Virginia-based scrap firm also says it continues to seek a Nasdaq listing for its stock shares.
Norfolk, Virginia-based Greenwave Technology Solutions Inc. says its subsidiary, Empire Services Inc., is in the process of installing a second auto shredder. Greenwave says the new system would allow it “to double its processing capacity, which could result in its dealer scrap product line generating an additional $8 million to $15 million in revenue over the next 18 months.”
Greenwave says it also is installing a downstream processing system “capable of recovering millimeter-minus pieces of metal from its shred residue or ‘fluff,’ as it is known in the industry.” Greenwave says the downstream system “could generate an additional $10 million to $20 million in revenue over the next 18 to 24 months and significantly increase Empire’s profit margins.”
“With the installation of this second automotive shredder, Empire’s operational infrastructure has the capacity to support significant growth with the goal of generating $100 million in annual revenue by 2025,” Greenwave CEO Danny Meeks says.
He continues, “Prices for scrap metal are on the rise driven by depleted inventories and robust demand, with many analysts projecting they could go much higher. We believe Greenwave is one of the most attractive companies in the scrap metal industry given its current valuation and potential for significant growth. We appreciate Greenwave’s shareholders for their trust and support the past several months as we cleaned up our capitalization structure, closed a $37.7 million offering, and put systems in place to position the company for rapid expansion.”
Greenwave does not mention where its planned second shredder will be. Its Empire subsidiary currently operates from 11 locations in North Carolina and Virginia and says it expects to open its 12th location in Fairmont, North Carolina, this March.
Greenwave also says it expects to submit its application to “uplist” to the Nasdaq exchange this March, “with the goal of listing on a national exchange by June 2022.”
Giovanni Spitale replaces James Murphy, who has been promoted to vice chairman of the Davis-Standard board of directors.
Pawcatuck, Connecticut-based Davis-Standard, a portfolio company of Gamut Capital Management, has appointed Giovanni Spitale as CEO. Spitale replaces Jim Murphy, who has been elected as vice chairman of the board of directors.
“I am extremely excited to join the Davis-Standard organization,” Spitale says. “Having spent considerable time in the polymer processing and broader capital equipment industries, I have long admired Davis-Standard’s leading position in the market, its unmatched engineering capability and the company’s reputation as a strong partner to its customers through both original equipment and aftermarket support.”
Spitale previously was vice president of Commercial Parts within Boeing Global Services. In this role, hewas responsible for the profit and loss management and strategic direction of Boeing’s $4 billion portfolio of commercial aircraft and engine parts businesses. Before his tenure at Boeing, Spitale was president of customer service and support at Milacron.
In addition to Spitale's hiring, Davis-Standard has elected several individuals as members of its board of directors. This includes Brian Marston, Bill Barker and John McGrath, each experienced in Davis-Standard’s markets.
The board also includes Dan Guthrie, chief operating officer of Davis-Standard; representatives from controlling shareholder Gamut Capital Management; and Marston, Barker and McGrath.
Davis-Standard specializes in the design, development and distribution of extrusion and converting technology. The company’s systems encompass more than 11 product lines to support manufacturing applications and customers in a wide variety of industries, including automotive, building and construction, consumer products, medical and packaging.
The company reported increases in EBIDTA in all business segments.
Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL), Bangkok, Thailand, today reported a record 2021 performance as economic recovery drove demand across the company’s global footprint.
“In 2021 we proved the resilience of our global footprint and our integrated portfolio across the polyester value chain,” says Aloke Lohia, CEO of Indorama Ventures Group. “The past two years were an unprecedented period of disruption in which our business model’s robustness and our teams’ agility were tested.
In 2021, IVL reports core earnings before income, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.7 million, up 55 percent year over year on production volumes. Consolidated revenue increased 38 percent year over year to $14.6 million. The company says its model benefited from rising inflation, energy price hikes and supply chain shocks.
Macroeconomic tailwinds supported the company’s performance, including government stimulus packages, IVL says. In premium western markets, higher freight rates improved the company’s local import parity pricing advantage. In the fourth quarter, the introduction of China’s dual control policy widened polyester margins.
IVL’s largest combined polyethylene terephthalate (PET) segment posted a 39 percent increase in core EBITDA to $1.1 million in the context of strong demand and low inventories. The resetting of PET contracts in 2022 is expected to capture higher freight rates and the consequent beneficial impact on import parity. The segment is expected to see improved margins in 2022, according to IVL.
Integrated Oxides & Derivatives (IOD) recorded a core EBITDA of $377 million, up 228 percent from a year earlier. With higher oil prices expected to continue into 2022, the company says the segment will continue to benefit from shale gas economics, improving mono ethylene glycol spreads.
The fibers segment reported a 37 percent increase in core EBITDA of $268 million as volumes rose 11 percent. The company says margins widened due to tighter markets and a favorable product mix, with setbacks coming from energy and commodity price increases, while the ongoing semiconductor shortage impacted the company’s mobility vertical.
“The performance was a result of several macroeconomic factors, such as heightened crude oil prices, supply disruptions and resurgent consumer confidence as vaccinations were rolled out in the pandemic’s second full year,” says D.K. Agarwal, CEO and chief financial officer of Indorama. “These factors led to improved margins and benefited us as a preferred regional supplier that can react quickly to fulfill our customer needs.”
The company recently announced its three-year business plan to leverage its global footprint, ongoing transformation initiatives and high levels of integration across the company’s three business segments to drive earnings growth, extract efficiencies and lift productivity.
IVL says it will continue to invest in its platform, its people, and strengthen systems to unlock its full potential to contribute to EBITDA growth and deliver our aspirational more than 15 percent return on capital employed by 2024.
Under its “Vision 2030” outline, IVL says it plans to invest in technology to capture carbon from its operations, increase renewable energy consumption and phase out coal. It will invest more in PET recycling and introduce bio-based feedstock in about a third of its polyester-based value chain. Additional measures to future-proof the company include developing leaders with a growth mindset and empowering them with the right tools to lead.
Dismantling work on the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach, California, will start in May.
A 5,100-foot-long bridge near the port of Long Beach in California will start to be dismantled this May, according to a local media report.
According to the Los Angeles Times, port officials announced in late February that demolition work on the Gerald Desmond Bridge is set to begin in May. A new bridge has been built next to the original 5,134-foot-structure, which opened in 1968, according to the Times.
The new bridge also is named after Gerald Desmond, who was a Long Beach city attorney who helped secure funding to build the first edition of the bridge.
A port official quoted by the newspaper credited the first bridge for helping to introduce a “golden age” to the Port of Long Beach. The new bridge, which opened in 2020, has been built to last for up to 100 years and to allow larger cargo vessels to pass beneath it.
According to the Times, “Demolition operations on the old bridge will start with the dismantling and removal of the main span.” That work will resort in a channel under the bridge being shut down for up to three days. Car and truck traffic on the new bridge will be unaffected.
Demolition work on the bridge is expected to cost nearly $60 million. A subsidiary of Omaha, Nebraska-based Kiewit Corp. submitted the winning bid to “dismantle and remove main steel truss spans, steel plate girder approaches, abutments, columns, access ramps, foundations and other pieces of the old bridge,” according to the Times.
The newspaper adds, “Metal and other materials removed from the old bridge will be hauled to a recycling site for salvaging and reuse.”
Sorting technology firm to supply BariQ in Egypt.
The Tomra Recycling business unit of Norway-based Tomra Group says it has been selected to supply bottle-to-bottle sorting and recycling to what it calls the largest rPET (recycled-content polyethylene terephthalate) producer in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Tomra says it will be working with BariQ for Techno and Advanced Industries after signing on to build a new PET bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Giza Governorate, Egypt, which will feature “the latest plastic sorting systems from Tomra Recycling.”
In mid-February, BariQ welcomed ministers from the Egyptian government, ambassadors, brand owners, equipment providers and local and foreign financial institutes to its expansion ceremony to officially announce and celebrate the construction of a new bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in Giza Governorate.
The event revealed the new plant’s design to produce more than 38,600 tons of food-grade rPET annually, which will have the potential to eliminate some 88,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
The new facility will complement a sorting plant that has been fully operational since 2010 and features four of Tomra’s sensor-based sorting systems that process more than 3.3 tons of PET bottles per hour. To date, the company produces some 16,500 tons annually of food-grade rPET that is compliant with the standards set by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration), Health Canada and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals), says Tomra.
Planned to be fully operational in 2023, the new facility will process 3.8 to 4.4 tons of post-consumer PET scrap per hour. “Tomra has been a dependable, knowledgeable partner for the past 10 years,” says Ahmed Elkasaby, chief operations officer at BariQ. “Thanks to our close collaboration, their remote and onsite service support and high-performance machines, we achieve excellent sorting results.”
The new plant will be equipped with two Tomra AutoSort machines for presorting PET bottles and trays. Additionally, two AutoSort Flake units will conduct polymer sorting by material and color as well as removing metal contaminants.
After the presorted material has been shredded, washed and dried, AutoSort Flake creates what Tomra calls “a pure clear/light blue PET flake fraction that is then processed and transformed into pellets.” The end product will be sold to global brand owners and converters looking to increase their recycled content with food-grade rPET, adds the firm.
“I have been accompanying the project right from the beginning and am delighted that we are part of this exciting project,” comments Elie Sandros, area sales manager Middle East and Africa at Tomra Recycling. “Seeing the evolution of the country’s waste management and the technical advancements we made in the previous years makes me confident that our collaboration will support plastic manufacturers in meeting their recycled content targets and curb plastic recycling in the MENA market.”
“With BariQ investing in the new facility in Egypt and using the latest sorting equipment, we jointly give brand owners in Africa access to larger quantities of high-quality rPET resin which help them meet the recycled content targets as well as their individual pledges,” says Tasos Bereketidis, regional director-emerging markets at Tomra Recycling. “I am delighted that our collaboration, which started 10 years ago, has led us to make a considerable change in Africa.”