CP-20 and TP-25 magnets are suitable for recycled aggregates producers.

Erie, Pennsylvania-based Eriez says it  will exhibit a variety of magnetic and material handling equipment at ConExpo-Con/Agg, taking place March 10-14 in Las Vegas. Among Eriez equipment on display will be its CP-20 and TP-25 Suspended Permanent Magnets, which were recently introduced in North America.

CP-20 Series Magnets and TP-25 Series Magnets are “a powerful, reliable and economical choice for aggregate and concrete recycling customers, as well as mobile crusher OEMs and conveyor OEMs,” states Eriez.

CP-20 Series Magnets use a single-pole permanent magnet circuit, designed to provide a uniform field across the feed belt to optimize separation efficiency of tramp iron unwanted in aggregates products.

TP-25 Series Magnets use a twin-pole permanent magnet circuit designed to provide maximum ferrous removal at higher suspension heights. The twin-pole magnetic circuit used by the TP Series Magnets allows for horizontal lift of longer ferrous objects, such as rebar or wire.

Customers can choose from manual and self-cleaning configurations for CP-20 Series Magnets and TP-25 Series Magnets. These units are now part of Eriez’ Quick Ship Program and are “available to meet customers’ most urgent needs,” according to the company.

In addition to those two suspended magnets, the company’s ConExpo display, found at Booth B-93309, also will feature an HVF Feeder, Suspended Electromagnet and AIP Magnetic Pulley.

The new campaign offers clear information on plastics and sustainability.

WRAP, an Oxon, England-based nonprofit focused on sustainability, has launched a new campaign to clear up confusion on plastics packaging. The Clear on Plastics campaign has been designed by WRAP to give citizens clear information about plastics and the environment. 

According to a news release from WRAP, the campaign explains the role of plastic packaging in protecting products and demonstrates the balance between the benefits and drawbacks of alternatives. It also provides tips on how citizens can reduce their use of plastic at home. 

Clear on Plastics is a social media-led campaign amplified by influencer content and the support of UK Plastics Pact members and supporters and other partners, such as local authorities.

The UK Plastics Pact was developed as an initiative to “create a circular economy for plastics” by bringing together businesses from across the plastics value chain with U.K. governments and nongovernmental organizations to address plastic scrap issues.

“When we set up The UK Plastics Pact, we committed to uniting an entire supply chain with a common goal to keeping plastics in the economy and out of the environment,” says Peter Maddox, director of WRAP UK. “We also committed to engaging with citizens, who are concerned about the environment and want to understand how they can play their part. But we know that navigating the issues around this complex material can be tricky.

“We’ve listened to the most common areas for confusion and have designed Clear on Plastics to address those so that citizens are empowered to make their own informed decisions when it comes to plastics.”

More information can be found on the campaign website at www.clearonplastics.com, as well as @ClearonPlastics on Twitter and Instagram.

The company’s new recycling facility in Reading, Pennsylvania, started operations at the beginning of March.

DS Smith, a packaging manufacturer headquartered in London, officially has opened its first recycling facility in the U.S. in Reading, Pennsylvania.

According to a news release from DS Smith, the Reading facility is unique in the region as it is alongside the company’s paper mill and within 1 mile from its packaging plant. “This new plant can recycle over 36,000 tons of old corrugated cardboard (OCC) each year, creating new fully recyclable packaging for our customers in this region,” says Toby Earnest, head of recycling for DS Smith in North America. “Our goal is to achieve zero cardboard and paper going to landfill after packaging is used.

“We have quite a bit of work to do in the U.S. before this can become a reality, but the opening of our recycling facility is an important first step in developing an infrastructure that can support a circular system in the U.S.,” he adds.

The new 43,000-square-foot plant plans to use processes that have allowed DS Smith to manage more than 5.5 million tons of material for recycling annually, the company reports. The process allows for corrugated packaging to be made, used, collected and recycled into new corrugated boxes again within just 14 days. 

In addition to material from DS Smith’s Reading corrugated packing plant, the local team plans to receive recovered fiber from local distribution centers, packaging facilities, retailers and print shops. The recycling plant segregates other materials, such as plastic, glass and metal, compressing the remaining recyclable cardboard and paper into large bundled bales, as heavy as a ton each. The facility then can service the paper mill and sell recycled packaging products to its partners and others, DS Smith says.

“We are very excited about the growth opportunity in the United States and increasing our investment in the Reading community,” says Mark Ushpol, managing director of packaging for DS Smith in North America. “Our customers are demanding new packaging solutions that are fully recyclable and recycled in practice, driving a more circular business model.”

The Reading recycling plant is the latest development in DS Smith’s growth program in North America. The opening follows the January launch of what the company says is a state-of-the-art, automated corrugated packaging plant in Lebanon, Indiana. The area also provides access to highways and ports, connecting it to domestic and European distribution channels.

The Texas-based recycler plans to establish a distribution and processing hub for nonferrous metals in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

W. Silver Recycling, El Paso, Texas, has announced plans to build a 120,000-square-foot processing facility in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. W. Silver Recycling is a fourth-generation family business that operates 11 locations across the Southwest and in Mexico.

According to a news release from New Mexico’s Economic Development Department, the Texas-based recycler plans to establish a distribution and processing hub in Santa Teresa for nonferrous metals. W. Silver is set to begin construction on the facility on 60 acres. It will house a recycling processing plant that’s expected to be operational by the end of the year and add about 50 jobs to the community.

The company plans to use the Santa Teresa location as a hub for its nonferrous materials business, including aluminum, copper and brass. According to the Economic Development Department, W. Silver Recycling likes the Santa Teresa location because of the community’s business incentives as well as transportation advantages. The city has a direct port of entry to Mexico. 

“The location offers us a great logistics advantage,” says Lane Gaddy, CEO of W. Silver Recycling. “The border crossing, the overweight cargo zone and the rail and truck connections all make for an opportunity we are very excited about.

“[Our] Santa Teresa location moved a few years ago from 10 to 60 acres where we have been doing ferrous processing and distribution,” Gaddy adds. “We are now dropping a 160,000-square-foot operating pad, 120,000 of which will be an enclosed building on the Santa Teresa 60-acre site. This consolidates a lot of our nonferrous processing in Santa Teresa.”

Additionally, the state’s Economic Development Department pledged $200,000 to W. Silver Recycling from the state’s Local Economic Development Act closing fund for the jobs at the site. W. Silver is investing about $7 million into this project.

Food waste and cardboard present the biggest opportunities for increased diversion.

The Solid Waste Authority of Southern Ohio (SWACO ), Grove City, Ohio, has released a waste characterization study  documenting that up to 76 percent of the material currently disposed of at the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill could be recycled or composted. The items offering the greatest opportunities for increased diversion are food scraps and old corrugated cardboard (OCC), the study notes.

The study was completed last year and conducted over the course of four seasons by Cascadia Consulting Group, Seattle, and MSW Consultants, Orlando, Florida.

During the study period, 180 commercial and residential trash samples, weighing 39,000 pounds in total, were collected and analyzed, SWACO says. The materials were sorted into 64 categories and evaluated based on their weight, material type and recyclability to determine what’s being thrown away and how much of it has the potential to be diverted from the landfill.

The 10 items most commonly found in Franklin County’s waste stream are:

Combined, these items make up 68 percent, or 772,234 tons, of the material landfilled.

SWACO says the three most prevalent items in Franklin County’s waste stream are food scraps, corrugated cardboard and compostable items and fiber, which can be recovered through currently offered programs or have the potential to be captured and diverted if new programs and services were established.

“While we weren’t surprised to learn that so much food was coming to the landfill, we remain committed to decreasing landfill disposal of all types of materials, and we’re already at work helping to support rescuing edible food and redirecting it to families and individuals in need,” says Kyle O’Keefe, SWACO director of innovation and programs. “We’re also working to increase opportunities for composting of inedible food and encouraging waste reduction practices to avoid the creation of waste in the first place.”

When evaluating Franklin County’s potential to increase diversion based on the waste stream, the study found that of the 76 percent of the material currently being sent to the landfill that could be recycled or composted, 41 percent could be diverted through existing programs and an additional 35 percent has the potential to be diverted with new programs and infrastructure.

In November 2019, SWACO reported that Franklin County had reached a 50 percent diversion rate, which is one of the highest rates in the Midwest and exceeds the national average. Yet, the county still landfills more than 1 million tons every year. SWACO says it has set a goal to help residents and businesses in Franklin County divert 75 percent of their waste from the landfill.

SWACO says it is using the data from the waste characterization study to make informed decisions regarding the creation of new programs aimed at increasing the diversion of a wide range of materials. In the last year, SWACO introduced Recycle Right, the Make a Difference campaign, the Residential Recycling Cart Initiative, SWACO’s Community Consortium Program and the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative. These programs are designed to help residents recycle more of the materials generated at home, facilitate reducing food waste occurring in school cafeterias and promote the composting of food scraps at home and at area businesses.

The study also assessed the value of the materials being landfilled and which are currently accepted for recycling through Franklin County’s curbside, drop-off and other recycling programs (which include paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and jugs, glass bottles and metal cans). Those materials are estimated to have a market value of $23 million.

“It’s easy to connect how reducing our waste and increasing our recycling is good for the environment, but what isn’t always immediately obvious is the economic benefit of recycling too,” says O’Keefe. “When we throw away items that have the potential to be recycled, we miss the opportunity to create the jobs needed to turn those materials into new products as well as the millions of dollars that could be reinvested right here in the central Ohio region.”

Later this year, SWACO says it will launch new educational programs for capturing and recovering food waste, including funding drop-off composting sites in a number of Franklin County cities, and will unveil new resources to assist area businesses in starting and expanding recycling programs.