Above: Anthony DiIenno remains president and CEO of RWS. 

Atar Capital, Los Angeles, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Havi’s Recycling and Waste Solutions (RWS) division. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Effective immediately, Anthony DiIenno remains in his role president and CEO of RWS.

Atar Capital is a global private investment firm that invests in performing and underperforming lower-middle-market businesses that exhibit potential for revitalization, operational performance improvement and growth. The firm specializes in corporate divestitures, complex carve-outs and turn-around situations across a wide range of industries and geographic markets, with a focus on North America and Western Europe.

RWS was launched in 2012 with the goal of providing true “closed loop” solutions and complementing Havi’s global supply chain offerings. Based in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, RWS develops and manages recycling, waste and sustainability programs for regional and multinational companies throughout North America. RWS has offices in Atlanta; Plano, Texas; St. Louis; and Los Angeles.

Cyrus Nikou, founder and managing partner of Atar Capital, says, “We are thrilled to welcome Anthony and the RWS team to the Atar family. We were attracted to RWS as a result of their strong management team, notable blue-chip customer base, and market leading technology and analytics platform—all of which separates RWS from its competition.”

He continues, “This transaction marks Atar Capital’s second closing and execution of a corporate divestiture in eight months and highlights our ability to deliver speed and certainty to a respected corporate seller like Havi—executing this transaction in just under 21 days. We will now bring Atar Capital’s financial, operational and M&A resources to bear in support of the company’s long-term strategic plans. We are excited to work with RWS and to help them reach their full potential.”

DiIenno, a third-generation recycler with more than 30 years of recycling and waste solutions experience, has led his team and delivered double digit growth for the business over the last five years.

“The Atar team and I believe that we have a significant opportunity to enhance the long-term value of our business for all stakeholders, including our customers,” DiIenno says. “We look forward to a seamless transition over the next 100 days while maintaining best-in-class service for our customers.”

Dan Musachia, chief financial officer for Downers Grove, Illinois-baed Havi, says, “Havi remains committed to advancing sustainable solutions as a critical component of our supply chain service offerings, and RWS will continue to remain Havi’s preferred partner for recycling and waste solutions.”

BNP Paribas acted as the exclusive advisor to Havi on the sale, and Dykema Gossett acted as outside legal counsel to Atar Capital.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has submitted comments to the World Trade Organization in response to the July 18, 2017, notification from China on its intent to ban certain scrap imports.

SWANA’s comments explain what effect the proposed ban on certain categories of recyclables could have on municipal recycling in the United States and Canada, requests further clarification on the terms of the ban and offers technical assistance to the Chinese government on waste and recycling related matters.

“China’s proposed import ban is a very important issue for SWANA members in the United States and Canada, and is a critical one for many of the communities they serve,” says David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO. “We need to work with the Chinese government to develop a practical timeline for the proposed ban while improving bale quality for material exported to China and other foreign markets.”

SWANA lays out challenges the United States likely will face in adapting to the ban and discusses recycling on the state and local levels and the lack of domestic recycling infrastructure to process material currently being exported.

“Because single-stream recycling has become the prominent method of recycling in North America, it is imperative that the quality of the sorted recycled materials be as high as possible to avoid loads being rejected,” says Rich Allen, president of SWANA. “Many material recovery facilities are looking to upgrade their sorting systems to improve the quality of their bales along with better educating their residents on what can and more importantly cannot be recycled. The actual impacts of the Chinese waste ban are still being interpreted, but SWANA is keeping close tabs on the implications for our members and the industry.”

SWANA says it supports the concerns previously filed by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and Waste Management and suggests a clearly defined five-year transition period for the ban to allow time for customers and suppliers in the United States and the global marketplace to adapt to the policy change.

“We appreciate SWANA joining with ISRI and others to raise concerns about China’s import restrictions,” says Robin Weiner, CEO of ISRI. “We look forward to working with SWANA to support the Chinese government’s environmental protection goals.”

To view SWANA’s full comments concerning the China scrap ban, click here.

 

Nashville, Tennessee-based MSS Inc. has introduced MetalMiner, featuring the patent pending MapLine algorithm. MSS calls the sorter “the next generation of induction-based true all-metal detectors.”

MSS, the division of the San Diego-based CP Group that manufactures optical sorters, has designed and built induction metal sorters for more than 40 years. This latest iteration was designed to handle auto shredder residue (ASR), electronic scrap, plastic flake and glass cullet applications, according to the manufacturer.

"MapLine allows users to target specific metal types or objects by amplifying the sensitivity for nonferrous metals, especially wire, while simultaneously reducing it for ferrous dust," says Felix Hottenstein, MSS sales director. "MetalMiner is exceeding our customers’ expectations. We've found up to 15 percent higher recovery rates for zurik when directly compared to other vendors.”

Hottenstein continues, “Additionally, MetalMiner reduces cross contamination with ferrous-dust-covered wood, plastics and foam. This creates a noticeably cleaner product."

Greg Thibado, MSS vice president, says, "In addition to the technological advances, we've implemented new manufacturing techniques that allow for MetalMiner to become even more competitive, especially for the wider units."

The MetalMiner is available in widths up to 112 inches (2,800 millimeters) as either a standalone model in a conveyor configuration or as an upgrade to the MSS Cirrus NIR and L-VIS Color optical sorters. Depending on the application, different induction coil configurations and spacings are available, the company says.

For certain small particle applications, such as plastic flake or glass cullet, MSS says it also offers the MetalMiner in a slide configuration that provides even higher sensitivity and sorts ferrous, nonferrous, and stainless steel down to 1 millimeter in size.

In addition to MSS, the CP Group includes CP Manufacturing, Krause Manufacturing and Advanced MRF. The company provides award-winning recycling system design, manufacturing, retrofits, audits and consulting. CP Group provides turnkey solutions for mixed waste, residential recycling, commercial and industrial, construction and demolition and electronic scrap applications.

Southampton, United Kingdom-based Saxlund International says it is providing equipment and technology to a commercial bio-substitute natural gas plant that will convert up to 10,000 metric tons annually of municipal solid waste (MSW) into 22 gigawatt hours (GWh) of synthetic natural gas.

 

Saxlund says the “pioneering green gas generation plant” is under construction at Marston Gate in Swindon, U.K., by U.K.-based Advanced Plasma Power and U.K. utility Cadent. The plant is being designed to use an automated fuel reception and delivery system developed by Saxlund, which describes itself as a biomass and material handling specialist.

 

The £25 million ($32.3 million) facility, which is due to start operating in early 2018, will be the first commercial plant to convert MSW into bio-substitute natural gas (BioSNG), says Saxlund, and it has received £11m ($14.2 million) of funding from the U.K. Department for Transport’s Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Competition.

 

Once operational, the plant will convert the 10,000 metric tons of MSW each year into BioSNG, “enough to heat 1,500 homes or fuel 75 heavy goods vehicles each year,” according to Saxlund. Waste will be delivered once per day in a moving floor trailer and up to 150 cubic meters (196 cubic yards) will be stored to provide a buffer for weekend operations.

 

Saxlund was chosen to provide an automated system incorporating fuel reception, storage and discharge of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to feed the downstream fluid bed gasifier, which in turn is closely coupled to a plasma converter.

 

The system incorporates Saxlund Truck Docking Stations (SAX-TDS) designed to allow walking floor trailers arriving at the plant to be quickly unloaded, together with a push floor storage bunker with 100 cubic meters (131 cubic yards) of capacity, and chain conveyors to next transport fuel to the gasifier.

 

The Saxlund Truck Docking Station is designed to allow spillage free delivery of RDF to the plant and incorporates screw conveyors to provide a metered flow of material as it is transferred from the trailer into the push floor storage bunker. A dust filtration system and inflating seals between the docking station and delivery trailers has been designed to minimize dust emissions.

 

“Producing 80 percent lower carbon emissions than fossil gas, BioSNG is recognized as being key to decarbonizing heat and transport in the U.K. and internationally,” says Matt Drew, managing director for Saxlund International. “We are delighted to be involved with this pioneering project at Marston Gate. Like all of the bioenergy and gasification plants we are currently involved with, fuel handling and storage are critical areas to get right to ensure plant efficiency and peak productivity.”

 

Saxlund International says it is playing a role in more than 14 RDF and biomass fuel handling and storage systems for bioenergy and gasification plants in Europe. The company has offices in the U.K., Sweden and Germany, with annual sales of €35 million ($41.6 million), 85 employees and a range of services that includes design, engineering, manufacturing and construction.