Ann Arbor, Michigan, moves to reopen MRF

Despite city staff’s recommendation to approve a $112 million contract with Emterra Environmental USA, Flint, Michigan, to haul Ann Arbor’s recyclables to Emterra’s new single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Lansing, Michigan, the Ann Arbor City Council voted in favor of working with area nonprofit Recycle Ann Arbor (RAA) to rebuild and reopen the city’s MRF.

Emterra Environmental is the U.S. division of Canadian waste management firm Emterra Group, which has 45 years of experience in collecting, processing and marketing recyclables and owns and operates 14 MRFs that process 550 million tons of materials annually.

The proposal to transport recyclables to Lansing would result in 2.5 truckloads daily for a total of approximately 91,000 vehicle miles traveled annually, working against the city’s Carbon Neutrality by 2030 goal, city council says.

In July 2016 the city says it closed its MRF, formerly operated by Charlotte, North Carolina-based ReCommunity, which was acquired by Republic Services in late 2017, because of safety concerns about the equipment. Since 2017, the city has contracted with RAA to haul recyclables to Ohio-based Rumpke’s MRF in Cincinnati for processing. That contract expires June 30.

Ann Arbor issued a request for proposal to haul recyclables to another MRF or to “equip and modify the city’s MRF to receive, process and market all recyclable materials.”

“There has been a serious shortage of material recovery facility capacity in southeast Michigan and this has in part led to Michigan’s underperformance in material recovery,” says Kerrin O’Brien, president of the Michigan Recycling Coalition, Lansing.

RAA offered the only bid to restart the Ann Arbor MRF, the city says.

“Rebuilding the MRF would restore a $6 million publicly owned community asset with no upfront capital cost to the city,” the city reports. It also would create approximately 20 local jobs.

Despite staff concerns that RAA lacks the experience and qualifications to operate the MRF, city council directed them to negotiate an initial 10-year agreement with RAA.

Takeaways from EPA’s recycling framework report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its “National Framework for Advancing the U.S. Recycling System.” The report is the product of a collaborative effort that began on America Recycles Day 2018.

During America Recycles Day 2018, the EPA hosted its first America Recycles Day Summit, bringing together stakeholders from across the U.S. recycling sector to sign the America Recycles Pledge to work together in 2019 to identify actions to address the challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. recycling system.

The “2019 National Framework for Advancing the U.S. Recycling System” highlights some of the actions stakeholders have taken and establishes goals for 2020. The report looks at recycling education, recycling infrastructure, secondary materials markets and measurement.

According to the EPA’s report, it can be difficult for consumers to understand what materials can be recycled and how and where to do so.

The EPA’s report indicates the need to develop clear, consistent messages about materials management that enable consumers to recognize the value of reusing, recovering and recycling materials and the value of buying products with recycled content.

The report set goals for 2020 to develop and distribute common recycling messages on national issues.

According to the report, America’s existing recycling infrastructure has not kept pace with the changing materials stream. Contamination can cause equipment failures and halt production. A more holistic, modern and adaptable national recycling infrastructure that embraces innovation and is resilient to changes in material streams, markets and consumer expectations could help to address this.

In 2020, goals include conducting and compiling research on successful infrastructure investments and potential investment opportunities.

Recent policy changes, including scrap import restrictions in China and other Southeast Asian nations, have accelerated the need to improve domestic markets for recyclables, the EPA notes.

The report sets goals to continue to promote government programs to purchase recycled materials and to identify and work with companies designing packaging and products to encourage recycled content use and recyclability.

Various definitions and recycling rate methodologies exist across the U.S., creating challenges when setting goals and tracking progress. In 2020, the EPA says it seeks to establish standardized recycling metrics supported by consistent terminology and methodology.

The full report is available at www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-11/documents/national_framework.pdf.

Senators introduce RECYCLE Act

Two U.S. senators have introduced bipartisan legislation that would create a new federal grant program through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help educate households and consumers about residential and community recycling programs.

U.S. Sens. Rob Portman and Debbie Stabenow have introduced the Recycling Enhancements to Collection and Yield through Consumer Learning and Education (RECYCLE) Act of 2019 (S.B. 2941), which is designed help increase recycling rates and reduce contamination in the recycling stream, according to a news release on Portman’s website. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, Ron Wyden and Todd Young are co-sponsors.

If enacted, the RECYCLE Act would:

Reports have indicated that consumer confusion on how to properly recycle is one of the top recycling challenges and that education and outreach increase participation in recycling and decrease contamination. According to the EPA, the recycling rate in the U.S. is 35.2 percent, and $9 billion worth of recyclables are thrown away each year, which presents an opportunity to improve the nation’s recycling systems.

“Reports have indicated that one-third of materials that households put into their recycling bins end up in landfills and are not actually recycled,” Portman says. “This is in part because there is confusion about what can actually be recycled, which leads to contamination of materials that could otherwise be recycled but instead are landfilled. Education is a key component in both increasing the amount of material that is being recycled and ensuring that the material being put into community and residential recycling programs is actually being recycled.”

“To improve recycling rates across our country, local communities must have the right tools to recycle in an effective way,” Stabenow adds. “Sen. Portman and I introduced this bill to help households understand what can and cannot be recycled and invest in programs that improve recycling practices across the country.”

Recycling industry associations, including the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, and the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, have expressed support for this bill.

US Steel completes investment in Big River Steel

Big River Steel (BRS), Osceola, Arkansas, says it has completed the transaction announced earlier this year in which Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel Corp. would become a minority owner of the company’s scrap recycling and steel production business.

Under the agreement, which assumes a $2.33 billion enterprise value, U.S. Steel will hold a 49.9 percent ownership interest in BRS’ Osceola-based Flex Mill.

“I applaud U.S. Steel’s leadership team and board of directors for taking this bold step as part of their effort to advance their company by drawing from the best of both the integrated and minimill steelmaking communities,” says David Stickler, chief executive officer of BRS. “With U.S. Steel joining the already formidable ownership group at Big River Steel, I anticipate an acceleration of our growth and expansion plans. I look forward to working closely with Dave Burritt, U.S. Steel’s president and chief executive officer, and the other members of his team to prove that the most advanced steels in the world can be produced in the United States in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

BRS is currently installing equipment and technology at its Osceola mill that will double its annual production capacity from 1.65 million tons to 3.3 million tons of flat-rolled steel. The efforts underway will facilitate BRS’ ability to produce even higher grades of electrical steel, demand for which is expected to increase with continued focus on energy efficiency and the increase in hybrid and electric vehicle sales.

According to U.S. Steel’s third-quarter earnings report, the company’s investment in BRS is its No. 1 priority. During its third-quarter earnings conference call, Burritt said U.S. Steel plans to acquire 100 percent of the company. He says it also plans to be flexible with its portfolio of strategic investment spending.

Arizona approves air permit for aluminum smelter

According to local press reports, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has approved Alliance Metals’ application for an air quality permit for its proposed $30 million secondary aluminum smelting plant in Wenden, Arizona, in La Paz County.

According to an article at AZcentral.com, Loren Barton, vice president of Miami-based Alliance Metals USA, released a statement that the smelter will include “state-of-the-art technology, infrastructure and mitigation controls to contain emissions and protect air and water quality.”

© Joseph Gough / Dreamstime.com

The facility will consume aluminum scrap to produce aluminum ingots for the auto, aerospace or military industries.

In an interview with Recycling Today, Barton says the company plans to open the Wenden smelting facility toward the end of this year or the beginning of 2021.

Although some individuals in the community have expressed concerns about the proposed smelting facility, Barton says Alliance Metals has reached out to community members to alleviate concerns and dispel misinformation that has been shared online. The company also has reached out to the county’s board of supervisors to tell them more about the proposed facility.

“With newer technology we have and better emission capture devices, we’re informing [the community] of our practices and how they’re environmentally sound,” he says. “We’ve hosted job fairs to educate people, and those have gone very well with great turnouts. People are now understanding of our processes.”

Alliance Metals also plans to open a smelting facility in either March or April in Leighton, Alabama. Barton says the northwest Alabama site already has been developed and is ready to move equipment into, though the company is still waiting to receive an air quality permit for the site from the state.

Barton says the Leighton facility is expected to consume 120 million pounds of aluminum per year at startup. It will accept a variety of scrap metals, including aluminum, brass and copper.

SDI La Farga to expand Indiana facility

Copper producer SDI La Farga LLC has announced plans to invest $16 million to expand its New Haven, Indiana, copper recycling operation. The investment is expected to add up to 30 jobs by the end of 2021, according to the company.

SDI La Farga is a joint venture between Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Barcelona, Spain-based La Farga Group.

The facility currently produces 180 million pounds of finished copper products per year using one furnace to melt and refine copper scrap. The expansion plan will include the addition of a second furnace to its existing facility, which will allow SDI La Farga to increase its production capacity to 250 million pounds of copper year.

“We have had tremendous growth since our inception, which is a testament to our teammates,” says Kurt Breischaft, SDI La Farga president. “This expansion will help us better serve our customers in the Midwest, and specifically in Indiana. We’ll be able to operate more efficiently, ramp up our production and create more jobs in New Haven, which has been a great place to do business.”

Assisting with the expansion plan, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered SDI La Farga up to $255,000 in conditional tax credits. The tax credits are performance-based and are contingent on the number of employees hired.

2019 proved to be a painful year for paper packers and material recovery facility (MRF) operators trying to move recovered fiber. Prices for old corrugated containers (OCC) slid down from a national average price of $69 per ton in January 2019 to only $22 per ton in November 2019, while mixed paper stayed at a national average price of about -$3 per ton for the majority of the year based on Fastmarkets RISI’s PPI Pulp & Paper Week recovered paper pricing.

OCC remained at a national average price of $22 per ton in the December 2019 buying period, and mixed paper prices remained at a national average price of -$3 per ton, according to Fastmarkets RISI’s PPI Pulp & Paper Week Dec. 5, 2019, recovered paper pricing report. Sorted office paper (SOP) fell by about $5 per ton in some domestic and export markets in the December 2019 buying period.

MRF operators reported an uptick in the amount of OCC and old newspapers (ONP) arriving in their inbound material streams in the first few weeks of December as a result of the holiday season, and domestic paper mills also demanded slightly more material in December. However, with the holiday season came tougher conditions for freight and logistics in the U.S., and rates for trucks were especially high because of demand.

“Recycling is suffering because China is going to start recovering its own material and likely won’t be buying recycled paper.” – a MRF operator based in the Midwest

“There are a few disruptions in terms of logistics,” says a MRF operator based in the Midwest. “This year we have Christmas and New Year’s on Wednesdays. There will be trucking companies that take that time off, so there are those kinds of disruptions.”

A second MRF operator based in the Midwest adds that it’s a tough time of year to secure trucks. He says his company locked in freight ahead of the holiday season to ensure more affordable rates.

Looking to the new year, few recyclers think prices will jump up much if at all. The second MRF operator in the Midwest says he thinks it could take a while before prices for OCC and mixed paper begin to really rise again.

“The tariffs are still an issue,” he says, adding that because of the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, “we’re not going to be able to instantly recover from this problem or the unintended consequence of raw material no longer having demand. Recycling is suffering because China is going to start recovering its own material and likely won’t be buying recycled paper.”

“Here we are finishing 2019, and we’ve been languishing in very challenging markets for two years,” adds a broker on the East Coast.

“Everyone’s experiencing the same market. Export markets are challenging right now.” – a national mill buyer

Also, issues could arise in exporting recovered fiber to Indonesia in particular. In late November 2019, that nation finalized its import regulations for all scrap commodities, including recovered fiber, and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, reports that they are much stricter than originally anticipated. According to ISRI, sources told the association that the impurity threshold may remain at zero in Indonesia.

“They’re demanding cleaner material and their inspection process is uncertain,” the broker based on the East Coast says of Indonesia’s new scrap import standards.

Heading into 2020, industry sources say export conditions for recovered fiber are expected to remain difficult.

“Everyone’s experiencing the same market. Export markets are challenging right now,” a national mill buyer says.

“We’ll see in the beginning of the year how Southeast Asia and China will react,” he adds. “That will influence our domestic market in turn.”

However, the first MRF operator in the Midwest says new export opportunities could be coming online for recovered fiber in the form of recycled pulp.

“China is continuing to reduce the amount of material [it allows] into the country,” he says, referring to recovered fiber bales. “But there are mills that are buying U.S. fiber and then making pulp out of it to send to China. Those markets are continuing to improve,” the first Midwest MRF operator adds, “so the [OCC] ends up in China but in the form of pulp from another country like Vietnam, South Korea or Taiwan.”