Republic invests in lithium-ion battery manufacturer
Romeo Systems Inc., the Los Angeles-based company doing business as Romeo Power, announced Nov. 10 that Phoenix-based Republic Services Inc. has exercised its option to acquire additional shares of Class A common stock in RMG Acquisition Corp. (RMG).
Romeo Power specializes in designing and manufacturing lithium-ion battery modules and packs for commercial electric vehicles. RMG, a special purpose acquisition company, previously announced a definitive agreement for a business merger that would result in Romeo Power becoming a publicly listed company.
According to Romeo Power, Republic’s investment represents less than 5 percent of the currently outstanding shares of RMG.
In addition, Republic Services COO Tim Stuart will join the board of directors of Romeo Power upon Romeo Power’s planned business merger with RMG.
“Republic Services is excited to increase our investment in, and strengthen our partnership with, Romeo Power,” Stuart says. “The establishment of a strategic alliance is an important component of our fleet electrification strategy and will help drive responsible growth and value creation.”
“[Republic Services] is an incredibly well-respected organization with a bold sustainability platform, and we appreciate their vote of confidence in our business,” Romeo Power CEO Lionel Selwood Jr. says. “Tim Stuart’s expertise in corporate strategy and operations will help Romeo Power expand its electrification technology into waste disposal and other markets.”
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Departments - Product Spotlight
New and updated products and technology for the waste industry.
Terex Washing Systems, Dungannon, Northern Ireland, announced the company is launching the HydroScrub 200, the latest addition to its Greenline range of products that has been tailored to work in wash recycling applications. Features of the system include:
hydro floatation water injection, integrated pre- and post-screens, a high-volume trash removal screen and single-pass processing for various feed materials
ideal for wash recycling applications where the challenge is liberating valuable aggregates and light organics
can be used in “high-volume lights” applications
a key-operated powerpack for hydraulic angle adjustment
Pellenc ST, Pertuis, France, has released Service Pack, which it describes as a new turnkey solution for recycling facility operators that provides them with operational support. Features of the Service Pack include:
24/7 services, such as on-site service, remote maintenance and training
an unlimited supply of replacement and wear parts and advice based on analysis of data collected by the digital system
a new software called Smart&Share designed to assist with performance optimization and facilitate preventive maintenance through customized reports and alerts
can provide customers with controlled maintenance costs for several years, local support and statistical tools to better understand sorting data and events recorded on optical sorters
Westward Industries, Manitoba, Canada, says the GO-4 XTR can serve as a valuable tool for hauling garbage and easily dumping that refuse into a centralized container. Features of the hydraulic refuse hauler include:
can haul up to 800 pounds
ideal vehicle for small commercial and municipal applications
offers ease of entry from each side for drivers, eliminating the need to walk around the entire vehicle for access
narrow turning radius of only 11 feet, with an automotive drivetrain and automotive-grade components
Peoria, Illinois-based BossTek has announced its new DustBoss DB-30 Injektor, a dust control unit developed in response to customer feedback. Features of the DB-30 include:
a dosing pump that BossTek says also can be added as a retrofit to existing DustBoss mist cannons
a standard coverage area of more than 6,100 square feet and adjustable stroke length and frequency ranging from 1 per hour to 100 per minute
optional 359-degree oscillation that can grow coverage area to 31,000 square feet
metering pump housing constructed from chemical-resistant, fiber-reinforced thermoplastic, with a ceramic ball valve
McNeilus breaks ground on new customer-focused facility
McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corp. company based in Dodge Center, Minnesota, has announced that it recently broke ground on a nearly 30,000-square-foot facility that will provide customers with a “unique, collaborative pre-delivery experience for their refuse collection fleets,” the company says.
McNeilus’ new Joint Pre-Delivery Inspection facility, which will officially open in early spring 2021, features truck inspection bays, a parts warehouse, a drive-through wash bay and a customer center, along with compressed natural gas (CNG) protection measures throughout the building. One of the most unique aspects of this facility, according to the company, is that it brings together and aligns the truck inspection processes of the body manufacturer, chassis manufacturer and the customer for a streamlined experience.
“By focusing McNeilus headquarters on refuse collection products and services, we’re positioning ourselves for breakout growth. Coupling this new customer-focused quality facility with strong industry collaboration is just one of the ways we’re leading the industry forward,” Jeff Koga, vice president and general manager of refuse at McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, says.
According to the company, advantages of McNeilus’ Joint Pre-Delivery Inspection facility will be seen in delivered quality and reduced delivery time, along with an inspection process that aligns with specific customer needs. Data from the comprehensive joint inspection process also will augment and improve manufacturing processes.
The company said it also celebrated the importance it places on quality, reflecting on improved processes, productivity and safety during World Quality Month in November.
“Recognizing World Quality Month provides a platform for acknowledging our team members and their achievements and valuable quality contributions,” Vasu Chakravarthy, director of quality for McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, says. “And, it also provides a lens for developing solutions to broader industry issues impacting many haulers.”
Amp Robotics partners with Waste Connections
Amp Robotics Corp. (Amp), a Denver-based creator of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics used to recover recyclables reclaimed as raw materials, has signed a long-term agreement with Waste Connections Inc. to deploy 24 AI-guided robotics systems.
“We’re excited to partner with Amp to expand the deployment of state-of-the-art technology in our materials recovery facilities, furthering our sustainability initiatives and increasing returns,” says Worthing F. Jackman, president and CEO of Toronto-based Waste Connections. “Waste Connections is committed to expanding resource recovery capacity, and we believe Amp’s robotics systems align with our goals to enhance safety, increase productivity, and improve recovered resource quality.”
Amp’s technology recovers plastics, cardboard, paper, cans, cartons and many other containers and packaging types reclaimed for raw material processing. For example, its AI platform identifies different types of plastics, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), and sorts them further by color, clarity and opacity.
Amp’s technology can adapt to container packaging introduced into the recycling stream with recognition capabilities to the brand level—increasingly critical as demand for sufficient quantities of high-quality recycled material grows to meet consumer packaged goods companies’ commitment to use postconsumer recycled content.
“We’re thrilled to be supporting Waste Connections’ commitment to expanding resource recovery as we extend our efforts to modernize recycling operations and advance a more circular economy,” says Matanya Horowitz, founder and CEO of Amp Robotics. “To see such a robust expansion of our pipeline and mark this milestone in a year upended by COVID-19 is a testament to our industry-leading technology—and working with a visionary company like Waste Connections helps enable and strengthen an essential public service.”
Eberhard Group partners with ZenRobotics to build AI-driven recycling plant
The Eberhard Group, Steinackerstrasse, Switzerland, has announced a major investment in a new recycling plant that can process 200 tons per hour, converting mixed construction debris into secondary raw materials. The plant is set to be complete in fall 2021.
Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and smart robotic sorting technologies supplied by ZenRobotics will be used at the plant to capture high-purity fractions from C&D debris. The recycled materials will then be converted into new building materials for the construction industry. Eberhard’s plant is an example of circular economy innovation, turning waste into value and significantly reducing CO2 emissions and environmental pressures from resource extraction, the company says.
The new plant, called EbiMIK (short term for Eberhard – Materials in Circulation) will be in Oberglatt, Switzerland. It will feature an advanced robotic sorting system by ZenRobotics that includes two parallel lines with multiple high-capacity, heavy-duty robots on each line. The job of the robots is to capture high-value and high-purity materials from mixed construction and demolition debris.
Construction and demolition debris is a considerable source of secondary materials worldwide. In the European Union, it makes up approximately one-third of the total waste generated. The EU’s target is to recover, recycle or reuse at least 70 percent of this material by the end of 2020. At present, many of the material streams for C&D debris are not suitable for reuse or high-grade recycling, the company says. Instead, mixed construction debris is still widely used today as low-grade material or is even dumped. In Switzerland, 10 percent or less of the total 7.5 million tons of C&D debris generated per year is sustainably recycled today.
Eberhard’s investment in the new high-capacity recycling center enables the company to recover the highest quality secondary raw materials for its customers and help lift recycling rates in the C&D industry. In addition to the state-of-the-art C&D recycling plant, a raw material storage and a component production facility also are being built for the new EbiMIK recycling center.
“The ZenRobotics robots with AI are a very important part of our revolutionary recycling plant, EbiMIK,” Patrick van der Haegen, division head development at Eberhard, says. “EbiMIK converts mixed demolition waste into fully circular secondary raw materials. Mixed demolition waste no longer needs to be downcycled into low-grade materials or even landfilled.”
Juha Mieskonen, head of sales at ZenRobotics, adds: “The Eberhard Group is an early pioneer in heavy-duty C&D sorting robots. The family business made its first investment into ZenRobotics’ smart autonomous waste sorting robots back in 2015. We are delighted that Eberhard is now multiplying its robot count by reinvesting into our advanced robot waste sorting system as part of this groundbreaking new plant investment.”
Hyundai Construction Equipment names J.Y. Kim as president
A 28-year Hyundai veteran, Kim began his career as part of an overseas sales team to support North American operations, and later, worked at HCEA’s Chicago office from 2004 to 2008.
He was instrumental in establishing a foundation for a Brazilian factory and sales company before managing operations for Indian manufacturing, sales and marketing. During his tenure in India, he brought Hyundai’s market share to 19 percent. After his two major overseas stays, he worked with emerging countries that included Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and many in Southeast Asia.
“We are excited to have J.Y. bring his passion, market knowledge, and support, as well as his understanding of worldwide trade operations to ... North America, especially when understanding import/export policies has become a critical part of successful management,” said Stan Park, HCEA vice president of distribution and marketing.
Avis names new president and CEO
The board of directors of Avis Industrial Corp., headquartered in Upland, Indiana, has announced that Greg King has been named the company’s new president and CEO, effective immediately.
King has spent the last four and a half years as president and general manager of Harris, a wholly owned subsidiary of Avis that is based in Cordele, Georgia, with additional operations in Baxley, Georgia, and sales and engineering offices in Wiltshire, U.K. The search for a new leader at Harris is in process, but in the interim, King will continue to manage Harris in his role as president and CEO of Avis, the company notes in a news release about his promotion.
Prior to joining Harris and Avis, King worked at WestRock, formerly Rock-Tenn Co., Atlanta, from 1989 through 2015 in various senior executive roles.
“I feel Greg is a very good fit for Avis and the unique group of companies Leland has built over the years,” says Ron McDaniel, chairman of the Avis board. “I promised Leland I would step in on an interim basis if needed, and I feel good about honoring that commitment. It is now time for Avis to move forward with a full-time, engaged leader and continue developing and growing what Leland was so passionate about.”
McDaniel is referring to Leland Boren, the former chairman, president and CEO of Avis who died in November 2018.
Eriez announces executive retirement
Charlie Ingram, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, will retire from Erie, Pennsylvania-based Eriez at the end of 2020, the company’s President and CEO Lukas Guenthardt has announced via a news release. “After 26 years of significant contributions to Eriez, our industry and the Erie community, Charlie has decided to retire and bring to an end his very successful career,” Guenthardt says.
Ingram joined Eriez in 1994 as national sales manager, rising to vice president of sales and marketing in 2004. Guenthardt says Ingram was one of the architects of Eriez’s three-fold growth while he directed the sales organization in the Americas. “Ingram’s approaches to field sales, market-focused strategies, aftermarket initiatives, training and customer education significantly helped position Eriez as the world authority in separation technologies,” he adds. “Charlie has been a valued mentor and leader during his tenure.”
Eriez says Ingram fostered the professional growth of Eriez’s sales and marketing teams, enhancing customer satisfaction through improved sales structures and processes.
As executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Ingram oversees Eriez’s global marketing operations and the introduction of new Eriez products to target countries, managing product line realignment and standardization based on market intelligence, the company says.
Ingram has written many articles and is well-known for numerous speeches delivered on behalf of Eriez, according to the company. As the only manufacturer member elected to serve on the board of directors for the Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (MANA), Ingram has served as a presenter and panelist for MANA at events and has written numerous articles for MANA’s Agency Sales magazine.
While with Eriez, Ingram has served in numerous community and professional volunteer roles. He was president of several community and industry boards, including the Erie Philharmonic, Sight Center of Northwest PA, Process Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (PEMA) and the Kahkwa Club. He was previously a member of the advisory board of Mercyhurst University’s Walker College of Business and the Edinboro University President’s Advisory Council, a board member of Denison University and Presque Isle Partnership, and the global sales and marketing chair for The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT).
Company Wrench named new dealer for Kobelco in Central Florida
Company Wrench Ltd., Carroll, Ohio, has announced it is the new dealer for Kobelco Construction Machinery USA Inc. in Central Florida. Company Wrench also represents Kobelco in five other states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Company Wrench President Cam Gabbard believes the territory expansion is the result of a mutual admiration between the parties.
“Company Wrench has successfully represented the Kobelco product in a number of key markets over the years,” he says. “Adding the Central Florida territory is probably the most substantial development in our relationship with Kobelco since we first signed as a dealer in 2013. We are excited to show this booming market what the Kobelco product has to offer.”
Gabbard believes the high standards of both parties make Company Wrench and Kobelco a perfect fit.
As a new administration readies to enter the White House, it is critical to remember the responsibility for day-to-day sustainability and resilience in solid waste management still falls on our local solid waste professionals. We are leaders in environmental conservation, ready to showcase and replicate our best practices for the benefits of communities nationwide, and we urge the federal government to join our nation’s state, county, city, town and regional champions to inspire this country’s fight against climate change and promote equitable communities and a resilient economy.
According to the Trust for Public Land Action Fund, state and local voters across the country approved 26 separate environmental measures on 2020 election ballots, totaling nearly $3.7 billion in new funding for land conservation, parks and open space; climate resiliency; habitat preservation; water quality; and affordable housing and equitability. This is an amazing commitment on the part of state and local communities, and now, with the new presidential administration set to take office in January, the time is ripe to renew these efforts at the federal level. The results of the 2020 election present an opportunity for us to refocus on pressing sustainability and resilience issues, many of which have been exacerbated and highlighted by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.
There are few other issues as inherent and integral to our daily lives as how we manage our waste. The new administration has pledged to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord this coming inauguration day and commit $1.7 trillion to achieve a 100 percent clean energy economy with net zero emissions by 2050. This effort is anticipated to create 10 million new jobs across the country, with a particular focus on environmental justice for historically marginalized and underrepresented populations and communities of color.
To fulfill these promises, we urge the new administration to act swiftly and with purpose. Policies must be actionable and enforceable. They must boost the established and emerging domestic markets for recyclable materials by both ensuring a high-quality supply and increasing demand through prioritizing recyclable materials’ use in manufacturing. Policies should also help build regional demand for organic waste diversion by incentivizing compost and soil amendment usage.
We are hearing good things from the president-elect’s climate change committee. The new administration seeks to revitalize and re-engage federal personnel on sustainability initiatives; fill in the gaps in institutional memory and expertise; and re-engage our nation within the international community, particularly with the Paris Climate Accord. And yet, challenges remain. In the past few years, the U.S. has retreated from participating in international environmental initiatives, and we must reassert our global leadership. At home, we face governmental and social obstacles, including ongoing and widespread support of, and dependence on, fossil fuels as well as challenges to implementing climate change mitigation policies.
As landfills across the country begin to reach capacity and recycling markets remain turbulent, it’s clear that we cannot continue business as usual and still achieve our goals of sustainability, resilience and climate change mitigation. The U.S. EPA released its Draft National Recycling Strategy in early October, and while this strategy documents the EPA’s goals on the advancement of recycling, we must critically examine how we can go further, faster, by incorporating strategies that will truly create a paradigm shift in how we think about waste as valuable material that should not, in fact, be wasted.
As a company, GBB offered our comments to the draft strategy, echoing our call to catalyze a circular economy and suggest the inclusion of policies and incentives to prevent waste while adding real value for reuse and recovery. We want to see the strategy have an emphasis on designing to eliminate waste and facilitate reuse and recovery, extended producer responsibility, building up the sharing economy, heavy investment in infrastructure for material recovery, incentivizing diversion through financial benefits, and accounting for the negative externalities of environmental degradation associated with waste.
These ideas are ambitious and the challenges significant, but the solid waste industry, with the leadership of the new administration, must do what is necessary to stem the ever-increasing tide of solid waste to positively contribute to a sustainable and resilient future.
Room to grow
Features - Sorting Equipment
Waste Management of Utah pushes for advancements in automation with the opening of its new $17 million material recovery facility in Salt Lake City.
With the ambition to retrofit, construct or upgrade at least two to three of its material recovery facilities (MRFs) each year, Houston-based Waste Management has remained steadfast through the pandemic, completing the construction of three new MRFs in Chicago; Salt Lake City; and Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2020.
According to Brent Bell, vice president of recycling at Waste Management and president of Waste Management Recycle America, these upgrades—especially at the Salt Lake City site—were necessary due to outdated equipment and maxed out production capacity at the company’s existing facilities.
“[Salt Lake City] is a really attractive market for Waste Management,” says Bell. “We always look for areas that support recycling or for areas that are growing, and we [met] both of those criteria in the Salt Lake City area, so that made it a perfect fit [for a new facility].”
Bell says the company’s previous Salt Lake City facility was about 60 percent of the size of the new MRF, with no room to grow.
“That’s why we decided to relocate that facility to expand and invest in some equipment that would allow us to [handle] our customers’ growth in that area,” he says.
"The cutting-edge sorting equipment and expanded production capacity at the new facility will enable us to increase operational efficiencies and exceed the quality standards required by U.S. product manufacturers,” –Mark Snedecor, director of recycling operations, Waste Management of Utah
The new $17 million MRF occupies 50,000 square feet inside an existing structure at WM’s site. Featuring a custom design and more advanced automation, the MRF will support recycling programs throughout Salt Lake Valley—processing recyclables for Salt Lake City’s roughly 41,000 residential customers as well as numerous communities and businesses across the valley.
“This recycling facility was custom designed and equipped to support the future recycling needs of the Salt Lake Valley, one of the fastest growing population centers in the country,” Mark Snedecor, director of recycling operations for Waste Management of Utah, said in a news release announcing the MRF’s opening. “The cutting-edge sorting equipment and expanded production capacity at the new facility will enable us to increase operational efficiencies and exceed the quality standards required by U.S. product manufacturers who buy the metals, cardboard, paper and plastics produced at this MRF.”
A CUSTOM DESIGN
Designed and sequenced by Waste Management’s in-house engineering team, Bell says the Salt Lake City MRF utilizes the “best pieces of all the recycling equipment manufacturers.”
The facility includes advanced automation, as well as rotating fiber screens, ballistic separators, optical sorters and magnets. In addition, more than 2.5 miles of conveyor belts carry materials through the single-stream processing facility, which can sort 35 tons per hour, 280 tons daily and more than 71,000 tons annually, according to the company.
“We put [the equipment] together in a sequence that we understand based on our experience, based on the material composition, based on how much volume we need to put through, and ultimately, what kind of material we wanted to produce and then market there,” Bell says. “So, that’s kind of where the in-house design comes from. We absolutely use what’s best out on the marketplace today, and then we put the equipment together with our own engineering team.”
With the Salt Lake City MRF in particular, automation was a main area of focus. With six to seven optical sorters currently, and one more being added early next year, the additional automation has helped reduce both labor and maintenance costs.
“I think if you look in the industry overall, one of our biggest challenges is finding a dependent and stable workforce in these facilities,” says Bell. “So, predominately, that’s finding a sorter position. It’s a difficult position to fill and to keep filled, just because … it’s definitely one of the hardest-working jobs in our industry. The belts move fairly fast and it’s a repetitive job to do, so, what we’ve tried to do is make it so we don’t have to rely on that workforce as much through automation.”
Bell adds, “That’s where an optical sorter would come into play. The workforce that you have at these newer facilities has changed, so, as opposed to having people actually manually sort and take the materials out of the stream, you [instead] have someone programming the optical sorter.”
The new optical sorters have a higher recovery rate and will be used to positively sort out the various materials the facility processes, including cardboard, mixed paper, natural high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and more.
“Before, a facility like this probably would have just combined the high-density, color and natural [plastics] together, but now we’re able to separate those materials out to extract further value from them for our customers,” Bell says.
REDUCING DOWNTIME
Since opening in August, Bell says the facility has been running smoothly.
“You get a little bit of downtime when you first start up, just because you’ve got wiring issues and bugs to work out. But we’ve gotten through some of those issues to reduce that,” he says. “We look at downtime in two manners: is there downtime caused by us or … is there downtime that’s been caused by a [foreign] material that got introduced to the stream, like a battery or an engine block that comes through and stops a piece of equipment? So, we measure [downtime] in those two types of categories as we move forward.”
Ultimately, the goal is to get the facility at 90 percent uptime and processing roughly 6,000 to 7,000 tons per month.
“We’ve kind of slowly started to ramp up,” he says. “When you first start one of these facilities, you don’t go for the max capacity on day one. So, we’ve slowly started to increase [the capacity], and by the first quarter in 2021, we should easily be processing 6,000 tons per month there.”
To reduce downtime and to keep the machines running efficiently, Waste Management has put an emphasis on its education programs to solve contamination issues at the source. From social media campaigns to online resources, Bell says the company is constantly trying to educate customers on the right items to put in recycling bins.
“On a national average in 2018, we were at about a 25 percent contamination level. This year, that’s gone down to just below 20 percent,” he says. “So, we do think some of our education efforts are starting to pay off. We like to stop the contamination before it gets to the plant level, because once it’s in the plant and it gets time to sort it, it can cause a lot of problems—not only with the efficiency of the operation, but also with the safety of our employees.”
The author is the assistant editor of Waste Today and can be reached at hrischar@gie.net.
