The company will spend the next two years building a $40 million recycling facility at a county-owned landfill to recycle plastic, metal and cardboard.

Freepoint Eco-Systems LLC, Houston, and The Bartow County Resource Recovery Development Authority (RRDA), Georgia, have agreed to a 20-year municipal solid waste recycling contract.   

Under the terms of the agreement, Freepoint Eco-Systems will build a $40 million recycling facility at the Bartow County-owned landfill to separate plastic, metal and cardboard from scrap that has been delivered to the landfill. Once separated, Freepoint Eco-Systems will deliver the recovered material to the appropriate market, where it will be recycled into new plastic, metal containers and cardboard.  

"Freepoint Eco-Systems is delighted to partner with Bartow County and the RRDA to reduce the amount of recyclable scrap that ends up in landfills,” says Jeff McMahon, CEO of Freepoint Eco-Systems. “This partnership will significantly increase the recycling rate in Bartow County, reduce the amount of nonbiodegradable materials in its landfill, extend the life of the landfill and close the loop to a more sustainable economy. This agreement is an important step in Freepoint Eco-System's wider commitment to recycling worldwide."   

The project will be built in Cartersville, Georgia, and is expected to divert about 30 percent of the county's scrap from the landfill to the recycling markets and convert it to recycled products. According to Freepoint, the city produces about 33,000 tons of scrap annually. The Freepoint Eco-Systems recycling facility is expected to become operational in the first half of 2024.   

Totall Metal Recycling began by providing toll processing for scrap wire granulation.

Ulm, Germany-based Wieland, a manufacturer of semifinished products in copper and copper alloys, has acquired Totall Metal Recycling, Granite City, Illinois, which processes a wide range of metal scrap and other recyclables. The transaction closed April 29.

Totall was formed in 1993 to provide toll processing of scrap wire. Today, the company purchases and recycles copper scrap, electronic scrap, lead, tin, zinc, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, titanium, residues and other recyclables. The company serves industrial clients throughout North America and currently processes approximately 100,000 tons of scrap per year.

Wieland says the company “perfectly integrates” into its North American operations being located near Wieland’s foundry in East Alton, Illinois, and its future recycling center in Shelbyville, Kentucky, which is expected to begin operations in 2023.

“The integration of Totall Metal Recycling’s experienced team and partner network expands our recycling capabilities and accelerates the execution of our sustainability and recycling strategy, especially in terms of material processing capabilities,” Wieland CEO Erwin Mayr says. “I am happy that the leadership team will remain in place, continue to drive the successful development of Totall Metal Recycling and also contribute to Wieland’s recycling agenda overall. Furthermore, this acquisition once more underscores Wieland´s commitment to continue to invest and grow in North America.”

The packaging company says ABB's software will be integrated across its Kemsley Mill in the United Kingdom.

DS Smith, a paper packaging producer based in the United Kingdom, has announced a new contract with Swedish technology company ABB to futureproof operations and strengthen cybersecurity functionality at its Kemsley Mill in the U.K.

The paper mill, located in Kent in South East England, is the largest mill for recycled paper in the U.K. and second largest in Europe with an annual production capacity of approximately 840,000 tons, producing light medium which DS Smith says is the first recycled lightweight paper manufactured in the U.K.

In a news release announcing the contract, ABB says it is supporting Kemsley Mill's evolution with the ABB Ability System 800xA distributed control system (DCS) and paper machine drives upgrade across the PM3, PM4 and PM6 machines. According to ABB, the upgraded DCS will be integrated across the mill to work as the backbone that connects everything securely in one system for more automated functionality and easier maintenance.

"ABB's consultation, involving numerous remote workshops and ongoing discussions, helped us define the best approach for our modernization project," Kemsley Mill Manager Ben Jennings says. "The team showed real expertise and understanding of our future ambitions and will act as a partner to us in our digital transformation journey."

ABB also will provide a one-year support contract, the latest cybersecurity set-up and new two virtual measurements for PM4, which will provide online calculations for strength and weight. The system is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of this year and DS Smith says a "progressive implementation of the system will align with the planned maintenance program in the successive months."

"DS Smith is a leading European and U.S. paper manufacturer with a clear vision for their future operations," says Jan-Willem Bos, regional industry lead, ABB Pulp and Paper. "The Kemsley Mill is a great example of a facility with the foresight to plan for the bigger digitalization rapidly emerging in the pulp and paper industry. We're please to build on our longstanding relationship and work closely with DS Smith to drive their strategic evolution."

DS Smith has made several investments in the past several years into automation and technology at the Kemsley Mill. In August of last year, the company invested in 10 automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to increase sustainability and efficiency. The all-electric Rocla vehicles supplied by Mitsubishi Logisnext Europe Oy, headquartered in Amsterdam, perform a variety of tasks around the warehouse, including collecting reels from the production conveyor, storing reels and picking reels for orders. When the AGVs aren't tasked with work, they automatically switch to housekeeping mode, rotating stocks in order of age and consolidating stocks to maximize warehouse capacity.

Jennings said last year, "The recent boom in e-commerce has increased the demand for our papers and packaging. Every day, around 2,400 tons of paper leaves the Kemsley Mill and so it's critical that our talented team has the latest innovations to benefit our people, customers and the environment."

In a recent trading update issued to investors, DS Smith Group Chief Executive Miles Roberts said the company expects up to $768 million in adjusted operating profits for its fiscal year, which ended in April. He cited "continued momentum [with] good progress in profitability and cash generation" during the previous six months.

The company says all grades of URB will go up $50 per ton in the U.S. and Canada.

Packaging producer Sonoco, based in Hartsville, South Carolina, has announced it is implementing a price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) in the United States and Canada, effective with shipments beginning May 30.

The company is increasing its URB pricing by $50 per ton and says the change reflects continued tight market conditions and inflationary pressures on manufacturing costs, including energy, freight, chemicals, packaging materials and labor.

"Unfortunately, the conditions that challenged us in 2021 have not dissipated in 2022," says Tim Davis, division vice president and general manager, paper – U.S. and Canada for Sonoco. "We continue to be challenged by strong demand, increasing backlogs and inflating costs."

Sonoco recently released its first-quarter financial results for 2022, noting record sales compared with 2021. The company's net sales were $1.77 billion compared with $1.35 billion in Q1 2021. At the time, Sonoco President and CEO Howard Coker said the company's first-quarter earnings benefited from strong price/cost recover across most of its business, adding he was "very please with their better-than-expected first-quarter results."

Coker also noted that supply chain issues have prompted Sonoco to delay the conversion of its Hartsville paper machined from corrugated medium to URB to the third quarter of this year, saying the delay is expected to result in less downtime and "should provide more favorable results in our Industrial Paper Packaging segment in the second quarter."

U.S.-made SSI shredder prepares material for Japan’s Kayama Kogyo Co. Ltd.

A slow-speed high-torque shredder made in the United States is playing a critical role in a Japanese company’s effort to obtain energy recovery value from difficult-to-recycle material.

According to SSI Shredding Systems Inc., based in the U.S., the installation at a Kayama Kogyo Co. Ltd. facility in Toyokawa, Japan, was undertaken to accomplish several waste and recycling-related goals.

SSI describes Kayama, which was established in 1961, as specializing in waste collection, transportation, disposal and recycling. The company conducts its own research into disposal and recycling technologies with the objective of creating a sustainable and healthy environment, says the equipment maker.

“We very much enjoy working with Kayama,” says Rich Ellis, Asia market sales manager for SSI. “Kayama is a progressive company working to make the world a better place.”

An SSI Quad Q100SD at the Toyokawa Plant is “one of many SSI shredder installations that Kayama owns and operates,” according to SSI.

At Toyokawa, the SSI four-shaft shredder serves as both a primary shredder and a “size reducing powerhouse,” says the equipment provider.

A video posted by SSI to its website says materials fed into the Q100SD include mixed waste, fishnet and super sacks.

In Toyokawa, the QuadQ100SD blades are spaced 2.5-inches (65 millimeters, or mm) apart while the screen size for outbound material is set at four inches (100 mm). The shredding setup has been designed to process a variety of materials and produce a small, consistent particle size, says SSI, to “create an environmentally friendly fuel material.”

A magnet placed between the four-shaft shredder and the outbound material also recovers ferrous scrap for recycling. A hand picker working the outbound material line is on hand for additional quality control measures.

SSI describes the Q100 as being “known as multipurpose shredders because they are designed to work like a two-shaft shredder when the internal screen is removed, or as a sizing shredder that’s able to shred, liberate and reduce a wide range of commingled materials without overly thick metals, in one pass.”

It lists aluminum extrusions, electronic scrap, obsolete appliances, material recovery facility (MRF) residuals, plastic scrap, carpet and paper mill ragger wire as materials successfully handled by installed Q11 models.

Kayama president and CEO Junichiro Kayama says the shredding system has been crucial toward its main goal of landfill diversion of materials that do not commonly have mechanical recycling outcomes. He also is complimentary of SSI equipment.

“We currently have three SSI shredders in operation,” the CEO says. “They are capable of processing extremely difficult materials, which makes them very useful. Also, the customer service has been amazing, which has given us peace of mind.”