AMCS, Limerick, Ireland, a leading supplier of integrated software and vehicle technology for the waste and recycling industry, has acquired Recy Systems AG. The German-based company also provides recycling and waste management software.
Recy has offices in Germany, U.S., U.K. and Slovakia. The company’s customers include some of the world’s largest and most complex recycling companies, AMCS says in a news release announcing the purchase. The acquisition will add 600 customers from across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa to AMCS’ roster, taking the company’s total customer base to more than 2,400 worldwide.
In addition to growing its market share in the high-growth German market, AMCS says the acquisition will support the company’s continued development of a best-in-class global solution for the metal recycling industry. It also will contribute to the development of the AMCS’ platform used by the wider waste, recycling and resource management sector, maximizing efficiency and increasing profitability, the company says.
AMCS’ existing portfolio will be further strengthened by Recy’s world-class suite of software, including its state-of-the-art functionality for managing complex stock inventory and valuation requirements, the company says. “Recy’s sector-specific model ensures that its products are designed exclusively for the waste, recycling and material trading industry, covering steel scrap, nonferrous metals, paper, wood, glass, plastic, textiles and electronics,” AMCS adds.
“The global metal recycling market is certainly shaping up to be an exciting place in which to operate in the coming years,” AMCS CEO Jimmy Martin says. “Its dynamic nature and the high degree of complexity involved will undoubtedly mean that it will benefit from an increased and accelerated adoption of technology. Our continued investment in this market has resulted in a scalable platform that can meet the needs of customers across the globe. Now and in the future, Recy’s impressive customer base will add further scale to our business internationally, particularly in Germany and North America, and I am confident that customers existing and new will benefit from the integration of the two businesses.”
Regarding the company’s direction in Europe, Freddie Kavanagh, general manager Europe, Middle East and Africa and Australia-New Zealand, at AMCS, says, “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Recy’s customers and employees to AMCS and assure them that they will experience a seamless transition and a high level of support from our global organization. Going forward, I am confident they will benefit from access to even broader and more powerful technology offerings, designed to improve their operational efficiency and aid their plans for future growth.”
Additionally, AMCS says the acquisition will deliver synergy with the Brady Recycling Solutions (SAI) business, purchased by AMCS 12 months earlier. In addition to adding more than 100 customers in North America, Europe and Australasia, the Brady acquisition also extended AMCS’ portfolio of solutions designed specifically for commercial scrap metal recycling operations, the company says.
NWRA Women’s Council announces Carts on Display competition
Entrants must decorate with artwork that promotes environmentalism or represents the WasteExpo theme, “Meet the Future.”
Entrants in the competition may supply their own 32/35 gallon or 64/65 gallon cart, or a 65-gallon cart can be provided at no charge by SSI Schaefer Systems, Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the council, entrants must decorate their cart with artwork that promotes environmentalism and/or represents the WasteExpo theme, “Meet the Future.”
The carts will be judged by the Women's Council, and winners will be announced at the show.
For more information on the competition, or to enter a cart, click here.
Eriez, Erie, Pennsylvania, promoted Charlie Ingram to the newly created position of executive vice president and chief marketing officer, effective Jan. 1. Ingram most recently served as the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
“Over his 25 years of dedicated service to Eriez, Charlie has played a key role in developing and executing sales and marketing strategies which have significantly contributed to our company’s substantial growth and worldwide success. He is an extremely effective, respected and strategic leader in the industries we serve,” says Tim Shuttleworth, president and CEO of Eriez.
As executive vice president and chief marketing office, Ingram will oversee global marketing operations and facilitate greater collaboration and standardization of marketing resources utilized by the company’s 10 subsidiaries and 12 manufacturing locations. According to an Eriez news release, Ingram will help to introduce new Eriez products to target countries, as well as managing product line realignment and standardizing product designs based on market intelligence. Other duties include monitoring the professional growth of Eriez’ sales and marketing team, enhancing customer satisfaction through improved sales processes and tracking global marketing performance.
The company reports that Ingram joined Eriez in 1994 as a national sales manager. Prior to that, he was manager of international marketing at Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, also serving as general manager of the company’s Canadian affiliate. His career also includes 10 years at Warner & Swasey, a machine tool manufacturer, where he rose to manager of product sales. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Denison University and received a certificate in advanced management from the University of Tennessee.
According to Eriez, Ingram serves on the Advisory Board of Mercyhurst University’s Walker College of Business, the Sterling Technologies Inc. board of directors, and as a trustee fellow of Denison University. He is also a member of the Edinboro University President’s Advisory Council and is a member of the Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (MANA) board of directors. Previously, Ingram was the president of the Erie Philharmonic board of directors, Sight Center of Northwest Pennsylvania, and Process Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (PEMA).
Central Georgia resident launches recycling business
Jon Cook started Boro Recycling after his county’s recycling centers stopped accepting plastics.
When recycling centers in Bulloch County, Georgia, stopped accepting plastics as a result of China’s restrictions in September 2018, Jon Cook, a resident in Statesboro, Georgia, who serves as the missions director at Grace Community Church, says he decided he needed to do something about it.
“For too long, we’ve relied on China to accept what we didn’t want to deal with,” Cook says. “We have a relatively small county—a rural county in Georgia. But with that, we were throwing 50,000 pounds of plastic a year in recycling. We were likely throwing away more than that in waste. My wife and I have always been avid recyclers, trying to teach our children about conservation. I didn’t want to toss away our plastic to waste and hope for the best. We don’t have to walk away from plastic completely.”
So, in response to the county’s restrictions on plastics, Cook started up his own recycling business to service Statesboro called Boro Recycling. The company will provide curbside collection of plastics Nos. 1-7, metals and glass. The business officially launched Wednesday, Jan. 9.
Cook says he’s received a lot of positive feedback about his business among Statesboro residents so far. While he started with just a two-man team of himself and one part-time employee, he says he will have to hire several more employees to handle the volume of requests for service he’s received.
“I underestimated what the response would be,” he adds. “A lot of people who signed up the first week didn’t receive a bin, so I had to scramble to come up with bags for them to use and find a distributor who could get me more bins quickly.”
Solution for plastics
Beyond collecting plastics, metals and glass, Cook says he’s looking to find a solution to recycle the plastics he collects from his own shop. He notes that he has a background in engineering and that he’s “always been a tinkerer” with an interest in patents.
Before even launching Boro Recycling this January, Cook experimented with plastics recycling technologies in the fall of 2018.
“I decided that if I can process enough plastic, maybe I could make a dent into the plastics waste we have in the community,” he says.
Cook purchased small-scale plastics processing equipment as well as inventing some of his own equipment to recycle the plastics he collects into a powder form that he can then turn into items he can sell like garden stones and wall decorations. He also took time to meet with the sustainability director at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, to aid in his research.
Although Cook is still working out some details on the plastics processing side of his business and is operating out of a small shop at his home, he says his long-term goals are to have a larger scale plastics processing facility that could service Bulloch County.
“We have a lot of ideas for the future,” he adds. “But our hope is to turn this business into something that truly impacts the plastic waste problem in my county.”
Understanding medical waste regulations
Medical waste can come with several regulation challenges when being transported or processed.
Most state laws require RMW to be rendered noninfectious before it can be disposed of as solid waste. RMW is unique to the health care sector and presents several compliance challenges. Unlike many regulations that apply to health care, most regulations governing medical waste are defined at the state rather than the federal level. Adding yet another layer of complexity, medical waste rules are often drafted from multiple agencies within a state.
Federal law does not provide an explicit definition of medical waste. Typically, state departments of health issue the regulations that determine which wastes are considered regulated or require special handling. Finding the definitions that apply in a company’s home state and the state they may be transporting waste to are critical in determining if this is a viable service line.
Beyond state regulations, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) can also affect waste regulations if the patient’s name and one other piece of identifying information—such as a birth date, medical record number, patient number, etc.—are on a piece of waste.
Because of all the variables governing medical waste legislation, it is not always clear how regulations will apply to a specific situation. In the late 1980s, when the present system of medical waste regulation was being developed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) played a major role. A generalized framework was developed on a federal level and was then adopted, with relatively minor changes, in each state. However, after that initial phase, the regulatory framework for medical waste developed, with considerably more discretion being left to individual states.
Providing a model
During the 1980s, there were several instances where used syringes and similar sources of medical waste washed up along beaches on the East Coast. In response to these events, Congress enacted the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA), which required the EPA to create a two-year medical waste tracking program.
The MWTA:
identified which wastes would be regulated;
established a cradle-to-grave tracking system based on a generator-initiated tracking form;
required management standards for segregation, packaging, labeling and storage of the waste;
established record-keeping requirements; and
defined penalties that could be imposed for mismanagement.
These standards for tracking and management of medical waste were in effect in four states (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island) and Puerto Rico from June 1989 to June 1991. During this time, EPA also gathered information and performed several studies related to medical waste management. The regulations created under the MWTA expired on June 21, 1999.
From the information gathered during this period, EPA concluded that the disease-causing potential of medical waste is greatest at the point of generation and naturally tapers off after that point. Medical waste could, therefore, be considered more of an occupational concern than an environmental concern affecting the public.
The MWTA, along with EPA’s associated program, served to focus attention on the issue of medical waste. It also provided a model that was subsequently used by some states and by other federal agencies in developing their own medical waste programs. EPA no longer plays a central role in medical waste regulation; instead, the states and other federal agencies have taken on that responsibility. The following summarizes the current regulatory scheme for medical wastes.
State regulations
Nearly all 50 states have enacted medical waste regulations to some extent. However, unlike state hazardous waste regulations, which are all based on the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) standards, state medical waste standards vary significantly. Some state medical waste rules are fashioned after the MWTA, while others bear little to no resemblance to this historical law.
In most places, the state EPA is primarily responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for medical waste management and disposal. Although in some states, the department of health may play a leading role (e.g., Missouri and Oklahoma) or even serve as the primary regulatory agency, such is the case in Colorado. Where both agencies are involved, like in Louisiana and Missouri, typically the department of health is responsible for on-site management and the environmental agency is responsible for transportation and disposal.
Most states have regulations covering packaging, storage and transportation of medical waste. Some states require health care facilities to register and/or obtain a permit for their waste. State rules may also cover the development of contingency plans, on-site treatment, training, waste tracking, recordkeeping and reporting.
ashtproductions | Adobe Stock
OSHA regulations
The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and affiliate organizations in 24 states that operate their own program, regulate several aspects of medical waste. These areas include management of sharps, requirements for containers that hold or store medical waste, labeling of medical waste bags/containers, and employee training. These standards are designed to protect health care workers from the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. However, they also help to systematically manage wastes, which benefits the public and environment.
In states with comprehensive medical waste regulations, there are often overlaps between state EPA/department of health rules and the OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard; however, there are few, if any, conflicts. Where one set of rules may be vague or general, the other may be highly specific. In such cases, health care facilities are advised to follow the more detailed or stringent regulations. In states where comprehensive medical waste regulations do not exist, the OSHA rules fill an important gap.
EPA, DOT and CDC regulations
Although EPA no longer plays a central role with medical waste management like it once did, the organization has active regulations governing emissions from hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators. There are also specific requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for certain medical waste treatment technologies that use chemicals for treating the waste.
Regulated medical waste is defined by the Department of Transportation (DOT) as a hazardous material. The DOT rules mostly apply to transporters rather than health care facilities; although, knowledge of these rules is important because of the liability associated with shipping waste off-site. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issues guidelines for infection control.
Regardless of which state a medical facility may be located in, knowing and adhering to proper medical waste regulations and legislation protocols can help protect operators from illness, injury or enforcement.
Note: Some information for this article was obtained, with permission, from the Healthcare Environmental Resource Center at www.hercenter.org/rmw/rmwoverview.php.
Tom Dumez is the president of Prime Compliance based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a certified HIPAA professional and certified security compliance specialist. Tom can be contacted at tdumez@thehipaaman.com.
Regulated medical waste (RMW), also known as biohazardous waste or infectious medical waste, is the portion of the waste stream that may be contaminated by blood, body fluids or other potentially infectious materials, thus posing a significant risk of transmitting infection. There are several categories of waste that are typically classified as RMW, and each category has special handling requirements.
