Equipment maker says it has closed the sale of its Metal Recycling business to a Swedish investment group.

Metso Outotec, based in Finland, says it has completed the divestment of its Metal Recycling business line to Mimir, an investment company based in Stockholm, Sweden.

The sold Metal Recycling business includes the brands Lindemann and Texas Shredder. The business will operate globally under the Lindemann brand, and will be headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its approximately 160 employees have transferred to the new company, according to Metso Outotec.

Metso Outotec remains involved in providing equipment for the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries.

The companies will use Circularise’s blockchain-based supply chain traceability software.

Neste, an oil refining company based in Espoo, Finland, and Netherlands-based startup Circularise have partnered to bring Circularise’s traceability software into circular polymers and chemical supply chains. The companies are collaborating in establishing digital solutions to trace renewable and recycled material flows, providing increased transparency along the value chain.  

The companies will use Circularise’s blockchain-based supply chain traceability software, which creates a digital twin for the physical material. The twin stores information on the used materials throughout the value chain, enabling all value chain parties to keep track of the material.   

Circularise says this allows them to verify where materials come from and how and where they were processed. The digital twin can also provide information on sustainability data like the carbon footprint of the materials or products made from them.  

The companies say solutions to increase visibility into supply chains become valuable in this industry as materials undergo several processing steps and often get blended and co-processed with other materials. Especially in the ramp-up phase of more sustainable and circular value chains, renewable or recycled materials may be processed with fossil materials. This maes it difficult to verifiably link end products with a much lower carbon footprint and the renewable or recycled materials they were produced with. As long as there is a mix of raw materials, a majority of renewable or recycled products will rely on a mass balancing allocation method to link the end products to their raw materials.  

With a digital supply chain tracking system, Neste and Circularise intend to enable value chain players to still make verifiable claims about products. Additionally, it will allow parties along the value chain to better understand their supply chains, leading to improved transparency when it comes to life cycle emissions of products or other sustainability factors such as biodiversity and human rights.  

“It’s usually very easy to claim sustainability, but very often, it’s not easy at all to back these claims,” says Isabella Tonaco, vice president of strategy execution and marketing at Neste Renewable Polymers and Chemicals. “Yet, trust and credibility are crucial factors when it comes to sustainability. Being able to track all the materials going into a product provides a solid basis for gaining that trust and credibility.” 

While the goal is to increase visibility and trust, Circularise says it also prioritizes confidentiality. Using a public blockchain-based infrastructure and Circularise’s proprietary Smart Questioning technology allows combining these two targets into one solution, enabling the sharing of trustworthy data and information between parties along the value chain without compromising on intellectual property or privacy.  

“We want to really break the communication barriers that limit supply chain traceability,” Circularise founder Mesbah Sabur says. “We've been working with suppliers that truly want to create circular operations that want to cooperate with their clients and regulators that want to share insights into their products, but at the same time don’t want to risk their sensitive data.” 

The machine will utilize Mondi’s recyclable Advantage StretchWrap paper.

Mondi, a packaging and paper company with headquarters in the U.K. and Austria, has announced a collaborative effort with Austria-based mechanical engineering company EW Technology to launch a new machine for paper pallet wrapping. The machine is more efficient and sustainable on small-to-medium production lines, Mondi says.

The machine offers two settings: It can be fully automated to wrap around 60 pallets every hour or semiautomated to wrap 10-15 pallets per hour.

The machine takes a full reel of Mondi’s Advantage StretchWrap paper, allowing customers to replace the multilayer plastic that is currently the industry standard for pallet wrapping, according to the company.

Advantage StretchWrap paper, containing no plastic or coating, is 100-percent virgin paper created with renewable materials and fully recyclable, the company says. An independent life cycle assessment commissioned by Mondi found that Advantage StretchWrap paper performed better than conventional plastic stretch film in several impact categories. Mondi says the paper has a 62 percent lower carbon footprint than virgin plastic stretch film.

A full reel of Advantage StretchWrap can be applied to the new machine without any need to rewind. Additionally, the larger dimensions of the reel means a replacement reel is needed every 400-600 pallets compared with 40-80 pallets for plastic wrapping.

“Sustainable products are close to our hearts and as a young team we are determined to make a positive contribution to the environment," EW Technology co-founder Philipp Ertl says. "By taking a collaborative approach with Mondi we were able to learn exactly what was needed and work together to deliver a unique new offering in paper wrapping technology for palletized goods – one that will benefit companies across many industries."

Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill that establishes a statewide recycling system intended to boost recycling rates for plastic, aluminum, glass and paper.

The bill was backed by business and several environmental and recycling groups, including the Association of Plastic Recyclers, but opposed by groups including the American Forest & Paper Association and the National Waste & Recycling Association.

The legislation is designed to reduce plastic waste and improve Colorado’s recycling rate. According to a report by Denver-based Eco-Cycle and the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG), the 2020 recycling rate in Colorado was 15 percent—less than half the national average of 32 percent that year. The report also notes that 6 million tons of recyclable material is landfilled every year, representing a market value of about $100 million.

According to a news release announcing the signing of the bill, Colorado is the first state in the U.S. to develop an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system that makes producers responsible for financing a statewide recycling program to cover capital, operating, promotion and education costs to better collect, process and market recyclable materials.

The bill states that companies that sell consumer-facing packaging and some printed paper join a producer responsibility organization (PRO) which would then fund and manage a statewide recycling system. There are exceptions for small businesses and some highly regulated packaging, and an amendment would allow producers to submit an individual program plan as an alternative.

Unlike the packaging EPR laws passed in Maine and Oregon last year, HB22-1355’s supporters say Colorado’s program will be fully funded and managed by producers.

Supporters also say the law is the first to align behind the principles for a successful national collection system. The principles call for a system that:

The aim is to significantly increase the collection and sale of recyclables like bottles and cans, providing producers access to purchase recycled materials so they can be remade into new products.

“Our 100-percent recyclable bottles and cans are made to be remade and one of our industry’s highest priorities is getting them back,” American Beverage President and CEO Katherine Lugar says in a news release. “Colorado’s legislation is a promising model for creating a circular economy for recyclables and we applaud Gov. Polis for signing this legislation into law.”

Alejandro Pérez, senior vice president of policy and government affairs at the World Wildlife Fund, adds, “By matching effective waste management practices with accountability, extended producer responsibility is an essential tool to address plastic pollution. We have a lot of work to do to achieve a waste-free future, but we are one step further because of Colorado’s actions. The state is setting an example of how industry, environmentalists and policymakers can join forces to transform the way we use, reuse and recycle materials.”

According to the bill, the cost of EPR fees is built into producers’ wholesale prices and is spread across the supply chain, and supporters also say the key to the EPR measure advanced in Colorado is that it gives the packaging and paper producers a financial stake in ensuring a collection system is effective, efficient and convenient to consumers.

Officials said flows of recovered fiber are under "serious threat" from proposed changes to EU shipment legislation.

During the most recent Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Paper Division meeting May 23, the committee was told major international flows of recovered fiber were under serious threat from proposed changes to European Union waste shipment legislation despite current figures underlining the pivotal role recovered fiber plays in the production of paper and paperboard globally.

According to Francisco Donoso of Spain-based Dolaf Servicios Verdes SL and divisional president of the committee, worldwide consumption of recovered fiber in 2020 totaled more than 208 million metric tons, with 182 million metric tons absorbed by packaging alone—accounting for more than 70 percent of that sector's needs. The newsprint sector consumed approximately 64 percent of recovered fiber, while tissue's figures were near 17 percent and printing and writing around 10 percent.

Asian countries remained what Donoso called "keen customers" for Europe's substantial recovered fiber surplus, but he warned, "exports to Asia are going to be much more difficult than [they are] at the moment."

The committee's General Delegate Manuel Dominguez of Repacar in Spain said the current draft of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation revision would require official confirmation from individual non-OECD (organization for economic co-operation and development) countries that they want to import recovered fiber, and there also would need to be demonstrable proof that the receiving facility is able to treat the material in an environmentally sound manner.

He explained that even with shipments to OECD members, a sharp increase in recovered fiber flows to any particular country could lead to a suspension of shipments if there is no guarantee of sustainable treatment, and also suggested there is a "great risk of creating a captive market within the European countries," which could lead to lower prices, unless the revision draft undergoes significant modification.

Donoso pointed to the volatility of old corrugated container (OCC) prices in recent years and noted the recovered paper sector "had every right to feel exposed and a little nervous," but suggested hedging via futures contracts offers more stability and predictability.

The latest Paper Division meeting in Barcelona also saw the return of the Brussels-based BIR's Papyrus Award for outstanding contributions to the furtherance of recycling. Donoso announced the winner as Ecoembes, an organization based in Spain that aims to develop an integrated EPR system for domestic packaging.

The BIR convention was May 22-25.