon Ayling, Bunting European Managing Director. “We believe that having a strong external sales team is important. Alan has the necessary experience and skills to further develop that sales team.”

The city of Detroit is receiving some $800,000 in grants designed “to support the largest expansion of recycling in the city’s history,” according to the city and the organizations providing the funding.

A news release issued by The Recycling Partnership and the PepsiCo Foundation—providers of the grant money—says the funds are “part of a first-ever, $2.2 million public-private collaboration to increase recycling education statewide in 2020,” citing Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) Director Liesl Clark.

The combined effort of EGLE, The Recycling Partnership and the PepsiCo Foundation “will help build on the success of Michigan’s national award-winning Know It Before You Throw It recycling education campaign that EGLE launched last year,” according to the groups.

“We are committed to informing and inspiring more people than ever before in Detroit and across Michigan about how to recycle better,” Clark said during an early January news conference at the Detroit Department of Public Works. She was joined at that conference by Detroit Office of Sustainability Director Joel Howrani Heeres and other city, state and nonprofit officials.

“Increasing recycling and improving the quality of materials we’re recycling is not only the right thing to do for our environment, but it also saves energy, reduces water use, decreases greenhouse gases, conserves resources and translates into local jobs,” Clark added.

The aim of the Know It Before You Throw It statewide push is to better inform Michiganders on what can – and cannot – be placed into a recycling bin and how to manage their bins correctly.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state legislators want to double Michigan’s recycling rate to 30 percent by 2025 and ultimately reach 45 percent annually. The groups describe Michigan’s current 15 percent recycling rate as “the lowest in the Great Lakes region and [ranking] among the nation’s lowest.”

EGLE and its campaign partners across the state say they are promoting awareness of cleaner recycling practices to reduce the amount of contaminated materials improperly going into recycling bins.

The nearly $800,000 in grants to Detroit includes more than $458,000 from EGLE and $325,000 from The Recycling Partnership designed to help fund new services offered in 2020 by the city’s Department of Public Works in its multi-family, commercial and public space recycling programs.

“The Recycling Partnership’s grant of $325,000 is its first-ever to Detroit and will help spur a citywide education campaign rolling out in 2020 to increase participation in curbside and multifamily recycling programs,” commented Howrani Heeres.

The collaboration between Detroit, EGLE and The Recycling Partnership, with what they call “special support” from the PepsiCo Foundation, has a goal of increasing residential access to recycling and collection capacity in Detroit through the purchase of 16,400 curbside recycling carts and nearly 4,000 multi-family containers. Grant funds also will provide additional collection capacity through commercial, public space and municipal recycling containers of various sizes, plus a collection vehicle.

“Implementing curbside recycling with carts is an exciting initiative that can have huge benefits for the city,” said Cody Marshall, chief community strategy officer at The Recycling Partnership. “We are excited to work with the city of Detroit to provide curbside carts to more residents throughout the city.”

“We’re proud to work with The Recycling Partnership and city and state leaders to make these important investments in Detroit that will help more than 76,000 families increase their recycling and capture an estimated additional 1,315 tons of recyclables per year,” remarked Tim Carey, Vice President, Sustainability PepsiCo Beverages North America.

State legislators in Michigan have increased EGLE’s funding for recycling projects from $2 million in fiscal year 2018 to $15 million in the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years. The additional funds are being targeted toward supporting development of recycling markets, increasing access to recycling opportunities, and supporting planning efforts to grow recycling at the local level.

In addition to the Detroit grant, EGLE and The Recycling Partnership say new 2020 grant opportunities in Michigan total $1.5 million to communities seeking to improve material quality in residential curbside and drop-off recycling programs.

Arlington, Virginia-based news organization Politico has launched a feature article series examining what it calls the “failed” recycling policies of New York City, and the subsequent long-haul waste routes resulting from the city’s 18 percent recycling rate.

The first article, co-authored by and Sally Goldenberg and Danielle Muoio and posted Jan. 5, 2020, portrays the lack of successful follow-up by current Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to their pledges to make New York City a recycling leader. Both DeBlasio and Bloomberg, the authors note, ran for president in part touting their environmental credentials.

The city’s current 18 percent residential recycling rate is well below rates achieved by other cities in the United States that have set ambitious goals, according to Politico. Goldenberg and Muoio point to what they call shortcomings that include “a public housing system that mixes virtually all its garbage, a stalled program to recover food scraps and a lack of financial incentives to reform behavior.”

In addition to the stalled residential recycling rate, the Politico article mentions the considerable volume of construction and demolition (C&D) material that is shipped to the Dunn Landfill in Rensselaer, New York.

In that community, located about 150 miles north of New York City, a new mayor has been elected in part because of his pledge to close the Dunn C&D landfill, according to Politico.

Other potentially recyclable waste leaving New York City heads to landfills as far away as Ohio and South Carolina. Despite a pledge by Mayor de Blasio to reduce the amount of such out-of-state shipments to zero, the city instead shipped out more than 3.1 million metric tons in its most recent fiscal year—a larger volume than when de Blasio made his pledge, according to Politico.

The article quotes a regional EPA official as saying of New York City’s recycling shortcomings, “It just seems like recycling in New York City is stuck in the early ‘90s.”

The second feature article installment will examine what Politico calls “New York City’s stalled organics recycling program.”

Company Wrench, based in Carroll, Ohio, has announced that its annual Company Wrench JCB Demo Day is being held at the Ohio State Fairgrounds’ Cooper Arena Feb. 28 in Columbus, Ohio.

According to the company, the new 1CX Backhoe Loader and 2TS Teleskid will be available to demo on-site, as well as other machines from UK-based JCB. In addition to the opportunity to participate in testing equipment, participants will have a chance to win a $2,500 grand prize in the Excavator Operator Skills Challenge during Demo Day.

The JCB events trailer along with JCB representatives and Company Wrench JCB experts will be on hand to assist with demonstrations and answer questions.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb 28 and include a live DJ, free lunch, raffles, contests and more. For more information, or to receive a free invitation, visit Company Wrench's website.