Rehrig Pacific Co., Los Angeles, has debuted its new bear resistant roll-out cart at Waste Expo 2017 in May. The cart, designed to withstand the efforts of even the most determined bears, is manufactured to help communities that struggle with the animals getting into residents’ waste. The carts work with both semi and fully automated routes. 

“As soon as bears realize that a trash cart can be an easy food source, they’ll keep coming back for more,” says Derick Foster, Rehrig Pacific’s environmental design project leader. “By keeping bears out of waste carts right from the start, we can help to prevent them from coming into residential areas in search of an easy food source. This helps protect both residents and the bears themselves. Our cart is designed to be rugged and tough to hold up against bears as well as daily use, and it will still look good sitting in front of your house year after year. Most importantly, it’s an easy-to-use, ergonomically designed product that doesn’t require waste haulers to alter the processes they have in place. We like to say that this cart is bear resistant, but not human resistant.”

Rehrig Pacific’s bear resistant cart unlatches automatically when inverted by semi or fully automated trucks, allowing for easy integration into any waste collection system. Rehrig Pacific’s all plastic design is designed for durability and longevity. Cart lids, locks, catch bars and bodies are all preassembled upon delivery, and assembly time for cart wheels and axles averages less than 10 seconds per container.

“We wanted to alleviate the headache of having to deal with bears getting into your garbage and making a mess without causing new issues or safety implications for anyone along the way,” says Foster. “Currently, our cart is the only one on the market that’s compatible with fully automated systems, ANSI compliant and certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. We’re all really proud of this product, and we’re excited to see how it will help keep communities safer and cleaner moving forward.”

In addition to the new Bear Cart, Rehrig Pacific offers a full line of roll-out carts for fully and semi-automated collection systems. Available in a wide range of sizes, for nearly any curbside application — including refuse, organic waste and recyclables. The continuous one-piece handle provides a strong gripping area and the wide wheelbase makes maneuvering easy, says the company. Options include internal and external locking lids, which can be made with slots for collecting confidential documents; and cutouts for recyclable beverage containers. Wheel options include blow-molded wheels or quiet treaded snap-on wheels that install in seconds. Rehrig Pacific also offers rotationally molded commercial containers for commercial waste, food waste and recyclables. Available in front load and rear load models, our innovative designs embody true strength, durability and quiet operation allowing neighbor-friendly drop-offs and collection in noise-sensitive areas.

Waste Management (WM), Houston, has announced financial results for its quarter ended June 30, 2017. Revenues for the second quarter of 2017 were $3.68 billion compared with $3.43 billion for the same 2016 period. Net income for the quarter was $362 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, compared with net income of $287 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2016. On an as-adjusted basis, excluding certain items, net income was $329 million, or $0.74 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2016.

“We are hitting on all cylinders right now with the cash generating strength of our business shining brightly in 2017. We achieved the highest quarterly operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in our history, with operating EBITDA growing about 8 percent in the second quarter when compared to the second quarter of 2016,” Jim Fish, president and COE of Waste Management, says. “Our strong operational performance led to record free cash flow generation in the first half of 2017. Together, our strong core price results, robust volume growth and continued cost improvement focus led to earnings per diluted share growth of almost 10 percent.”

“Based upon our strong start to 2017, we are on track to meet the upper end of our full-year 2017 guidance of adjusted earnings per diluted share of between $3.14 and $3.18 and free cash flow of between $1.5 and $1.6 billion,” Fish continues. “In the third quarter, we expect to enter agreements to repurchase $500 million of the company’s common stock. We’re proud of the performance our employees have delivered and confident that will continue. Accordingly, we expect our earnings will continue to grow throughout the remainder of 2017, which in turn will continue to drive robust cash flow to be deployed for the benefit of our business and shareholders.”

The company’s projected full-year 2017 earnings per diluted share is not based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net earnings per diluted share and are anticipated to be adjusted to exclude the effects of events or circumstances in 2017 that are not representative or indicative of the company’s results of operations, including the items excluded from its as-adjusted first quarter results. Projected GAAP earnings per diluted share for the full year would require inclusion of the projected impact of future excluded items, including items that are not currently determinable, but may be significant, such as asset impairments and one-time items, charges, gains or losses from divestitures or litigation or other items. Due to the uncertainty of the likelihood, amount and timing of any such items, the company does not have information available to provide a quantitative reconciliation of adjusted projected full year earnings per diluted share to a GAAP earnings per diluted share projection.

The company also discusses free cash flow and provides a projection of free cash flow. Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure. WM believes that free cash flow is indicative of its ability to pay its quarterly dividends, repurchase common stock, fund acquisitions and other investments and, in the absence of refinancings, repay its debt obligations. Free cash flow is not intended to replace net cash provided by operating activities, which is the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure. However, the company believes free cash flow gives investors useful insight into how the company views its liquidity. The use of free cash flow as a liquidity measure has material limitations because it excludes certain expenditures that are required or that the company has committed to, such as declared dividend payments and debt service requirements. The company defines free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures, plus proceeds from divestitures of businesses and other assets (net of cash divested); this definition may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Management defines operating EBITDA as GAAP income from operations before depreciation and amortization; this measure may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Core price is a performance metric used by management to evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s pricing strategies; it is not derived from the company’s financial statements and may not be comparable to measures presented by other companies. Core price is based on certain historical assumptions, which differs from actual results, to allow for comparability between reporting periods and to reveal trends in results over time.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Washington, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), Washington, and the Walmart Foundation, Bentonville, Arkansas, has announced a research program to maximize crop use and edible food recovery. With two grants from FFAR and the Walmart Foundation totaling $1.3 million, WWF will work with research teams across the country including University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and the Global Cold Chain Alliance, Alexandria, Virginia, to identify practical opportunities for producers to increase the proportion of crops that are harvested and delivered to the highest value destinations. 

Of the estimated 63 million tons of food lost or wasted annually in the U.S., more than 80 percent is lost or wasted in consumer-facing businesses and in homes, the organizations say. While it’s estimated that less food is lost on farms, the lack of data quantifying this loss in different crops makes it difficult to validate estimates, identify drivers and define cost-effective solutions. Over the next 22 months, research teams aim to bridge those data gaps and test interventions to maximize crop utilization and profitability on farms.

“Our nation’s producers work hard every harvest to provide food, fuel and fiber to our economy, but they don’t always see the same return on investment,” says Sally Rockey, FFAR executive director. “This on-farm research will uncover opportunities for growers to do more with the same resources. I look forward to practical results that will bolster bottom lines for farmers and deliver more nutritious food to dinner tables.”  

As part of the first phase of the program, researchers at UC Davis are working with farmers to gather their input on strategies and opportunities for maximizing crop harvest and use. Their research is focusing on leafy greens, peaches and tomatoes. UC Davis will also quantify the environmental impacts from seed to harvest for each of these crops. A team led by the Global Cold Chain Alliance will collect qualitative and quantitative data and organize field studies to estimate on-farm and postharvest losses and identify the current destinations of produce that never makes it to someone’s dinner plate or another end use. Initial research will focus on the harvesting of potatoes in Idaho and Eastern Oregon, tomatoes in Florida, romaine lettuce in Arizona and peaches in New Jersey. 

“The best way to feed people without putting more stress on our environment is to increase the availability of food that has already been produced,” says Jason Clay, WWF’s senior vice president of markets and food. “Each bite that doesn’t reach consumers represents a loss of the natural resources—and money—used to produce it. We’re grateful to the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and Walmart Foundation for supporting research that can help promote more efficient use of land, water, energy and natural resources and deliver more crops to the highest value destinations.”

Researchers will use systems such as the Community System Assessment Methodology, Life Cycle Assessment and World Resource Institute’s Food Loss and Waste Standard to ensure consistent reporting across different in-field and supply chain measurement methods and to facilitate collaborative research and interventions. The project aims to collaborate with other farm-level research projects and pilots within the food rescue community.
 
“We’re proud to support this research to find ways to deliver more crops from field to plate,” says Eileen Hyde, director for Walmart Giving. “This program aligns with the Walmart Foundation’s philanthropic work to address gaps in the food system upstream to prevent food waste.”

Machinex, Plessisville, Quebec, in collaboration with Recycling Design & Technologies (RTD), its partner and distributor in Oceania, has supplied its first complete system in Australia. The system at a new material recovery facility (MRF) in Townsville in the North Queensland region of Australia has been in operation since early summer.

The new Townsville MRF was built and is being operated by Re.Group, an Australian company that specializes in recovering and recycling resources from waste. In July 2016, Townsville City Council awarded Re.Group a contract to process around 15,000 tons annually of its curbside collected recyclables for at least the next eight years.

Sydney-based Re.Group says its mission is to design, build, operate and optimize infrastructure that enables the maximum amount of waste to be diverted from disposal and positively reused as a renewable resource. Re.Group has facilities in Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which includes Canberra, Australia’s capital, and is involved in processing all urban waste streams, including traditional curbside “yellow bin” recyclables, as well as composting food and garden organics from “green bin” services and recovering resources from household mixed waste streams.

“We are very proud of this new facility that will provide world-class recycling services for the people of North Queensland,” says Re.Group Managing Director David Singh.

RDT, which is the engineering arm of Re.Group, is based in Queensland and works with leading equipment suppliers from around the world to select the best technology for each recycling project.

Pierre Paré, CEO of Machinex, says, “We have been supplying sorting equipment to RDT since 2010. Over the years, our partnership has solidified, and we are very proud to see the very first, complete Machinex system in Australia in operation today.”

The single-stream system, which process 15 tons of recyclables per hour, incorporates some of the most recent sorting technologies from Machinex, such as different types of discs screens to sort cardboard, newspaper and mixed paper; a ballistic separator to finish the separation of the containers and the mixed paper; magnetic separators to remove ferrous and nonferrous metals; and an optical sorter to separate plastics grades.

A glass processing circuit uses Krysteline implosion technology to turn bottles into sand. This “glass sand” can replace virgin sand in bulk markets, such as road construction and concreting works. Re.Group has installed a drying unit at Townsville that destroys residual sugars and odors on glass and allows the glass sand product to be used in higher-value markets, such as sandblasting and pool filtration.