Anticipated leveling of Noida Supertech “twin towers” takes place in late August.

Throughout the year, media coverage in India has been thorough regarding the end of a prolonged court battle and, eventually, preparations to implode two 40-story unfinished buildings known as the Noida Supertech twin towers.

A timeline of the ill-fated towers, prepared by The Hindu shows developer Supertech spent years revising and adding to its plans to build on land it had acquired in the Noida section of New Delhi.

A 2012 revision that called for two towers to be built to 40 stories high was battled in court by residents and owners of nearby properties.

As early as 2014, a court in India ordered demolition of the still under-construction towers. It was not until late August of last year, however, that the Supreme Court of India ordered “demolition within three months.” The court cited violations including “violation of rules like minimum 16-meter (52 feet) distance between buildings and the new construction coming up in [an] area marked for green space,” according to The Hindu.

After delays and an implosion target date in May that was not met, the unfinished towers came down Aug. 28 with the use of some 8,150 pounds of explosives, according to The Week.

That publication indicates the towers became the tallest structures in the nation’s history to undergo demolition. The Week also indicates about 5,000 nearby residents and their 200 or so pets were temporarily evacuated before the implosion process took place. “The closest buildings next to twin towers are Aster 2 and Aster 3 of Emerald Court society, which are just nine meters [less than 30 feet] away,” the report says.

From the implosion scene, The Times of India quotes Ritu Maheshwari, CEO of the Noida Authority, as saying the implosion was successful and was quickly followed by cleaning work and air quality monitoring activities.

It quotes a staff member of Mumbai-based contractor Edifice Engineering as saying, “I was just 70 meters (230 feet) away from the building. The demolition was 100 percent successful. It took 9 or 10 seconds for the entire building to demolish. There were 10 people in my team, including seven foreign experts, and 20 to 25 people from Edifice Engineering.”

According to media reports, South Africa-based Jet Demolition Ltd. was the foreign subcontractor with implosion experience that took part in the project.

A video of the implosion from three different angles can be viewed here.

Effort could lead to dismantling work and scrap metal harvesting.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) says it has awarded an initial $560 million from the federal infrastructure law to 24 states to begin work to plug, cap and reclaim orphaned oil and gas wells.

The department says 22 states will receive $25 million each to go toward such work, while “Arkansas and Mississippi will receive $5 million each to support methane measurement and begin plugging wells.”

Eligible states have indicated there are more than 10,000 “high-priority” well sites across the country ready for immediate remediation efforts, according to the DOI, with “many more lined up for future action.”

Methane leaking from unplugged wells is called “a serious safety hazard and is a significant cause of climate change, being more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere,” the DOI says.

“At the Department of the Interior, we are working on multiple fronts to clean up these sites as quickly as we can by investing in efforts on federal lands and partnering with states and Tribes to leave no community behind,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says. “Today’s announcement is exciting progress toward what we will accomplish together through this historic law.”

Initial plans of the states involved indicate: 15 states will utilize initial grant funding to set up methane measuring capacity while six states—including California, Mississippi and West Virginia—have committed to measuring methane before and immediately after remediation; 12 states—including Kansas, New Mexico and Ohio—have prioritized capping wells in disadvantaged communities; states including Arizona, Louisiana and Montana will prioritize job creation and preference to small businesses through their contracting process, according to the DOI.

As of 2021, states had identified more than 129,000 orphaned wells on state and private land, though that number could grow after further records research, improved well location techniques and increased site inspections and data collection nationwide. Kentucky and Oklahoma may have more than 1,000 such sites.

In the Western U.S., Montana-based scrap recycler Pacific Steel & Recycling has been involved with a not-for-profit called the Well Done Foundation (also based in Montana) to help dismantle dozens of orphaned oil and gas wells in that state.

Mike Tinkey served as chief financial officer since joining Eagle Crusher in 2002.

Eagle Crusher Co. Inc., Galion, Ohio, recently announced Mike Tinkey has been promoted to president of the company effective immediately. Susanne Cobey, who previously served as president, will remain as CEO of the company.   

According to a news release, Tinkey served as chief financial officer since joining Eagle Crusher in 2002. Previously Tinkey served as CEO of Holbrook & Manter Inc.; chief financial officer for Ohio Industries Inc.; and accounting and audit manager for Ciuni & Panichi Inc.   

“I have been with Eagle Crusher Co. for nearly 48 years, 32 as president and CEO. I have worked closely with Mike for the past 20 years,” Cobey says. “Already handling many of the responsibilities that the role of president entails, Mike is well positioned for his new role.”  

Tinkey says he initially joined Eagle Crusher because of the unique business model Cobey created, capitalizing on the ever-changing crushing industry while always keeping the needs of customers paramount.   

“It is a privilege to be a part of a company that delivers the highest quality crushing and screening equipment, innovative solutions and phenomenal service and support to all our customers,” Tinkey says. “I look forward to working closely with Susanne and our entire team to usher in Eagle Crusher’s next chapter of growth and success.”  

Eagle Crusher manufactures a full line of heavy-duty crushing and screening equipment for the recycling, concrete, asphalt, aggregate and sand and gravel industries. This includes the Eagle Crusher line of heavy-duty impact crushers, portable crushing and screening plants, jaw crushers, hammermills, and conveyors.  

Eagle Crusher says it developed the structural steel-frame jaw crusher and pioneered high-volume portable crushing equipment for the construction-and-demolition debris recycling industry. 

ISRI chapter will play several roles at Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference, Oct. 19-20.

The Paper Stock Industries (PSI) chapter of the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) is preparing to play several roles at the 2022 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference, which is taking place Oct. 19-20 at the Marriott Marquis Chicago.

PSI will host and moderate two sessions at the event: Moving Materials Revisited, Wednesday, Oct. 19; and OCC/Mixed Paper, Thursday, Oct. 20.

At the freight-focused Wednesday session, Nini Krever of New Jersey-based Wilmington Paper Corp. will moderate a panel that also includes Matt Schrap of Long Beach, California-based Harbor Trucking Association; Karyn Booth of the Washington office of law firm Thompson Hine LLP; and Krissy Van Niekerk from Denmark-based transoceanic container shipping line Maersk.

“Trucking and container shipping began presenting challenges during the pandemic that were exacerbated last year and continued into 2022,” PSI says of its intended focus during the session. The ISRI chapter says it will follow up on its conversation from the 2021 event on the same topic, “looking at what has changed and what remains the same in the areas of trucking and ocean shipping.”

Speakers will offer advice on how to manage transportation-related headaches and provide insights on when the situation might change, PSI says.

Shawn State of Georgia-based Pratt Industries will moderate the Thursday session focusing on old corrugated containers (OCC) and mixed paper. Speakers at the session include John Grinnell of Ohio-based Greif; Sean Davidson from pricing service provider Davis Index; and Jeff Ryalls of Massachusetts-based International Forest Products LLC.

Regarding the state of those sectors, PSI says, “OCC demand continues to rise after record consumption in 2021 and notable containerboard projects are in the works, resulting in historic pricing. This session looks at the dynamics shaping markets for two broadly generated recovered fiber grades—OCC and mixed paper.”

Another PSI member with a visible role at the 2022 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference will be PSI Secretary/Treasurer Kathy DeLano of Dallas-based Texas Recycling, who will participate in the Commodity Focus: High Grades session, Thursday, Oct. 20.

On the networking side of event, PSI says it will host a reception Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 8:30-10:30 p.m. at event venue Marriott Marquis Chicago, before conference sessions begin the next day. “In addition to being an ideal networking forum, this special event will help raise funds for PSI’s 2023 scholarship program,” the chapter says.

More information about the conference, organized by the Recycling Today Media Group, and its schedule can be found here, while those seeking to register can go directly to this page. 

With financing led by B Capital Ascent Fund, CurbWaste says it will increase its product, engineering and implementation teams to further grow its reach.

CurbWaste has announced the closing of $6 million in funding led by B Capital Ascent Fund, bringing the company’s total financing to $7.2 million. This new round of financing also comes from Mucker Capital, which has one of the most successful vertical software as a service (SaaS) portfolios in venture.

The New York City-based company provides a SaaS solution that is designed to help waste service companies manage and streamline their operations from haul to disposal.

Waste haulers deal with a host of complicated elements, ranging from where, how often and what is picked up to employee manifests divided by routes and partnerships with other companies to deal with collected waste on the back end, the company says. CurbWaste says it helps companies collect, understand and leverage their data so they can spend time on high-conviction, high-return activities.

CurbWaste founder and CEO Michael Marmo says, “CurbWaste’s mission is to provide waste haulers with the necessary tools to make their business successful and continue to service their communities safely and effectively.” 

Since its initial preseed investment, CurbWaste says it has implemented a solution for customer and order management, real-time dispatch and automated billing with waste industry customers in the U.S. This new funding will allow the company to build industry-specific products that give haulers and their customers a new and more informed way of dealing with their waste.

"The waste industry provides a core utility that is necessary for our society,” says Howard Morgan, chair of B Capital, who is based in New York City. “We are excited about CurbWaste’s ability to change the waste landscape because they have the right team building the right tools that will help haulers and waste companies thrive in an increasingly digital, on-demand world."

Will Hsu, co-founder and partner at Mucker Capital, Santa Monica, California, adds, “Running a waste company is much more than picking up trash and bringing it to a dump. The day-to-day operations can change minute to minute. Michael Marmo knows this firsthand. He started his career in waste working at a transfer station scale, weighing trucks in and out. We know the main objective is to make the customer successful and he works toward that goal relentlessly.”