Technology provider says automated sorting is critical to plastic circularity.
Tomra Sorting GmbH, based in Germany, has scheduled a webinar Oct. 12, to portray what it calls the advanced mechanical recycling methods that can help boost plastic recycling efforts globally.
While the term “advanced recycling” has been applied by some companies to describe pyrolysis or other chemical-related processes used to break down plastic scrap, Tomra’s use of the term “advanced mechanical” implies it sees an expanded future for the production of recycled-content flakes and pellets created without a chemical process.
Tomra says two of its staff members will “talk through how we can close existing quality and quantity gaps along the plastics value chain by producing enough virgin-like recyclate [recycled-content resins] from different material streams – including mixed waste streams – with advanced mechanical recycling.”
Presenting at the webinar are Tomra Senior Vice President of Business Development Jürgen Priesters and the firm’s Vice President of Circular Economy-Europe Bilyana Ignatova.
The sensor sorting technology provider says topics on the webinar agenda include: how advanced mechanical recycling ensures high-quality recycled plastic to close the quality gap; how to produce significantly more recycled plastic resin from various material types and waste streams, including mixed materials; the complementary role of chemical recycling in resource recovery; and the impact legislation and global commitments have on increasing the circularity of plastics.
The webinar will run from 5-6 a.m. Eastern. It will be conducted in English with subtitles available in French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Turkish.
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has required Veolia to sell three of its businesses following an in-depth investigation into the merger of Veolia and Suez.
Paris-based Veolia has announced that Paris-based Suez has exercised its right of first refusal in respects to Vigie’s UK waste business and that the companies have reached a unilateral put option agreement under which Suez will acquire 100 percent of the share capital of Suez Recycling and Recovery UK Group Holdings Ltd. for 2 billion pounds.
Vigie UK is the name given by Veolia to assets that it bought from Suez and is now selling back to the company.
Veolia and Suez had announced plans to merge nearly two years ago; however, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated the merger given that Veolia and Suez were two of the largest suppliers of waste management services in the United Kingdom. In late August, the CMA had required Veolia to sell three of its businesses as a result of its in-depth investigation into the merger. According to the CMA, Veolia has been required to sell the following parts of its merged businesses:
CMA says these three businesses make up the majority of the overlap between Veolia’s and Suez’s competing operations in the U.K.
Veolia says the transaction of Vigie UK to Suez is subject to the CMA’s approval.
According to a news release from Veolia, the exercise of its first refusal right by Suez follows Veolia’s announcement of its agreement to sell the Vigie UK business to Australia-based Macquarie Group, regrouping Suez waste activities in the U.K. That agreement, which was announced Aug. 8, enabled the company to address CMA’s concerns.
“The progress of the merger with Suez, which began last January, continues to demonstrate the relevance and value-creation capacity of our project to create the global champion of ecological transformation in the context of a strong climate and ecological emergency. The cash proceeds from the antitrust divestments will allow us to reduce the debt leverage and will provide Veolia with additional capacity to finance growth in high value-added markets,” says Estelle Brachlianoff, chief executive officer of Veolia. “We are satisfied that this disposal addresses the main concerns of the U.K. competition authority. The U.K. will remain an important region for Veolia where we will continue to implement sustainable and competitive ecological transformation solutions as a leading player in the local waste management market with revenues of 2 billion euros.”
The addition of Amlon Port Allen will enable the company to expand its catalyst recycling reach and add oil-bearing processing as an offering.
The Amlon Group, formerly known as the Amlon Resources Group LLC and Alpha Omega Recycling Inc., has announced significant growth through the acquisition of Amlon Port Allen, a spent catalyst recycling and material handling facility situated on a 28-acre site in Port Allen, Louisiana.
The Amlon Group, New York City, has grown from a metal and concentrates trading company to a leader in turnkey environmental recycling and waste management solutions since its 1979 founding.
“We are excited to introduce oil and oil-bearing material processing to the management services we can offer our customers,” The Amlon Group President Mark Wayne says. “Our customers stand to benefit tremendously from the growth and expansion of our facilities and to continue to work with The Amlon Group across a broader range of sectors. The addition of Amlon Port Allen represents the continuation of our growth strategy as we seek to enhance our capabilities and deliver our full suite of services into new industries and geographies.”
The company also has announced that it received a significant investment from Heartwood Partners LLC, which has helped it expand its outreach and impact in the recycling and waste management industry. With this investment, The Amlon Group continues to execute its growth strategy through a combination of organic growth initiatives and expansions.
In 2017, The Amlon Group acquired a fully licensed Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) facility in Longview, Texas, to process and recycle spent catalysts and metals. The recent addition of Amlon Port Allen supports the company’s drive to expand capacity and seek out innovative solutions for managing waste. The addition of this market-leading catalyst reclamation and oil-bearing material recycling facility will allow The Amlon Group to service expanded sectors and continue to manage challenging industrial waste and by-products environmentally.
“With this new expansion and acquisition, we can continue our mission to help companies reduce costs and increase recycle values,” The Amlon Group CEO Lee Lasher says. “We are especially thrilled to be offering our customers the ability to streamline their waste management and recycling programs, achieve zero waste goals, and offer a broader set of high-quality waste and recycling solutions.”
USAID initiative helps devise method to assist governments in developing nations combat ocean-bound plastics.
North America may not be a major source of discarded plastic flowing into oceans, but that has not stopped Virginia-based Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO), which is a program of the federal government’s USAID agency, from seeking solutions to the global problem.
At the 2022 International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) convention in Singapore in September, United States-based industry veteran Lori Scozzafava, who currently serves as director of capacity development and governance of CCBO, provided an overview of the organization’s methodology to upgrade waste diversion techniques around the world.
Scozzafava says CCBO has cooperated with 17 local governments in six different nations, including the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Vietnam, to develop a 180-question survey devised to pinpoint how the jurisdictions can bolster recycling efforts and prevent ocean-bound littering.
She said that while plastic is targeted in the efforts because it is “floating and visible” when it arrives in the ocean, the problem of pollution in regions where the collection and recycling infrastructure is lacking involves more than just plastic.
The CCBO survey breaks down local government challenges and tactics into six categories. Scozzafava says the “service delivery” category gets the most attention because it is “the component everyone’s mind goes to.” However, the other five categories, including planning, financial management and community engagement, also are vital.
The industry veteran, who has been a staff member at the Solid Waste Association of North American (SWANA) and Virginia-based consultancy Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), said the process of completing the survey and following up on it has led to significant recycling progress in places like Da Nang, Vietnam.
Whether there or in other jurisdictions that have worked with CCBO, she said the effort identifies and brings together local leaders—some of whom had not previously met—who can carry forward a collection and recycling effort.
The survey results are “able to show where this local community is in terms of its ability” to divert waste from the ocean, Scozzafava said. While the initial survey scores have ranged from 32 to 80, she said the follow-up actions involve the vital question of “how do they turn that ‘no’ answer into a ‘yes.’”
Post-survey follow-up can lead to waste characterization studies, research into funding options, and perhaps most importantly, wider staff and community involvement, Scozzafava said.
CCBO is in the process of preparing a “tool kit” for local governments, followed by a training course it intends to distribute in ways that will make it easily accessible. More information on the effort can be found here.
The 2022 ISWA convention took place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore on Sept. 21-23.
Technology provider Tomra says a combination of policies and techniques can lead to more plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling.
Europe-based recycling technology provider Tomra says it has had a front-row seat to view what works when it comes to turning plastic packaging into a circular material, and the company has increasingly been willing to share what it says it has learned.
At the 2022 International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) convention, held in Singapore in September, Jakob Rognhaug of Tomra presented an overview of the technology vendor’s findings, telling convention attendees, “We can make a serious contribution” when it comes to establishing a pollution-free, low-carbon packaging sector.
Rognhaug cited deposit-return schemes or systems (DRS) as a vital first step toward diverting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and other bottles into a high-grade recycling loop. Currently, he said, only about 2 percent of PET bottles globally head into such bottle-to-bottle close loops. Tomra has as its goal, said Rognhaug, a 30 percent rate by 2030.
Attempts to boost PET bottle recycling without DRS have “proven to be a failure,” said Rognhaug. Systems that require a deposit payment that is returned when recycling collection occurs “incentivizes the [household] consumer” he added.
Rognhaug said Tomra has found that source-separated collection of materials helps provide the cleaner material streams demanded by paper mills and metals melt shops, but it may not be as necessary in the plastics sector. Recycling program operators have found that asking people to place their plastic into too many separate bins may result in less overall plastic collection.
Thus, Tomra has been advocating setting up dry municipal solid waste (MSW) mixed materials sorting plants, and the company says it has helped devise such facilities, including two in Norway where Tomra is based.
In the Norwegian waste districts with these plants, said Rognhaug, some 70 to 90 percent of all plastic is being recovered for recycling. Additionally, the facilities are recovering paper, board and metal that was not initially properly placed into source-separated bins. “Mixed waste sorting is proven,” stated Rognhaug.
Although advocates of chemical or pyrolysis recycling processes have adopted the term “advanced recycling,” Rognhaug proposed that the type of systems that included DRS, mixed waste sorting and eventual bottle-to-bottle closed loop recycling can be referred to as “advanced mechanical recycling.”
Such methods, said Rognhaug, can create closed loops for PET bottles, polypropylene (PP) packaging and plastic films, with the capability of producing “virgin-like quality” materials from plastic scrap.
The 2022 ISWA convention took place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore Sept. 21-23.