European group will meet in Amsterdam in mid-May.

Brussels-based FEFCO, an association for the European corrugated board industry, says it will hold its 2022 FEFCO Summit May 18-20 at the NH Collection Amsterdam Barbizon Palace.

FEFCO calls its summit “the event to attend to meet the European corrugated manufacturers and their suppliers.” Insights will be offered, says the group, “about EU issues impacting the paper and board value chain, global packaging trends, retail and customer issues [and] the challenges and opportunities for corrugated manufacturers and their customers.”

The theme this year is “Fit for the future,” and the program will address “challenges related to the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan, notably the Sustainable Products Policy and the Revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, as well as the pathway of the corrugated industry towards climate neutrality.”

FEFCO says, “The Green Deal and the Circular Economy are strategically important policy issues for the corrugated packaging industry. They have been our driver for many years and continue to lead the industry forward. Corrugated packaging is one of the best examples of a circular economy being 100 percent recyclable and recycled in reality.”

Panel discussions are being planned on decarbonizing the corrugated industry; efforts by the corrugated packaging sector to support the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail supply chain to improve sustainability; and how corrugated packaging can fulfill single-use, reuse and recycling expectations.

London Metal Exchange says it will hire an “independent party (or parties)” to conduct the review.

An April announcement from the London Metal Exchange (LME) regarding last month’s nickel contract turbulence indicates the exchange will conduct an internal review process to join one being conducted by the Bank of England and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The announcement from LME executives Matthew Chamberlain and Adrian Farnham says in part, “LME Group welcomes [the] announcement by the FCA and the Bank of England, in respect of a review of the actions taken in response to events in the nickel market to determine what lessons might be learned.”

Regarding its own, parallel review, LME states, “LME Group will commission an independent review of broader events in the nickel market leading up to the suspension to identify any actions that could be taken to minimize the risk of a disorderly market arising in future. The LME Group will engage an experienced independent party (or parties) to undertake the independent review.”

While the LME says it intends to appoint those reviewers “as soon as practicable,” it also says “the full and detailed scope of the independent review has yet to be determined” and that the timeline for the review will not be established until the independent reviewer has been selected.

Procedurally, the LME says the independent reviewers “will have access to all the relevant data in respect of trading activity and position holdings for the period under review. Where and when appropriate, the LME Group will use its rulebook powers to obtain over-the-counter (OTC) and other data from market participants, and make this data available to the independent party that will be undertaking the independent review.”

The LME adds, “All market participants will be welcome to submit their views to the independent party.”

In the meantime, the LME says it has received “broad support for retaining” the 15 percent “upper and lower daily price limits for all of its physically delivered metals.”

Houston-based waste and recycling company hosts 30 students from Tennessee State University.

More than 30 Tennessee State University (TSU) students recently traveled to Houston to visit the WM (formerly Waste Management Inc.) corporate headquarters and meet with some of the company’s senior executives.

The students from the Nashville, Tennessee, historically Black university are participants in the Leadership TSU program and were accompanied by Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Frank Stevenson.

During their visit, the students heard from WM executives about the personal and professional experiences that have shaped their careers, and about the company’s approach to sustainability.

“It was just very mind-blowing and very impactful seeing those [executives] and what WM is doing,” says Anarra Williams, a senior food and nutritional science major from Dayton, Ohio. “When I first got there, I just thought those were people who pick up our trash, but they really are honing on their sustainability piece—something I want to be a part of.”

Nykole Allen Clark, a senior business administration major from Las Vegas, adds, “That exposure to them and the company itself totally changed our perception of WM. As a business major, I saw a lot and heard a lot to help me in my preparation as a student and as a leader. It was an ‘a-ha’ moment for me.”

In their day-long visit, the students met with WM on several topics, including the company’s approach to sustainability and how that focus shapes its operations. As an example, WM says it focuses on materials recovery solutions at its area landfills, such as its 183-acre site in Nashville, home to what WM calls the only mixed construction and demolition (C&D) materials recovery facility in Davidson County, Tennessee.

Students also engaged in question-and-answer sessions with WM leaders. Tamla Oates-Forney, who oversees WM’s “people team,” fielded questions from students about her experience as a black female executive in corporate America, describing education as an opportunity equalizer and commenting on why diversity and inclusion are important in leadership and the workplace.

“The Houston trip was amazing; to have WM roll out the red carpet of leadership experience for our students was simply breathtaking,” says Stevenson. “They were intentional about making sure our students had a glimpse into their company’s culture. It was amazing conversation and dialogue between students and the WM executive team. I think our students were surprised at all of the components of WM.”

The Leadership TSU visit is an extension of a three-year partnership between WM and TSU first announced in late 2021. Through that partnership, WM has committed $300,000 to TSU. WM says half of that funding will be directed toward sustainability research conducted in collaboration with TSU’s Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering and the other half will provide need-based scholarships each year to up to 10 students from the Nashville area who attend TSU.

“The energy and curiosity of these student leaders was truly inspiring,” says Eddie McManus, Mid-South area vice president for WM. “This visit was a great way to kick off our relationship with TSU, and we look forward to all that is ahead, including building out the research program and getting to know more students through the internship and scholarship opportunities.”

Recycle Ann Arbor recently finished a $7.25 million MRF overhaul.

The success of environmental conservationism teach-ins at the University of Michigan prompted a group of community members to form Recycle Ann Arbor (RAA). The nonprofit’s goals are to reduce waste through education, promote outreach and reuse programs and ensure recyclables are in fact recycled. This zero-waste approach has informed the organization in everything it has done for more than 40 years—including a $7.25-million overhaul of a material recovery facility (MRF).

“What we’re trying to do is honor the material as it goes completely through the facility,” says RAA CEO Bryan Ukena. “This means how we handle the material collection, how it's run through the facility and how we treat the people processing the material.”

Before the facility opened, Ann Arbor and the surrounding communities transferred recyclables to a Cincinnati facility owned by Rumpke Waste & Recycling for about four years. 

The original MRF, which formerly was operated by Charlotte, North Carolina-based ReCommunity, which Phoenix-based Republic Services acquired in 2017, fell into disrepair. It was closed in 2016 because of safety concerns stemming from the status of the equipment. Instead, the site was operated as a transfer point between the community and the processing facility.

The updated facility was funded in part by an $800,000 grant from Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). In addition to the grant, RAA raised $5.1 million in private funds from Level One Bank, Farmington Hills, Michigan, and $800,000 from Closed Loop Partners, New York, to finance the project.

RAA partnered with Machinex, based in Plessissville, Quebec, to design its new processing system. RAA chose Machinex because Ukena had worked with the company on four other facilities and knew Machinex had experience retrofitting existing facilities. Work on the MRF took about a year to complete, and it officially opened Dec. 1, 2021.

The facility is 55,000 square feet and has about 30 employees. It recovers mixed-color high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles, natural HDPE bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans, mixed paper, polyethylene terephthalate bottles, old corrugated containers (OCC) and glass. Ukena says MRF is designed to be a regional hub that can process 34,000 tons annually with a single shift. 

The MRF primarily serves the city of Ann Arbor under a 10-year contract. However, It also processes materials from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the surrounding area. These cities previously shipped recyclables out of state for sorting or cut back their municipal recycling programs. Currently, RAA’s MRF takes in about 24,000 tons per month, and 91 percent of that material gets recycled, Ukena says.

Ukena says the driving force behind the MRF is its goal of zero-waste output at every stage of processing. Its physical redesign and operating strategy are driven by a zero-waste ethic to rebuild a credible, transparent recycling system.

“We call it a zero-waste MRF as opposed to just a traditional integrated waste management,” Ukena says. “An integrated waste management MRF is just one that tries to process as much material as it can. Production and revenues are key [in those facilities].” 

Ukena says the MRF prioritizes mitigating climate change, protecting the health of the workers on the line and preserving valuable resources alongside maintaining long-term financial viability. This means RAA considers how the material is collected, how it’s processed and how it can capture as much of the residual materials for reuse. 

The organization’s zero-waste principles began in the design process when RAA required Machinex to build around a two-ram baler from Harris, Cordele, Georgia and a glass breaker screen from CP Group of San Diego that the organization wanted to reuse. Machinex designed the MRF to have double the sorting capabilities, so the end product is the best quality. 

“We want to take the material to its highest value and best use,” Ukena says. “We want to make sure it has the chance for it to get recycled again and again.”

The material is dumped on the southeast side of the facility and then loaded into a surge hopper and metering drum. It then goes to a presort house to remove hazardous items, such as lithium-ion batteries, plastic film and small appliances. Ukena says the house is fitted with climate control and air filtration, so the sorters aren’t subjected to harsh conditions while working.

Next, the material encounters an OCC screen, which removes large pieces of cardboard, and goes into the glass breaker. Once the glass has been removed, the remaining material is fed to two ballistic separators that separate two-dimensional material from three-dimensional material. The three-dimensional material then encounters an overhead magnet, which captures ferrous material, and an eddy current separator that recovers the aluminum. The material is then optically sorted to recover PET. 

On the paper line, workers sort the remaining OCC from the mixed paper.

The sorted materials are placed into one of five bunkers that feed an in-ground conveyor that takes the material to the two-ram baler.

Ukena says RAA will open some of the bales produced to ensure they are of the highest quality possible.

RAA takes a community-based approach to the end markets it sells the recovered recyclables to. The organization says it works to keep the material as local as possible, so it helps fund jobs and keeps money in the community.

“We try to tighten our footprint as much as we can about where we go with stuff,” Ukena says. “We don't send it overseas. For example, our paper markets are 180 miles away and Wapakoneta, Ohio, where there is a tree-free mill that only uses recycled content.”

One of the ways the organization chooses its consuming customers is based on how each facility supports its workers and local community. RAA also takes into consideration how a facility manages material.

“We can't always [sell to consumers that support our commodities],” Ukena says. “This is a business, you know, but we take it very seriously when people place their recyclables at the curb. That's an agreement we make with our community that we're going to try to do the right thing with those materials and not throw them away or not use them as aggregate in landfills.”

Ukena says RAA plans to expand what it collects at the MRF. At the end of last year, EGLE awarded the organization a $200,000 grant to begin sorting No. 5, or polypropylene (PP), plastic. 

RAA is applying the money toward the installation of a Machinex SamurAI robot on the container line at the end of October. The robot will be fitted with a camera that will assist it in identifying items to positively sort. This includes PP, HDPE natural and HDPE colored. Ukena says the robot will make about 60 picks per minute.

Additionally, Ukena says RAA has plans to install three more robots at the MRF over the next few years. While it’s unclear which company will supply the additional robots, RAA is considering using them for quality control for used beverage cans and PET. The organization also is considering placing one on the container line to ensure no plastic was missed. 

Ukena says he hopes the work RAA has done at the facility can serve as a blueprint for other companies considering the same approach. 

“Recycling needs to be authentic to reap all the potential benefits it can bring,” Ukena said in a statement announcing the MRF’s opening. “In addition to creating much-needed recycling capacity to Southeast Michigan, we want our zero-waste MRF to be a model for anchoring effective recycling programs and systems.”

The construction equipment company's $6.4 million technical training center in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, should be completed in early 2023.

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) broke ground April 6 on a new $6.4 million technician training center at the company’s North American headquarters in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. 

Scheduled to open in early 2023, the world-class facility will host in-person and virtual training courses for heavy equipment technicians, according to a news release from the company.

The training facility will be an extension of the 40-acre Volvo CE Customer Center and will include new machine bays, classrooms, a virtual lab with video, augmented reality and other technologies. Training opportunities primarily will be for Volvo dealer technicians and will include technical courses on equipment and technology and services, such as machine control systems and advanced telematics. Training and demonstrations also will be offered on electric machines, automation and connectivity. Advanced technology played a role in the groundbreaking ceremony with a Volvo ECR25 Electric compact excavator officially breaking ground on the project. The first North American deliveries of the zero-emission electric excavator and L25 Electric compact wheel loader are scheduled for this spring and will soon be working on construction sites, farms and in other applications.

In addition to supporting Volvo CE dealers and customers, the $6.4 million training center is an investment in the Pennsylvania economy.

“I congratulate Volvo CE on the groundbreaking of its brand-new North American technician training facility,” said U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. “Not only does this project provide advanced opportunities for Volvo’s workforce and customers, but it demonstrates the company’s continued investment in Pennsylvania and the local Shippensburg community.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Pennsylvania, also was on hand to offer his thanks and congratulations.

“Volvo employs thousands of Pennsylvanians, many in good-paying manufacturing jobs,” Casey said. “This center shows Volvo’s commitment to investing in their workers by providing them with skills and training to succeed at Volvo.” Pennsylvania District 13 Rep. Dr. John Joyce said the project showed his district is “open for business.”

“This $6.4 million expansion of the Volvo CE Customer Center will be a decisive asset for the Shippensburg community,” he added. “Having visited this incredible facility, I appreciate Volvo’s commitment to Franklin and Cumberland counties, and I am confident that this facility will continue to produce family-sustaining jobs for decades to come.” Design and construction work is being led by several Pennsylvania firms: Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc. will design the site, and NUTEC and Waynesboro Construction will team up on architecture and engineering.