San Antonio-based Metso Outotec USA Inc. says its Metso Metal Recycling product line now includes a larger incline shear option with the introduction of the Metso NIS 1620-11 BL100 Incline Shear.

The NIS 1620 shear produces up to 1,760 tons of shearing force with a single-rake angle shear blade design, says the company. The new model also is equipped with higher pre-compression forces for denser scrap production, according to Metso.

“This is a high production recycling industry work horse with shearing rates up to 60 tons per hour,” the company states. Other features incorporated into the shear provide what the company calls “the highest efficiency shear operation available.”

Metso NIS Shears excel at processing large bulky scrap, long forms of scrap and all general types of scrap, states the company. The Metso NIS shears are capable of fully automatic operation in most applications, adds the firm.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, has announced that Adina Renee Adler, ISRI’s vice president of advocacy, was reappointed to serve on the United States Department of Commerce Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC). Adler was named as a representative of ISRI and the waste management and recycling segment of the U.S. environmental technology industry. In her role, Adler advises on matters related to U.S. trade policy development.

“As an ongoing member of the ETTAC, we work closely with government agencies to promote trade of recyclable commodities and recycling equipment through policy and initiatives,” Adler says. “ISRI is eager to guide the Biden Administration on recycling’s essential role in the global manufacturing supply chain and the realization of a circular economy.”

The responsibilities of the ETTAC include providing advice on the administration and development of programs to expand U.S. exports of environmental technologies, goods and services and products that comply with U.S. environmental, safety and related requirements.

According to a news release from ISRI, this is Adler’s second appointment to a two-year charter. ISRI’s chief economist Joe Pickard served on the ETTAC from 2011 to 2018.

The Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has lined up the speakers for two of its most active divisions for its spring 2021 online World Recycling Convention. The Ferrous Division online meeting will be Tuesday, June 1, with the Non-Ferrous Division to meet the following day.

The BIR Ferrous Division session, to take place from to June 1, will include a presentation from Lee Allen, senior price reporter at Fastmarkets AMM, with the title “Mammoth margins, high-grade premiums and the power of China: the Asia steel scrap markets in 2021.”

A subsequent panel discussion, which will be moderated by Allen, features Jiak Lim, senior trader at Singapore-based Zhejiang Metals and Materials Co. (ZMMC), which BIR calls a large Chinese steel, iron ore and fuel oil supply chain enterprise. Also on the panel are Ferrous Division President Greg Schnitzer of Sims Metal Management Global Trade in the United States, plus fellow Ferrous board representatives Denis Reuter of TSR Recycling GmbH & Co KG in Germany and Tom Knippel of SA Recycling in the U.S.

The Ferrous Division online meeting is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. Central European Time, which is 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States.

The following day, the BIR’s Non-Ferrous Division will convent at 3:00 p.m. Central European Time, which is 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S.

That one-hour meeting will feature a presentation from Eric Tan, founder and president of the Malaysia Non-Ferrous Metals Association (MYS) and director of SDM Speciality Chemicals Sdn Bh. He will provide an update on Malaysia’s nonferrous regulations and its economic development.

A panel discussion to follow will be moderated by Paul Coyte of New Zealand-based Hayes Metals and will include Tan as one of the panelists.  Also taking part will be BIR Non-Ferrous Divisional board members Dhawal Shah of Mumbai-based Metco Marketing and Murat Bayram, who works from Hamburg, Germany, for United Kingdom-based EMR Ltd.

More information on the online BIR 2021 World Recycling Convention, including how to register, can be found on this web page.

Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group is investing $195 million in North Carolina to increase its ability to make aluminum beverage cans, while Colorado-based Ball Corp. has announced the increased availability of its aluminum beverage cups.

Ardagh Group says it will make building improvements and convert warehousing space into production space while adding two “new, modern high-speed can manufacturing lines” to its existing site in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A news release from the office of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper states, “With six production lines, the Winston-Salem site is the company’s largest can manufacturing facility in the United States.”

Ardagh makes aluminum, steel and glass packaging. On its website, the firm says it used nearly 580,000 metric tons of aluminum in 2019. Concerning all three materials, the company says it maximizes its recycling rates and optimizes “the use of secondary packaging materials.”

The company’s announced expansion in North Carolina follows a similar announcement made last year concerning one of Ardagh Group’s plants in Mississippi.

The production of more aluminum cans is likely to lead to a higher supply of and demand for aluminum used beverage containers (UBCs) in North America.

“This very significant project forms a key part of Ardagh Group’s global $2.1 billion 2021-to-2024 business growth investment program and is being undertaken to meet fast-growing demand as consumers increasingly recognize the environmental and quality advantages of beverage cans,” says Claude Marbach, CEO of Ardagh Metal-Beverage North America. “Our products deliver high recycle and content rates, which support customer sustainability targets and contribute to a circular economy.”

Westminster, Colorado-based Ball Corp., meanwhile, says its Ball Aluminum Cup is available at major retail outlets in all 50 states in the United States. By the end of June, the cups will be available in more than 18,000 food, drug and superstore retailers, including Kroger, Target, Albertsons and CVS, according to Ball.

“Ball has a long history of being a brand that people trust, and we are excited to reenter the business-to-consumer market with the retail rollout of the innovative and infinitely recyclable Ball Aluminum Cup,” says Dan Fisher, president of the firm. “As a company, we are relentlessly focused on enabling the circular economy and finding new ways to help solve the packaging waste crisis with aluminum beverage packaging. We look forward to working with our retail partners to continue advancing this mission.”

Sebastian Siethoff, a general manager with the company, says, “The Ball Aluminum Cup is a truly innovative product that has the potential to advance sustainability and reduce plastic waste at gatherings big and small. As we expand the cups’ availability to major retailers nationwide, we are seeing very strong consumer adoption and performance in the marketplace. We are excited to expand the cups’ footprint and continue driving meaningful sustainable solutions for customers and consumers.”