The company will introduce its new automated side loader The Wolverine at WasteExpo this week in Las Vegas.

New Way Trucks is displaying its Wolverine truck at booth No. 2150 at WasteExpo in Las Vegas until Thursday. The Wolverine comes equipped with features of New Way’s best-selling Sidewinder XTR in a smaller package and is available in body sizes of 10-, 12-, and 14-cubic yards.

Also on display in New Way’s booth are units showcasing key New Way customers, including a Mammoth front-loader celebrating the company’s partnership with Waste Connections and its 25-year anniversary in conjunction with New Way’s 50th year in business, Marin Sanitary’s auger-driven ROTO PAC ASL and the latest New Way Sidewinder XTR highlighting its customer GFL.

In addition to the units in display New Way’s booth, four other New Way trucks are at WasteExpo: a Cobra Magnum rear-loader (RL) in the Peterbilt Motors’ booth (No. 2426), a Sidewinder XTR in the Dennis Eagle’s booth (No. 1051), a Viper RL in the ERE’s booth (No. 551) and a narrow body battery-electric Cobra RL in the Battle Motors’s  booth (No. 1251). New Way Trucks currently has more battery-electric refuse vehicles on route today than any other body manufacturer.

A longtime supporter of the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF), New Way also donated a work-ready truck to be auctioned off live in EREF booth Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific. The 11-yard Viper RL is mounted on an International HV207 chassis and comes equipped with a Perkins D6620-27k Tuckaway Tipper-Bar lifter. New Way also donated two VIP passes to a day in the company’s suite at the 2023 WM Phoenix Open and a two-night hotel stay to the EREF Silent Auction. Bidding on this package is open now.

New Way CEO Mike McLaughlin also is one of the newest members of the EREF board of directors.

“We are proud to stand behind EREF’s mission to develop and evaluate new approaches to manage municipal solid waste and to provide scholarships to America’s future waste and sustainability professionals,” McLaughlin says. “New Way is honored to have participated in every aspect of EREF’s fundraising efforts. We hope to see a great crowd at the EREF Live Auction on Wednesday afternoon.”

Another recent industry board appointment involved New Way Vice President Don Ross. The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) elected Ross to chair its board of trustees. His term began Monday morning.

Additionally, New Way’s controls team is eager to show off features of its industry-leading Sidewinder XTR ASL, including considerably faster cycle times, cooler operating temperatures to improve performance and extend system life, the availability of real-time data collection and mission critical KPIs and better performance for compressed natural gas and lower horsepower vehicles.

“WasteExpo is always an exciting event for us, but this year is special because it’s the first time the whole industry has gotten together on such a large scale in quite a while,” said Don Ross. “Not only do we get to officially introduce the under-CDL capable Wolverine, we’re also excited to display more of our cutting-edge product lineup and support EREF’s critical mission."

Too many unused medications are entering the fresh water supply, global organization says.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), based in Paris, has issued a report examining ways to reduce and better manage the amount of unused or expired medicines with the potential to contaminate the environment via sewer systems or landfills.

The 56-page report, titled “Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste: Limiting Environmental Impacts of Unused or Expired Medicine,” contends the share of household medication ending up as waste in OECD countries varies from 3 percent to 50 percent, but “volumes are rising as aging populations consume more pharmaceuticals.” (There are more than 35 OECD countries, with members signing on to “shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all.”)

Over the past two decades, per capita consumption of lipid-modifying agents (such as cholesterol-lowering statins) has increased by a factor of nearly four and per capita consumption of anti-diabetic and anti-depressant medicines have doubled, OECD says.

“Environmental contamination from improper disposal of unused or expired medicine has adverse effects on ecosystems and contributes to the development of antimicrobial resistant bacteria,” the group states.

It lists “observed impacts on wildlife” that include traces of oral contraceptives causing the feminization of fish and amphibians and residues of psychiatric drugs altering fish behavior. “In addition, unused or expired medicines constitute wasted health care resources and can present a possible public health risk of accidental or intentional misuse and poisoning,” OECD says.

Measures proposed by the OECD researchers to avoid and better manage pharmaceutical household waste include: 1) find ways to reduce volumes of unused or expired medicine, including the use of “precision medicine and package sizing,” as well as supporting marketplaces for unused but unexpired medicines; 2) ensuring the environmentally sound collection and treatment of unavoidable pharmaceutical waste, perhaps via separate collection systems or the use of extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems; 3) raise public awareness using focused communication campaigns, including for liquids, ointments and creams, which “tend to be discarded improperly,” OECD says.

The report can be purchased and downloaded here.

Not-for-profit group advocates for federal emissions oversight of chemical recycling plants.

Ocean Conservancy, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington, says it is working closely with more than two dozen members of Congress to initiate a request to regulate plastic scrap treated with gasification and pyrolysis methods—two forms of chemical recycling technologies—as “municipal waste combustion units.”

The effort has already drawn the attention of the Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC), which expressed its opposition to the idea earlier this month.

Ocean Conservancy says it is backing the move at the same time “the plastics industry mounts an aggressive lobbying campaign to promote these technologies as solutions to the ocean plastics crisis despite serious environmental and community consequences.”

On April 29, the NGO says Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) were joined by 23 other members of Congress in sending a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies requesting the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate plastic scrap gasification and pyrolysis plants, citing a provision of the Clean Air Act.

“The truth is that right now pyrolysis, gasification and other chemical recycling technologies are just a fancy way to say, ‘burning plastics for energy,’ and this simply isn’t compatible with a healthy, plastic-free ocean,” says Dr. Anja Brandon, U.S. Plastics Policy Analyst at Ocean Conservancy.

Brandon adds, “Burning plastics emits greenhouse gases and countless toxic chemicals and incentivizes industry to continue unfettered plastics production instead of investing in a working recycling system. To keep plastics out of our ocean, we need to make less plastic, and better recycle what we already have; expanding chemical recycling will kill any chance we have of accomplishing either.”

The letter, sent to Subcommittee Chair Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Ranking Member David Joyce (R-OH), stated in part that “these chemical recycling technologies contribute to climate change, cause harmful health impacts in the surrounding communities, and do not represent a solution to the plastic pollution crisis. Chemical recycling does not represent a viable path forward to achieving a circular economy.”

Kathy Tsantiris, associate director of government relations at Ocean Conservancy, says, “This language still has a long way to go, but the letter sends a clear signal that regulating chemical recycling is a growing environmental priority.”

In its reply to the request, the ACC portrays chemical recycling (which it also calls “advanced recycling”) in a completely different light. The trade group says there currently are “seven commercial-scale advanced recycling facilities” and others “leveraging existing chemical manufacturing infrastructure to make virgin-quality plastic from used plastics in the U.S.”

ACC calls it “just the beginning of a massive wave of new projects” that can “reduce greenhouse gas emissions 43 percent relative to waste-to-energy incineration of plastic films made from virgin-resources.”

The company reports total revenue growth of 14 percent and net income of $352 million.

Republic Services Inc., Pheonix, has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2022, reporting strong growth, attributable to its focus on profitably growing the recycling and solid waste business and expanding its environmental solutions business.  

"Our strong start to the year was made possible through the execution of our strategy that is designed to generate profitable growth," says Jon Vander Ark, president and CEO of Republic. "We delivered double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and free cash flow while making investments to expand our environmental solutions business and further build our differentiated capabilities."

The company reports net income of $352 million, or $1.11 per diluted share, for Q1 2022 compared with $295.9 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, in Q1 2021. Excluding certain benefits and expenses, on an adjusted basis, net income was $360.7 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, versus $297.2 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, for the comparable 2021 period.  

First-quarter earnings per share (EPS) were $1.11 and adjusted EPS, a nongenerally accepted accounting principle measure, was $1.14 per share. Cash provided by operating activities was $705.6 million, an increase of 6.7 percent compared with the prior year. Adjusted free cash flow was $530.9 million, an increase of 14.4 percent compared with Q1 2021.  

Republic says its first-quarter net income was $352 million, or 11.9 percent of revenue. First-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $903.5 million, and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.4 percent of revenue compared with 30.7 percent during Q1 2021.   

Republic says it invested $65.6 million in acquisitions in the first quarter. This includes closing on the acquisition of US Ecology May 2. The company says the contribution from US Ecology for the remaining eight months of the year will be about $720 million for adjusted EBITDA of about $130 million, including $5 million of realized synergies.   

Total cash returned to shareholders was $349.4 million, including $203.5 million of share repurchases and $145.9 million of dividends paid. Revenue growth from average yield was 4.2 percent, and volume increased by 3.6 percent.  

Core price increased revenue by 6 percent and consisted of 7.6 percent in the open market and 3.5 percent in the restricted portion of the business. The average yield on total revenue was 4.2 percent, representing an increase of 80 basis points when compared with the Q4 performance of 2021.  

The company's average recycled commodity price per ton sold during the first quarter was $201. This represents a decrease of $17 per ton from the fourth quarter of 2021 and an increase of $68 per ton over the prior year.  

“Our results demonstrate the positive impact our strategic investments are making in the business, not only for today but for years to come,” Vander Ark says. 

Material handling dealer expands sales and service territory to include the Memphis market to sell equipment from Hyster-Yale Group.

Black Equipment, a material handling equipment dealer with headquarters in Evansville, Indiana, has expanded its sales and service territory to sell lift trucks from Cleveland-based material handling equipment maker Hyster-Yale Group Inc. The company has expanded its operations in the southern United States.   

The company has acquired the Briggs Equipment territory as the Hyster dealer in the Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Tennessee; and Jonesboro, Arkansas, markets, effective last month.  

“Memphis, Jackson and Jonesboro are very significant to Hyster and Yale, and this expansion by Black Equipment further strengthens our dedicated dealer network,” says Chuck Pascarelli, president of the Americas Division of Hyster-Yale Group. “With a proven performance record that includes 22 consecutive years of recognition as a Dealer of Excellence, we are confident in the service and expertise that Black Equipment will provide to their new customers in these markets.”   

Black Equipment is an authorized Yale dealer for these markets and will continue to operate from its existing locations. A family-owned business, the material handling dealer has grown from a single facility to 11 locations covering parts of seven states.   

“Black Equipment is a dedicated partner and industry leader in the markets we serve, and our growth is a reflection of that,” says Scott Bonnell, president of Black Equipment. “By investing in people and technology, we deliver trusted service, material handling solutions and 24-hour support that helps our customers thrive. In fact, 80 of our trained technicians are already dedicated to this region, and we look forward to welcoming our new customers with a seamless transition.”   

As part of this transaction, Briggs Equipment will take over the Black Equipment territory as the Yale dealer for Tupelo, Mississippi.   

Hyster-Yale Group Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, sells and services a line of lift trucks and aftermarket parts marketed globally primarily under the Hyster and Yale brand names. Hyster-Yale Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc.