Partnership will focus on metals recovery from WTE processes

The Netherlands-based Inashco BV and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., Hampton, N.H., have announced the formation of a new North American-based joint-venture (JV) company dedicated to the recycling of ferrous and nonferrous metals from waste-to-energy processes.

The 50/50-owned JV company, Eco Recovery Solutions LLC (ERS), “will use Inashco’s patented and proprietary advanced dry recovery (ADR) technology to enhance the recovery of ferrous and nonferrous metals at waste-to-energy facilities,” the companies say in a news release.

Nonferrous metals recovered will include copper, zinc, lead and aluminum as small as 0.5 millimeters in size, “much smaller than nonferrous materials currently recovered by conventional technologies,” according to the companies.

Wheelabrator, a subsidiary of Houston-based Waste Management Inc., says it selected the Inashco technology “because of its proven track record in Europe and its unique ability to process fresh ash without aging that results in oxidation and diminished product values.”

Inashco currently operates “central upgrading facilities” in Europe. The recycling process at these facilities produces two streams of material: a heavy nonferrous product and a light nonferrous sold to Fondel Metals, Inashco’s parent company.

ERS also plans to develop aggregate reuse opportunities with the ultimate goal of what it calls a circular economic solution for ash management, the partners say. 

“We are proud to be able to play such an important role in helping to enhance current metals recycling in the waste-to-energy sector,” says Arno La Haye, CEO of Inashco.

Mark Weidman, president of Wheelabrator Technologies, comments, “Wheelabrator has been committed to sustainable innovations in the recovery of renewable energy and metals from household and commercial waste for nearly four decades. In 2013 alone, we recovered and recycled 142,000 tons of ferrous and nonferrous metals. This joint venture will allow us to recover significantly more recyclable materials to help preserve our world’s finite environmental resources.”