Recycling Today articles from March 2004

Recycling Today archives from March 2004

A time to talk.(Editor's Focus)(Editorial)
March 1, 2004... Meetings and conventions are fraught with hassles and, for some, are difficult to justify. Some futurists have occasionally predicted the decline of nationwide face-to-face gatherings as videoconferencing technology advances. Although...

Export clampdown proposed.(Scrap Industry News)(ferrous scrap prices rise)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The U.S. Commerce Department is beginning to hear from different sectors of the business community concerning the climbing price and scarce availability of ferrous scrap. According to a Wall Street Journal report, a "coalition of steel...

Addition.(Scrap Industry News)(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2004... The SCA North America Tissue Division, Philadelphia, should have been on the 20 Largest Paper Consumers in North America list that appeared in our January 2004 issue of Recycling Today. According to the company, SCA's North American facilities...

Galamba reaches into Arkansas.(Scrap Industry News)(Galamba Metals Group LLC, acquires Applegarth Recycling)(installation of double-magnet downstream separation system)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Galamba Metals Group LLC, Kansas City, Mo., has acquired Applegarth Recycling, a ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal recycling company with a demolition division and two locations in the Missouri-Arkansas border region in Noel, Mo., and...

Ledgers sporting mostly black ink.(Scrap Industry News)
March 1, 2004... Recent financial reports from recyclers and the basic industries they serve present a mixed picture of economic health, with much dependent on where a company sits in the supply chain. Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., Portland, Ore., has...

PA. eclipses 4 million ton mark.(State Update)(Pennsylvania)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Pennsylvania's municipal recycling efforts exceeded 4 million tons recovered for the first time in history, according to reports for all materials recycled in 2002 filed by Pennsylvania counties. "We have demonstrated that we can create a...

Ontario approves historic recycling plan.(State Update)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Ontario's Minister of the Environment Leona Dombrowsky has approved a controversial plan requiring packaged goods makers to pay 50 percent of the local government bill for curbside recycling, triggering weight-based packaging fees by spring,...

Nebraska issues grant money.(State Update)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The state of Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality has awarded $1.13 million in 56 separate grants for recycling, litter cleanup and public education programs. The money came from the state's Litter Reduction and Recycling Grant Program....

Delaware considers new recycling strategies.(State Update)(Delaware Recycling Public Advisory Council)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Delaware Recycling Public Advisory Council (RPAC) is discussing steps and strategies to increase the municipal recycling rate in the state. The council is discussing converting an intermediate processing center to a MRF. It has called...

Cleveland cancels curbside program.(State Update)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The City of Cleveland has canceled its recycling program in light of budgetary problems and a $61 million deficit. Curbside recycling was completely eliminated and all 14 of the city's recycling drop-off centers closed Dec. 8, resulting in...

Alabama city to expand program.(State Update)(curbside recycling in Tuscaloosa)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The City Council for Tuscaloosa, Ala., has approved a measure to increase the number of households that can participate in the city-operated curbside recycling program. The vote gives the city's recycling department the finances to...

L.A. initiates pilot recycling program.(State Update)(Los Angeles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Los Angeles is taking steps to bring recycling to 100,000 city apartments with a two-year pilot program. The program, which is expected to begin in March or April, will apply to certain large apartment complexes and is anticipated to divert...

Land of steel.(Ferrous)(China)
March 1, 2004... Economic growth that continues to move at a 9 percent annual pace in China remains a steel-intensive form of growth, fueled by construction and the production of durable goods. Speaking to attendees of the China International Metal...

Hot winter.(Nonferrous)(metal industry in China)
March 1, 2004... Temperatures may have cooled throughout much of the U.S. in early 2004, but metals pricing trends have remained heated. Copper on the Comex and LME markets in particular climbed to dizzying heights in January and early February, reaching...

Climbing up.(Paper)
March 1, 2004... Activity in the paper markets is beginning to mirror the widely publicized upswing in markets for scrap metal, albeit at a more restrained pace. The continued strengthening in the offshore demand for many post-consumer grades of recovered...

MBA Polymers, Guangzhou Iron and Steel form joint venture.(Plastics)
March 1, 2004... MBA Polymers Inc. of Richmond, Calif., and Guangzhou Iron and Steel Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (GISE) of Guangzhou, China, have formed a joint venture called GISE-MBA New Plastics Technology Co. Ltd. The company will build and operate a...

Groups partner for rubber-modified asphalt conference.(Tires)(Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society)(National Asphalt Pavement Assoc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society, the Rubber Manufacturers Assoc. and the Rubber Pavements Assoc. are partnering with the National Asphalt Pavement Assoc., the National Center for Asphalt Technology and the Asphalt Institute...

Plastic container recycling rate slides.(Plastics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The recycling rate for rigid plastic containers in Oregon dropped in 2002 to 26.2 percent, which is barely above a state mandated 25-percent annual recovery rate, according to a report issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality...

PAZ project secures funding.(Electronics Recycling)(Polymer Alliance Zone)(Mid-Atlantic Recycling Center for End-of-Life Electronics)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... West Virginia Congressman Alan B. Mollohan has obtained $3 million in new funding for the high-tech recycling initiative that West Virginia University and the Parkersburg area's Polymer Alliance Zone (PAZ) are developing jointly. The goal...

URI upgrades ISO registrations.(United Recycling Industries Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... United Recycling Industries Inc. (URI), West Chicago, III., recently upgraded the ISO certifications at both of its recycling facilities with new corporation-wide registrations for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. URI operates one of the nation's...

Dell announces grant recipients.(Green Star Inc., Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, etc)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas, has awarded 12 $10,000-grants to be used to conduct computer collection events across the U.S. this spring. The 200 applicants included state and local governments, higher education institutions and non-profit...

CERL finds lead levels negligible.(C & D News)(Construction Engineering Research Lab)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Results of a study of crushed concrete that included slabs of material coated with lead-based paint indicate the traces of lead are well below dangerous levels. Attendees of the C&D World Exposition & Conference in New Orleans in late...

Carpet recycling grants available.(C & D News)(Carpet America Recovery Effort )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is accepting grant proposals for programs that provide for recycling or reuse of post-consumer carpet or that increase the demand for products made from the material. Grants of up to $50,000 are...

BIR prepares for Berlin convention.(BIR News)(Bureau of International Recycling)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Members of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) will travel to Berlin from points across the globe in May to share information on recycling industry markets and legal rulings. The BIR's Spring convention and exhibition is May 24-26...

Regulatory rollouts.(BIR News)(Waste Shipment Regulations)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) and two of its European Federations, EUROMETREC and ERPA, have expressed "serious concern" about the revision of the European Union (EU) Waste Shipment Regulations, for which the European Council has...

Marathon debuts NexGen systems.(Marathon Equipment Co., new baler)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Marathon Equipment Co., Vernon, Ala., has launched a new recycling systems business segment known as NexGen[R] Baling Systems. The new product line, which debuted in the first quarter of 2004, features horizontal balers and incorporates...

Metropolitan paper opens new facility.(Metropolitan Paper Recycling)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... "This facility represents an investment in the newest, state-of-the-art processing technology," Metropolitan Paper Recycling founder and CEO Greg Bianco said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for his new Brooklyn, N.Y., plant this winter. "It...

SWB links with Global Partners.(Global Partners Alliance LLC, SWB Stahlformguss)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Global Partners Alliance LLC, headquartered in Bettendorf, Iowa, has signed an agreement with the German foundry SWB Stahlformguss to become its exclusive North American sales agency. SWB says its the only manufacturer of differentially...

Vecoplan adds ReTech[TM] line of single-shaft rotary paper shredders.(Equipment Report)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Vecoplan LLC, High Point, N.C., has launched a new line of paper shredders designed specifically for medium-to-high volume, plant-based document destruction. The "P" series paper shredders are available in several models and are designed...

Sweed adds shears.(Sweed Machinery Inc., new shears)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Sweed Machinery Inc., Gold Hill, Ore., now has alligator shears available in many models to for its scrap processing customers. "These shears can handle all types of mild steel, bar, wire and cable, various metal products, plates and...

Coiled and ready: high demand and lowered production make short-term pricing look bright for red metals.(Commodity Focus)(Cover Story)
March 1, 2004... With the price of primary copper more than $1.10 per pound, or $2,450 per metric ton in the cash market on the London Metal Exchange (LME), things are looking up for the red metal market. Credit the price increase to a whittling down of the...

Victory laps: leaders are emerging in the quest to turn scrap tires into marketable secondary commodities.(Top 20)
March 1, 2004... One need look no further than The Simpsons to obtain the "pop culture" view of tire disposal and recycling. Episodes in the show's first several masons, created in the early 1990s, made several references to the ongoing Springfield tire fire,...

The real value of recycling.(Municipal Recycling Supplement)
March 1, 2004... Not all Americans are fond of their municipal recycling programs. Some see an inessential government service or an unneeded budget item, while those looking from the other end of the spectrum see programs that don't address core resource...

Unbending plastics: surging demand from China further hampers U.S. reclaimers of post-consumer PET and HDPE plastics.(Municipal Recycling Supplement)(polyethylene)(high-density polyethylene)
March 1, 2004... The recycling rates for post-consumer PET (polyethylene) and HDPE (high-density polyethylene) containers continue to lag behind that for aluminum cans. In 2002, the recycling rate for PET containers stood at 19.8 percent, while HDPE was at 24.2...

Turnaround specialist: in an era of program cutbacks, the city of Philadelphia has turned its recycling program into an imitable champion.(Municipal Recycling Supplement)
March 1, 2004... The sports teams of Philadelphia have been devoid of championship trophies during the past several years. However, the city's recycling program has been nothing to scoff about. For cities that have seen their budgets cur in light of revenue...

Unplugged & unwanted: municipal recycling coordinators attempt to collect obsolete electronic items from individual households.(Municipal Recycling Supplement)
March 1, 2004... Electronics recycling at the community level is still a relatively new endeavor in many places. Public administrators at the county, district, municipal and other levels face particular challenges when dealing with individual residents as...

Tried & true: non-profit agency Recycle Ann Arbor has helped its hometown build a solid recycling tradition.(Municipal Recycling Supplement)(Recycle Ann Arbor)
March 1, 2004... Residential recycling program developers generally agree that instilling the habit of recycling into the mind of each person can go a long way toward keeping participation rates high. "Taking out the garbage" is a way of life. The job of...

Toning up: the growth of the toner cartridge recycling industry can be attributed to a very effective grassroots approach to recycling.(Toner Recycling Report)
March 1, 2004... While the traditional recycling industry, in many ways, has moved away from its image as a way for Boy Scouts to raise money, the fairly rapid development of the toner cartridge recycling industry has happened precisely because entrepreneurs...

Double down: both ISRI and the NADC prepare for annual conventions in Las Vegas.(Convention Previews)(Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.)(National Association of Demolition Contractors)
March 1, 2004... Scrap recyclers will have not one, but two reasons co head west to see the sights of Las Vegas this spring, as both the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) and die National Association of Demolition Contractors (NADC) will hold...

Cozzi Enterprises.(People)(Frank Cozzi )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Former Metal Management Inc. executive Frank Cozzi has established Cozzi Enterprises as a new brokerage based in the Chicago area. Cozzi Enterprises has joined the Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling...

Aluminum Association.(People)(Craig P. Eddy)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Craig P. Eddy, president and CEO of Coastal Aluminum Rolling Mills Inc., Williamsport, Pa., has started his two-year term as the new chairman of the Aluminum Association, Washington. Eddy takes over for Alcan Inc. Executive Vice President...

In memoriam: Thomas B. Rumpke.(People)(Obituary)
March 1, 2004... Thomas Rumpke, co-CEO and co-president of Rumpke Consolidated Cos. Inc., Cincinnati, died in January at the age of 63. He is survived by his wife Mary, his daughter Melissa Krieger, sons Todd Rumpke, Mark Rumpke, Matthew Rumpke and 13...

Calendar.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... MARCH 10-11 5th Annual Recycled Product Trade Show, Sacramento, Calif., Buy Recycled Section/ CIWMB, www.ciwmb.ca.gov/ buyrecycled/ MARCH 11-13 AEC 55th Annual Meeting, Palm Desert, Calif., Aluminum Extruders Council, (847) 526-2010 ...

American Baler RAM I.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * A high-performance baler used by recycling facilities, scrap processors and trash haulers to process OCC, paper, aluminum, plastics and more * Features a large 41-inch by 80-inch hopper * Readily accepts large quantities of bulky...

Deere J-series loaders.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * Models 444J, 544J and 644J four-wheel drive wheel loaders * Feature a solid-state electrical distribution system, which replaces fuses, relays and interconnects with a circuit board, solid-state switches and a vehicle electrical center...

Dings 12-inch eddy current separator.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * Two-pulley separator specifically engineered for material recovery facilities (MRFs) * Measures 12 inches in diameter * Effectively separates aluminum, plastic and commingled recyclables * Also available in 24-inch and 48-inch...

Titan Trailers thinwall.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * An extruded aluminum horizontal panel design delivers a lighter, more durable, larger capacity and fuel-efficient trailer * Volume of 120.3 cubic yards * Includes a 26-slat Keith Walking Floor, Holland Mark 5 landing gear and a van...

Vecoplan RG52/100 KF rotary grinder.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * Designed for high volumes of relatively small scrap pieces * RG52/100 KF model has a large 52-inch by 58-inch infeed hopper opening and uses a precision hydraulic "process ram" to feed material into its low speed, high torque cutting...

PAC briquetter.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * From Precision AirConvey * Briquetting system converts trim, loose scrap and other flexible plastic waste into bricks suitable for reprocessing * Compresses film, foil, poly-coated paper into 5inch by 5-inch rigid bricks without...

Barclay recycling center.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * Model FG5220 * Features a flowing circular design * Equipped with three individual, leak-proof plastic liners * Offers a combined capacity of 59 gallons * Complete with easy-to-read identifying labels * Available in more...

Walker rare earth magnetic separators.(Products)
March 1, 2004... * Can be used as a stand-alone unit without the need for electrical power * Self cleaning convenience * Heavy-duty construction, compact design * TEFC motor with chain drive transmission * Stainless steel clad belt optional...

Recycle America Alliance receives nod.(Back Page)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Recycle America Alliance (RAA), a majority-owned subsidiary of Houston-based Waste Management Inc., and a major collector of recyclables from businesses and households in North America, is a recipient of the National Recycling Coalition's (NRC)...

Swap shop.(Back Page)(introduction of Pennsylvania Material Trader)(Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers have introduced Pennsylvania Material Trader, an on-line service to facilitate the exchange and reuse of traditionally discarded materials. Material Trader is a free service designed to...

Playing games with the environment.(Back Page)(Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) is lead sponsor of a game to help children learn the importance of recycling. The King Arts Complex, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Rumpke Recycling, Cincinnati, and Abitibi...