The company plans to create an international business development team as it steps into new markets.
Buffalo, New York-based Wendt Corp. says its international expansion plans are supported by an internal promotion of Ethan Willard to global director of business development and the hiring of industry veteran Dennis Law.
“Our expansion to enter new markets and geographies and introduce our world-class products and services marks a milestone moment in the growth of Wendt Corporation,” Wendt President Tom Wendt says. “Leveraging Ethan and Dennis’ deep expertise and valuable perspectives along with the strength of our existing teams and capabilities will help us unlock new global markets and foster sustainable growth.”
Willard will help develop Wendt’s product line and oversee the company’s entry into new markets. He will provide strategic leadership and structure to an experienced team of business development professionals. This team establishes performance specifications to ensure Wendt’s equipment meets customers’ expectations as markets evolve. Willard has spent his 10-year career at Wendt in various roles from sales engineer to most recently managing shredder business development. He led the discovery, sale and execution of automobile shredding and aluminum shredding plants around the world while also pioneering efforts in the development and implementation of auto shredder emissions control systems.
Two members of that business development team will be William Close and Mike Woodward, each with more than 30 years with Wendt. They will merge Wendt’s core areas of shredding and separation into a single team, their experience setting the foundation for global expansion as worldwide demand for the company’s technology grows. Over the past five years, Wendt has experienced record sales growth.
“Wendt is well-positioned for exponential growth internationally, and I am excited to lead the expansion efforts,” Willard says. “Our shredding and separation technologies have received an influx of interest, and we have a tremendous opportunity to deliver our innovative plants and technologies around the world that help on the path toward a sustainable future. We will look to maintain our leadership position while leveraging our new team and trusted partners to grow our global footprint.”
Bolstering the international business team, Law will head global business development. From that post, he will identify the best strategy to enter new markets across Europe and Asia. Based out of Germany, Law will develop international markets within the scrap recycling industry while strengthening existing relationships with customers and partners across the globe. A seasoned veteran of the recycling industry, Law comes to Wendt with more than 17 years of experience. As a business development leader, he has held management positions, including stints with Metso and Steinert.
“Wendt has built a reputation as the market leader in North America, and I am excited to be in the position to expand that leadership position internationally,” Law says. “Being based not only in America but also in Europe is yet another step by the company to steadily expand and better serve customers as they would expect. Our customers all around the globe will now benefit from Wendt’s deep knowledge in shredder and nonferrous plant manufacturing.”
The company says it is ahead of pace to reach its interim target of 10 percent emissions reduction by 2025.
Republic Services Inc., Pheonix, has released its 2021 Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s efforts to support decarbonization and circularity and outlining continued progress toward its ambitious 2030 sustainability goals.
Achievements include a 9 percent reduction in operational greenhouse gas emissions over the 2017 baseline year, ahead of pace to reach the company's interim target of a 10 percent reduction by 2025, and the development of the nation's first integrated plastics recycling facility.
"At Republic Services, we view sustainability as more than just how we operate,” says Jon Vander Ark, president and CEO of Republic Services. “We see it as a platform for growth, allowing us to innovate and invest in projects that will deliver significant environmental and economic benefits over time.
Republic says its vision is to partner with customers to create a more sustainable world. This approach begins with its “Elements of Sustainability.” This consists of safety, talent, climate leadership and communities, which anchor the company's 2030 goals. In addition to tracking progress toward these goals, the 2021 Sustainability Report includes new disclosures around environmental justice, supplier diversity and biodiversity conservation.
For example, Republic Services moved to a more representative emissions modeling methodology known as Solid Waste Industry for Climate Solutions. This methodology is used by industry peers and is an alternative for private landfills under the Climate Registry and recognized by SBTi. It considers a landfill’s gas collection effectiveness and efficiency as well as its cover system, allowing us to recognize the emissions reductions from our investments.
In 2021, Republic began operating our first regular collection routes with electric trucks. In Idaho, three electric vehicles (EVs) are collecting commercial recycling. The company says it has two more EVs operating in North Carolina. These EVs are delivering economic as well as environmental benefits, with lower fuel and maintenance costs in addition to zero carbon emissions. Additional EV deployments are planned in 2022, and Republic expects the pace of its electric truck rollout to accelerate in the future.
In 2021, Republic’s 71 recycling facilities processed 5 million tons of materials, returning cardboard, paper, plastics, metals and glass to the marketplace for reuse while making steady progress toward its Circular Economy goal.
At the end of 2021, Republic Services was involved with 69 landfill gas-to-energy projects and eight solar projects. In 2021, the company increased the beneficial reuse of landfill gas thanks to new RNG projects coming online, including an innovative project at McCarty Road Landfill in Houston. The company says it has 17 more RNG projects in development that are expected to begin operations in the next couple of years.
Additional highlights from the report:
announced development of the nation's first Polymer Center to advance plastics circularity and support recycled content goals.
recorded 38 percent better safety performance than the industry average over the past 10-year period; and,
recognized by the industry's Driver and Operator of the Year awards.
made notable strides with women in management, with top leadership positions more than doubling between 2019 and 2021; and,
unveiled two talent retention and development programs: the Tech Institute and Leadership Academy.
Republic Services is committed to transparency and disclosure through its sustainability reporting. In conjunction with the 2021 Sustainability Report, the company issued its 2021 Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Report, 2021 Global Reporting Initiative Report and an updated report aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. The company will publish its 2021 CDP Climate Change response later this month.
“We've made ambitious, industry-leading commitments across our business to reduce emissions and decarbonize our operations,” Vander Ark says. “Not only are we making significant progress toward these 2030 goals, but we're helping our customers reach their own sustainability goals."
To learn more about Republic Services' sustainability work and to download the 2021 Sustainability Report, click here.
Hygiene products maker says it used 24 percent recycled content in its tissue last year and boosted plastic scrap use.
Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., as part of its newly published annual report on sustainability, included a 24 percent figure for the recycled content of its tissue products globally.
In its recap on the company’s impact on forests, Kimberly-Clark says recycled fiber comprised 24 percent of its tissue products feedstock. The company says it “achieved 87 percent environmentally preferred fiber use” status globally by also using 63 percent virgin wood fiber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
In terms of its plastics use, Kimberly-Clark says last year it “continued its work to explore more sustainable, commercially viable and scalable alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics.”
That meant in 2021 it doubled the percentage of recycled content in its plastic packaging, and it “further increased the amount of packaging globally that is reusable, recyclable, or compostable to nearly 84 percent, as it strives for 100 percent by 2025,” the company says.
“We will remain steadfast in our efforts to reach our goals because we believe it’s the best way to care for the people we serve, it’s the right thing to do for our planet, and it helps us deliver on our purpose,” says Lisa Morden, vice president with Kimberly-Clark.
Canadian steelmaker reaches tentative agreement with union local representing salaried workers.
Algoma Steel Group Inc., based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, says it has reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2724, the union that represents what it calls its “technical, professional and frontline supervisory employees.”
The current collective agreement expires at the end of this month. Ratification votes have been scheduled for the next several days. Algoma says it will not release details of the tentative agreement until after the union has held its information meetings.
Algoma President and CEO Michael Garcia says the agreement is helpful as the steelmaker prepares to convert its Ontario complex from being a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) producer to becoming a scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) operator.
“We are pleased that we have reached a tentative agreement with our salaried union local that provides an economic package that is acceptable to both parties and sets out the process to transition the workforce to electric arc steelmaking,” Garcia says. “We look forward to continuing our work together as we navigate Algoma’s transformation, positioning the company for a secure, sustainable future as a leading producer of green steel.”
Discussions also are ongoing between Algoma Steel and hourly employees represented by USW Local 2251. On that front, Algoma says it “looks forward to reaching an agreement before the contract expires on July 31, 2022, ensuring the continuation of the company’s forward momentum.”
IDTechEx research report shows slew of EV commercial truck models on the way.
In a move that would affect recycled materials commodity markets as well as the way hauling firms outfit their fleets, truck makers globally are expected to produce more electric vehicle (EV) commercial trucks at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.1 percent during the next 10 years.
That estimate has been made by United Kingdom-based IDTechEx in a report titled “Electric and Fuel Cell Trucks 2023-2043.” The report’s researchers considered not only battery-powered EV trucks but also plug-in hybrids and those fueled by hydrogen or other methods considered “zero-emission” configurations.
IDTechEx says, “The vast majority of new trucks sold today are powered by diesel engines, but like other on-road vehicle segments, this is set to change. The scale of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions required to meet national targets effectively demands complete decarbonization of the truck market over the next 30 years. Major truck manufacturers and automotive suppliers now understand this; the fight for future market share is already underway.”
IDTechEx says its report “discusses the technical and economic aspects of zero-emission truck deployment, key enabling technologies, and presents IDTechEx’s granular 20-year outlook for the zero-emission truck market, with a focus on the key regions, Europe, the United States and China.”
The changeover thus far has been muted, notes the firm, with the global market share of zero-emission trucks in 2021 at only 0.4 percent of total sales, or about 13,000 units, with “the vast majority” of those in China, according to IDTechEx.
The research house says, “The limited sales penetration in Western markets reflects a lack of available zero-emission trucks rather than a lack of demand. Major corporations are clamoring for low-emission trucks (and greater support from governments) to help them meet their corporate pledges to reduce their GHG emissions.”
Most major vehicle OEMs have launched or are about to launch a zero-emission truck into regular production, says IDTechEx, which offers a timeline comparing the efforts of global truck makers (see graphic).
The added production capacity is why IDTechEx expects the global market to grow at that annual 37 percent pace during the next 10 years.
As fleet operators in the waste and recycling sector understand, IDTechEx says the key to zero-emission truck deployment involves their ability to “deliver useful range, because the weight and volume of today’s lithium-ion batteries limit the energy that can be stored on board [an EV] truck.”
IDTechEx says, though, that while “long-haul applications are not yet feasible, a large percentage of urban and regional routes are deliverable with battery electric trucks.” The U.S. Department of Transportation suggests about 50 percent of U.S. freight moves less than 100 miles per day. That, IDTechEx says, means “there is [a] significant share of truck operations that are ripe for electrification.”
On the hydrogen front, the research firm says a lack of hydrogen refueling infrastructure is a hindrance to that rollout. “However, several countries including Japan, Korea, Germany and China, are supporting initiatives to build hydrogen refueling stations,” adds the firm.
Information on how to access the full report, which contains more than 460 charts or slides, can be found here.