The M&J F-series will be M&J Recycling’s main attraction and can be viewed in the West Hall, booth 2468.
M&J Recycling, Horsens, Denmark, has announced it will showcase a series of new products at this year’s WasteExpo in Las Vegas, May 9-12. In particular, the company will display its F-series fine-shredders.
The M&J F-series, which will be M&J Recycling’s main attraction, can be viewed in the West Hall, booth 2468. The series consists of three models including M&J F140, M&J F210 and M&J F320, which have been designed to deliver a stable, high output of alternative fuels like refuse-derived and solid-recovered fuel, down to 10 millimeters. The company says the models in this series can be adapted to virtually all fractions and capacity requirements between 11 and 23 tons per hour. The company says the shredder keeps energy and operating costs at a minimum.
A key focus during the design process was an absolute mandate to minimize service requirements and maintenance programs. Easy access to spare parts ensures that the maintenance of machines is efficient and user-friendly for the end-user.
“The F-series of ultra-strong fine shredders is in a league of its own,” says Uffe Hansen, CEO at M&J Recycling. “The series deservedly got off to a flying start globally because it is extremely flexible and superior on all significant parameters. It will surely appeal to the quality-conscious M&J customer that is accustomed to the legendary quality that comes along with an M&J preshredder. You get reliable production, year after year at minimum cost.”
M&J Recycling says it is poised to accelerate its development due to new owners, Ahlstrom Capital. The company says the goal is to expand its position as a leading supplier of industrial shredders.
Visitors to the WasteExpo also can find out more about the flexible K-series, which is aimed at small and medium-scale productions.
The U.S. Department of Energy says funds from the infrastructure bill will support the creation of new and expanded commercial facilities and battery recycling.
The administration says the investments also will support the creation of new, retrofitted and expanded commercial facilities as well as manufacturing demonstrations and battery recycling. A separate $60 million in funding also was announced as an investment in supporting second-life applications for batteries previously used to power electric vehicles (EVs) as well as new processes for recycling materials back into the battery supply chain.
In February of last year, the DOE issued a 100-day review of the large-capacity battery supply chain and recommended establishing domestic production and processing capabilities for critical materials to support a fully domestic end-to-end battery supply chain. It also recommended investments in battery recycling and the circular economy to increase domestic supply and reduce the future need for new extraction and raw materials.
“Positioning the United States front and center in meeting the growing demand for advanced batteries is how we boost our competitiveness and electrify our transportation system,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm says about the announced funding. “President Biden’s historic investment in battery production and recycling will give our domestic supply chain the jolt it needs to become more secure and less reliant on other nations—strengthening our clean energy economy, creating good-playing jobs and decarbonizing the transportation sector.”
The Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB), led by the DOE as well as the Departments of Defense, Commerce and State, issued an executive summary in June of last year, “National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries 2021-2030,” outlining a national blueprint to guide investments in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. The report also notes the global lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade and that the DOE is working with the industry to prepare the U.S. for increased market demand.
According to a news release from the DOE, more than 2.5 million plug-in EVs have been sold in the U.S. as of March. The DOE also says battery costs have fallen more than 90 percent since 2008 while energy density and performance have rapidly increased, paving the way for an accelerated transition to zero-emission vehicles.
The DOE says these most recent investments into what it calls responsible and sustainable domestic sourcing of critical materials used to make lithium-ion batteries—such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite—will help avoid or mitigate supply-chain disruptions and accelerate battery production in the U.S. to meet demand and support the adoption of EVs.
Focusing on domestic sourcing and production was a key component of the DOE’s recently announced funding, with the FCAB’s June 2021 blueprint saying, “The U.S. industrial base must be positioned to respond to this vast increase in market demand that otherwise will likely benefit well-resourced and supported competitors in Asia and Europe.”
“For too long, other countries have been outpacing the United States in funding new technologies,” says Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. “We are at a critical moment in our competition to build the next generation of electric vehicles and batteries here in America and to secure Michigan’s automotive leadership in these next-generation vehicles.”
She continues, “Thanks to our bipartisan efforts in Congress and with the president’s leadership, this funding will help us win this race by investing in our supply chain and manufacturing here at home. Our workers are the best in the world, and there’s nothing more American than ensuring that our products and technology are built in America.”
The DOE says that in alignment with the Justice40 initiative—establishing a goal that 40 percent of the benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy flow to disadvantaged communities—applicants for new funding opportunities will be prompted to consider how project benefits can flow to relevant disadvantaged communities. The DOE’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity reiterated this mandate as a priority for the Biden administration.
Trade group sends letter opposing attempt to apply incineration monitoring techniques to chemical recycling facilities.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC), Washington, has written a letter objecting to an attempt by some members of Congress to regulate newer plastic recycling facilities using Clean Air Act techniques applied to incinerators.
The ACC says, “On Friday [April 29], members of Congress sent a letter to the House Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate advanced recycling technologies as municipal waste combustion units under the Clean Air Act.”
The May 3 reply by the ACC refers to advanced recycling—a term it uses for a collection of solvent-based or other thermochemical technologies to convert plastic scrap into new polymers and other marketable materials—as “game-changing technologies that enable a circular economy by transforming used plastics into high quality new plastics.”
The ACC adds, “Characterizing advanced recycling as ‘waste combustion’ or ‘burning plastics’ is scientifically inaccurate and distracts from the real and significant progress being made.”
The organization points to “seven commercial-scale advanced recycling facilities” and others “leveraging existing chemical manufacturing infrastructure to make virgin-quality plastic from used plastics in the U.S.” as “just the beginning of a massive wave of new projects.”
The ACC says that since 2017, $7.5 billion in investments have been announced involving more than 70 projects with the potential to divert up to 8.75 million tons of plastic scrap from landfills annually.
“A recent independent study found advanced recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions 43 percent relative to waste-to-energy incineration of plastic films made from virgin-resources,” the ACC writes. “Another study found benchmarked air emissions from an average-sized advanced recycling facility were often on par with those from common well-regulated facilities such as hospitals and universities, and often too low to trigger key EPA permitting thresholds."
The trade association says regulating advanced recycling as solid waste incineration would be “inconsistent with Clean Air Act legal criteria” and would conflict with laws in 18 states that have passed laws regulating the facilities as manufacturing operations.
Clean Air Act regulation also “would undermine EPA’s National Recycling Goal to increase the U.S. recycling rate to 50 percent by 2030,” the ACC says, adding “America’s plastic makers will rely on advanced recycling to help EPA meet its goal.”
The ACC concludes, “From Wendy’s to Warby Parker, advanced recycling is being used to make plastic consumer products from the hard-to-recycle plastics mechanical recycling cannot process. We urge lawmakers and the EPA to follow the science and reject the false claims that advanced recycling is ‘waste combustion,’ and we invite them to visit an advanced recycling facility to get the facts in person.”
The Vinyl Sustainability Council is searching for medical PVC recycling pilot program participants.
The Washington-based Vinyl Sustainability Council (VSC) has issued a call for hospitals, recyclers and logistics organizations interested in participating in a new United States-based medical polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycling pilot program.
After holding an early May PVC recycling webinar, the VSC issued its call and says potential participants can find out more on a dedicated web page.
The pilot initiative aims to divert products from landfills and encourage the recycling of nonhazardous medical PVC devices in hospitals. Pilot participants will be identified by the end of June for a program launch later in the year, says the VSC.
“PVC is integral to the safe and efficient operation of health care facilities all over the world,” says Jay Thomas, VSC executive director. “Hospitals depend on the anti-kink properties of PVC tubing and the ability of vinyl blood bags to preserve the blood supply critical to patient care. For these reasons, PVC is used in nearly 30 percent of medical devices globally. This is a prime opportunity for the U.S. vinyl industry to work with hospitals, recyclers, and logistics organizations to create a recycling pilot in the U.S. We are ready to implement what we’ve learned from our colleagues in Belgium, Australia, South Africa and Canada, who already have successful medical PVC recycling programs in place.”
The VSC pilot program will be designed to collect nonhazardous medical PVC devices, such as IV bags, oxygen masks, and oxygen tubing waste to be remanufactured into new products.
The VSC has set a goal to increase post-consumer recycling to nearly 80,000 tons by 2025. To accomplish this, the VSC says it has developed a PVC recycling roadmap to reach its goal that includes enabling technology innovation, increasing infrastructure investments, informing recyclers and product producers and collaborating with other organizations committed to PVC recycling.
A U.S. medical PVC recycling pilot program, along with the Vinyl Siding Institute’s ongoing vinyl siding recycling pilot and the Chemical Fabric and Films Association’s vinyl roofing membrane pilot program, have been designed to help the industry achieve that goal.
Scrap company acquires two Encore Recycling facilities, including a shredder.
Portland, Oregon-based Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. says it has purchased the operating assets of Encore Recycling LLC, comprising two facilities in the Atlanta metropolitan area. One of the two facilities includes a metal shredding operation and Encore also has a recycled auto parts center.
Founded in 2013, Jefferson, Georgia-based Encore purchases and processes end-of-life vehicles, appliances, and additional ferrous and nonferrous materials from local recycling companies and industrial, commercial, and individual customers, says Schnitzer.
“Encore sells its recycled products to steel mills and foundries throughout the Southeast, the fastest growing steel and industrial manufacturing region in the country,” adds the multi-location acquiring firm.
The acquisition of Encore’s assets follows Schnitzer’s 2021 purchase of eight recycling facilities from Columbus Recycling and expands the company’s Southeastern regional footprint to 24 recycling facilities in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, says the firm.
“The acquisition of Encore will expand our platform and offerings in the robust Southeast market by establishing our first shredding operation in the region with immediate scale and meaningful synergies,” says Tamara Lundgren, board chair and CEO of Schnitzer.
“This purchase builds upon our recent strategic investments including our recently opened state-of-the-art heavy media plant in Macon, Georgia, and the purchase of eight recycling facilities from Columbus Recycling last October,” she continues. “The addition of the Encore assets is consistent with our growth strategy to expand metals recycling operations to meet anticipated increases in steel and nonferrous metals demand driven in part by the global transition to low-carbon technologies. While a variety of solutions will be required as industries, communities, and governments actively pursue carbon reduction, the increased use of recycled metals is one path that is immediately achievable.”
In 2021, the Encore facilities processed approximately 90,000 tons of ferrous scrap and 7,000 tons of nonferrous scrap, partially arising from its handling of 20,000 end-of life vehicles.
Schnitzer says it plans to make capital and other investments at the acquired facilities, including for environmental projects and programs such as a shredder enclosure and emission control system, stormwater infrastructure upgrades, and implementation of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved refrigerant recovery management program.