Wendt Corp., Buffalo, New York, has announced that it is entering into an exclusive partnership with Missouri-based Didion International Inc. The two companies report that they plan to combine Wendt’s scrap processing solutions with Didion’s rotary drum technology. According to a news release from Wendt, the partnership will leverage experience from both companies in their respective specialties in order to expand and improve Wendt’s product portfolio to exclusively offer Didion’s metal polishing drums to the scrap recycling industry.
The two companies say they were introduced to one another while working on a project for a special scrap recycling application in 2016.
“After working together on that project, our companies learned a lot about one another,” says Mark Didion, vice president of systems integration at Didion. “Our rotary technology was the right fit for cleaning scrap and partnering with Wendt to provide a complete solution just made sense for this endeavor together. We’ve designed these drums to incorporate our over 40 years of expertise in the cleaning of metals. They include special features that are not just designed to polish the metal, but to classify it to be ready for downstream equipment.”
Wendt Corp.
Through the partnership, the companies will combine Wendt's scrap processing solutions with Didion's rotary drum technology (pictured above).
Quality expectations for metal scrap commodities continue to rise, adds Wendt Business Development Manager Bill Close. He says, “The metal cleaning and polishing product line that we have developed with Didion will provide a competitive advantage to our customers beyond metal sorting creating packages that are bright, polished and clean to the touch.”
With the inclusion of the Didion metal polishing drums into the Wendt product portfolio, Wendt will offer domestic and export drums in 10 tons per hour (tph), 20 tph and 30 tph sizes that are designed to remove dirt, debris and surface contamination/oxidation from metal. Wendt says the domestic drum is ideally suited as preparation to an XRT plant or heavy media plant, processing a variety of aluminum and stainless-steel scrap commodities such as zorba and zurik. The company says the export drum is built to meet the proposed Chinese export requirements for zorba by adding screening to separate the cleaned and polished zorba into three sized products directly into a bagging system ready for export.
“The Wendt-Didion partnership is a powerful combination,” says Wendt President Tom Wendt. “We have once again partnered with a technology leader in their industry to customize a product to meet our industry requirements. The incorporation of Didion’s technology into our systems is revolutionary for consumers of shredded commodities. We believe the technology will be widely adopted and sets a new standard in the quality of melt-ready commodities.”
WestRock president of business development to retire
Jim Porter, president of business development and Latin America at WestRock, helped to expand the company’s presence in Brazil and Mexico.
WestRock Co., Atlanta, has announced that Jim Porter, president of business development and Latin America, has decided to retire, effective Dec. 31. Following his retirement, Porter will continue to contribute to WestRock by serving as one of its representatives on the board managers of Gondi, S. de R.L. de C.V., the company’s Grupo Gondi joint venture, and an advisor to the company.
According to a news release from WestRock, Porter has worked in the paper and packaging industry for most of his 46-year career. After earning his degree in forest management from the University of Missouri, he began his career with Menasha. In 1993, he joined Southern Container and was president and chief operating officer when WestRock acquired Southern Container in 2008. He has helped to lead the development of the company’s corrugated packaging business and its growth in Latin America, including the company’s operations in Brazil and joint venture with Grupo Gondi in Mexico. Porter also received the RISI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
Additionally, Porter serves on the board of the American Forest Foundation and the Forest History Society. WestRock reports that he recently was inducted into the International Corrugated Foundation’s Circle of Distinguished Leaders. He is also a member of the Society of American Foresters, Certified Forester.
“Throughout his career, Jim has demonstrated exceptional leadership and passion for people,” says Steve Voorhees, chief executive officer of WestRock. “WestRock has benefited incredibly from his strategic and operational expertise, and we all wish Jim and his wife, Pam, the very best in retirement.”
Olgin+Efune Recycling Co. uses an E9.6 electric material handler from Sierra International Machinery to feed a processing line that is housed in a building on-site.
Olgin+Efune Recycling Co.
Embracing electric options
An electric material handler provides several safety benefits to Olgin+Efune Recycling Co.
When Olgin+Efune Recycling Co. (OERC) added an electric material handler to its fleet in 2019, personnel safety was a driving factor behind that investment. The company purchased an E9.6 material handler from Sierra International Machinery.
Chad Olgin, co-president of the Phoenix-based business, says the electric material handler is being used to feed a processing line that is housed in a building on-site. Before adding the electric model, the company had used diesel material handlers and mobile equipment in that building. To reduce fumes and ensure a cleaner work environment in that building, Olgin says the company chose to use the E9.6 model.
“We wanted something that had no emissions,” Olgin says.
Recycling Today followed up with Olgin to learn more about making the switch to an electric material handler and what ways using electric models could benefit recyclers.
Brandon Tigrett Photography Chad Olgin
Recycling Today (RT): Tell us a little bit about the E9.6 material handler. How is it being used at OERC?
Chad Olgin (CO): We purchased a Sierra E9.6 material handler, and I bought an extra battery when I bought the machine. One of the benefits is I don’t have to put the machine down to refuel. The downtime is much less with an electric vehicle than a diesel machine because I don’t have to travel far to swap out a battery. I can do that right then and there, and it takes all of five minutes. We’re very happy with our machine. It operates inside. We take it outside occasionally, but one of the downfalls to operating an electric vehicle in Arizona where it’s 120-plus degrees sometimes is the heat and an electric vehicle sometimes shorts out. Arizona might just be an extreme place for it, but I know electric equipment is still relevantly new. I’m sure as the technology improves, it will get better and have fewer issues. For a starting point, it works pretty good for us.
RT: What are the benefits of electric material handlers when compared with diesel models?
CO: I’m an advocate of electric equipment over diesel equipment. It just works better. It’s easier to turn on. It’s easier to teach people how to operate it because there are less things in the machine to worry about, and there’s less stuff that they have to check. So, in general, when your guys come in and everybody is putting preventive maintenance on their equipment, if you’re going to a diesel-powered machine you have to check lots of fluids and you want to make sure everything in your machine is good and you don’t hear any weird sounds. With an electric machine, it’s just a motor and other than checking bearing grease, that’s all you have to do on it.
It’s also a fast-moving machine. You touch it and it moves quickly. It also has no emissions, so it doesn’t produce an odor of any kind. So, it can work in a building that might not have the best ventilation. Even though our building is well ventilated, I feel good knowing that if we have an employee who is working in close proximity, they’re not covered in fumes from the machine.
If I had it my way, yes, I would put all electric equipment at our facility. But having a bunch of cords running around or batteries lying in the heat is not the best thing. If I had stationary machines, then yes, I think electric would be the best. My baler is electric and my processing equipment is all plugged into a wall.
RT: What kind of material do you move with the E9.6 material handler?
CO: We use it for nonferrous only. This machine could only lift about 1,500 pounds, so less than a ton. Nonferrous weighs less than a lot of ferrous grades and is not as heavy to move. From a steel point, trying to load a truck of steel or an end dump of steel to go to a steel mill, 1,500 pounds per grapple would take a lot of time. We could load a truck to a steel mill in 20 minutes maximum with a diesel-powered material handler. If I had to use my electric one, I’m sure it would take an hour if not more. That machine is probably not the best machine to use for a steel application, but maybe if there was a bigger one or something that had a little more lifting capacity, then maybe it would increase the loads. This would also be an incredible machine for somebody processing paper and plastic because it is much lighter and faster.
RT: What is maintenance like on an electric material handler?
CO: The main thing we check on the electric machine is the water level on the battery to make sure that it has ample water to not overheat. When you have a diesel-powered machine, you have to check all the fluids every single morning and you have a diesel engine to worry about as opposed to an electric motor. [There are] less moving parts on an electric motor, and it’s much easier to maintain. My maintenance managers would take 20 minutes every day to go through a diesel machine to make sure everything is good at least, whereas on an electric it can take five minutes to check it out and make sure everything is level.
RT: What do recyclers need to be aware of if they invest in an electric material handler?
CO: I would say the electric material handler has more safety features than the diesel options. You can get into a diesel model, turn it on, put the safety lever down and operate. When you get into electric cranes, there are three or four safety switches that have to be hit and engaged at all times in order for the machine to work. In our Sierra [model], there are a lot of safety mechanisms built-in. We’re a very safety-conscious company, so we’re completely fine with having extra things put into the equipment to be sure we bring attention to the operator. But if you don’t like having all these extra switches and gears to get your machine moving, then maybe it’s not the right machine for you.
An electric machine, I think it’s a great investment. They are expensive. You can buy a machine that is diesel that does the same thing for much less from a lifting capacity point. But if you want to make an investment in the environment and you’re trying to do better for the whole world, I think this is the right way to go.
Sensoneo says an alliance with Sigfox has yielded an indoor factory bin monitoring system.
Photo provided by Sensoneo.
Sensoneo and Sigfox partner on indoor bin technology
Europe-based firms say new technology enables just-in-time waste and scrap collection inside factories and warehouses.
Slovakia-based Sensoneo says it has partnered with the Sigfox Germany subsidiary of France-based Sigfox to introduce what the firms call an end-to-end solution for monitoring indoor waste and recycling bins to optimize collection.
The system includes Sigfox 0G-based sensor button technology designed to identify full bins and Sensoneo’s smart waste management system designed to collect all the data and calculate optimal routes. A manufacturing or waste management operator has “full remote-control of the waste collection operation,” say the firms.
Sensoneo says a collection app for drivers navigates according to the factory floor plan and records feedback.
“The scope of our comprehensive smart waste management has expanded enormously since we developed the solution in 2014,” says Martin Basila, founder and CEO of Sensoneo. “Thanks to in-house development, we are flexible enough to meet specific requirements of different verticals – Smart Waste Management for Factories and its powerful route planning engine is one of the examples.”
The system designed for manufacturing applications accommodates both on-demand and scheduled requests, according to Sensoneo. It also accommodates variables such as vehicle capacity, bin capacity, trash or material type, bin type and work schedule, says the firm.
The system includes Sigfox 0G-based sensor buttons; the platform for operators, including the collection app for drivers; an automated route planning tool; and an analytics dashboard.
“We are ready to deploy a project within a short time window,” says Elena Sztochay, director of solution sales at Sigfox Germany. “According to our experience, upon careful coordination, the deployment is as fast as seven working days. A detailed database is created with all containers including waste types, capacities, bin location and the most accessible spot for collection. The platform then consolidates all data on bins, on customer’s infrastructure and accommodates all the rules for route planning.”
Sensoneo quotes a person it describes as a logistics analyst for a United States-based manufacturer in the automotive sector as saying, “Our new Factory Waste Management solution brings order and efficiency to our internal waste management. In addition to optimized collection routes, we receive valuable data that we need for strategic decisions regarding our waste management policy.”
Gruppo Hera, whose Bologna, Italy, headquarters is seen here, is helping to build a 30,000-tons-per-year plastic recycling facility.
Photo courtesy of Gruppo Hera.
Gruppo Hera part of new plastic recycling effort in Italy
Consortium says it will build plant that can recycle up to 30,000 metric tons per year of plastic.
The Aliplast subsidiary of Bologna, Italy-based utilities and environmental services firm Gruppo Hera says it has signed a “strategic agreement” with the NextChem subsidiary of the Maire Tecnimont Group to build a new plastics recycling plant. The new facility will use “proprietary innovative technology” called MyReplast to recycle plastic scrap into what the firms call high-value-added polymers.
According to the two companies, the plant will be able to produce up to 30,000 metric tons per year of recycled-content polymers. NextChem will provide technology and engineering, procurement and construction services while Aliplast will collect plastic scrap and engage in initial processing steps with the material.
According to Gruppo Hera, Aliplast currently operates plants in France, Spain and Poland and “is a leader in the production of flexible film of polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet, with 90,000 tons per year of finished products and regenerated polymers, and over 90 percent recovery/recycling in terms of volumes.”
The companies say the partnership with NextChem will allow Aliplast to “exploit recycling and compounding opportunities in order to expand into the sector of rigid plastics, like polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Aliplast describes those materials as “difficult to recycle effectively with mechanical processes.”
“This partnership is necessary to combine excellence and strengths of players that can make a difference in the energy transition towards a more sustainable development model, which has been Hera Group’s goal for several years across all business lines,” says Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, executive chairman of Hera Group.
Adds di Vignano, “Plastics need a recycling industry based on technology and innovation, to handle difficult waste that mechanical recycling cannot treat. This is why Aliplast decided to pick NextChem’s upcycling technology to achieve sustainability targets and to meet customers’ needs, which increasingly require high-quality polymers”,
Remarks Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont and NextChem CEO, “This agreement is a great result for our strategy to develop plastic waste upcycling through our MyReplast technology, starting with our plant in Bedizzole [Italy], and which aims to expand at the European and international level. The recycling sector needs a quality-based approach and an industrial vision, with a strong focus on the market and synergies between players, like for example the partnership with Gruppo Hera.”
Posted by Megan Smalley
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