Association announces ferrous and stainless session panelists for its mid-September Roundtables event in Chicago.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, has announced the panelists for two of the sessions at its 2022 Roundtables event in Chicago next month.

At the ferrous scrap session, scheduled for Sept. 14, panelists will include Sean Davidson of pricing service Davis Index and Blake Hurtik from Argus Media. The session will be moderated by Andy Dumes of Ohio-based Cohen Recycling.

Later the same day, the nickel/stainless steel roundtable will be moderated by Michael Friedman of Kentucky-based Sustainable Management Corp. Speakers at the session will include metals industry analyst Edward Meir of London-based ED&F Man Capital and Paul White of the Lisbon-based International Nickel Study Group.               

ISRI describes its annual Roundtables as “the largest yearly gathering of [metal] traders, processors and consumers in the recycling industry for the purpose of setting up the deals that will dominate the next year.”

More information on the Sept. 14-16 event, including the full schedule, can be found here.

The company says the effort launches retailers' participation in the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup Program.

Midwest retailer Meijer is launching its participation in the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup Program with the use of the BeBot and Pixie Drone. The goal is to clean up Midwestern beaches and waterways in partnership with the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR).  

According to a news release from Meijer, this initiative is supporting the single-largest deployment of these types of eco-friendly and remote-controlled devices across multiple states in the Great Lakes, which encompass the largest surface freshwater system in the world.  

"It is a privilege to live near the Great Lakes, which inherently comes with the responsibility to protect them," says Meijer President and CEO Rick Keyes. "Contributing to the conservation of these invaluable waterways is important to the well-being of our ecosystems, economy and the communities we serve. Meijer has a strong history of environmental stewardship, and we're pleased to partner with the CGLR because the impact these initiatives will make will ultimately benefit generations to come."  

Beginning this month, Meijer and the CGLR will lead cleanup projects at beaches, marinas and waterways in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. It is in partnership with various community, state and environmental nongovernment organization partners. 

Helping with the clean up are BeBot and Pixie Drone. BiBot is a remote-controlled electric beach cleaning robot that cleans 32,000 square feet per hour. It rakes through the sand without altering the beach environment and collects plastic litter and other waste, including cigarette butts, in a basket for disposal and recycling. Pixie Drone is a remote-controlled water drone that can collect up to 200 pounds of material per use. The drone will navigate through marinas and other waterways to collect plastic litter and other debris floating on the surface of the water. It also will collect other water data, such as temperature, pH, salinity, turbidity and dissolved oxygen.  

Representatives from the Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute (GVSU-AWRI) will operate the equipment along the Muskegon lakeshore.  

"Microplastics have become one of the most pressing issues facing our waterways, both in the Great Lakes and on a global scale," says Al Steinman, the Allen and Helen Hunting Research professor at GVSU-AWRI. "It is critical to resolving the microplastic dilemma, not only for the ecology of our local waters but also for the economy of our coastal communities, who visit and recreate on our beaches and lakes with the expectation they are clean and pollutant-free. The BeBot and Pixie Drone will help ensure those expectations are met."   

The BeBot and Pixie Drone were funded by a $1 million donation Meijer made to the charitable arm of the CGLR, the CGLR Foundation, earlier this year. The deployment of these devices is part of the expansion of the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup's plastic capture and recovery effort, an initiative that was started in 2020 by the CGLR and Pollution Probe.  

"The Great Lakes, which are at the heart of the binational Great Lakes economic region, are a globally significant natural resource," says Mark Fisher, the president and CEO of CGLR. "By partnering with companies like Meijer, we are able to keep our beaches and waterways clean and free of plastic litter as we work to ensure the materials we use as consumers never become waste by adopting a circular economy mindset in the region."  

Meijer is also working on various store-level projects that impact the Great Lakes. This includes one with the CGLR to install gutter bin stormwater filtration systems at select Meijer supercenters. The gutter bins will capture and prevent trash, debris, microplastics and other harmful stormwater pollutants from flowing into nearby waterways. Each bin captures hundreds of pounds of pollution per year.  

The retailer is in the midst of two additional stormwater projects to retrofit the parking lots at its Traverse City and Benton Harbor supercenters with green infrastructure and is continuing its partnership with the Alliance for the Great Lakes on a handful of beach cleanup efforts.   

"The Great Lakes are an area of immense value, and we are proud to be hands-on in the protection of these local waterways," says Erik Petrovskis, director of environmental compliance and sustainability at Meijer.  

See them in action here.

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. 

Supply chain disruptions and staffing issues are among the factors contributing to the closure.

Columbia Steel Castings Co., Portland, Oregon, says it will close its plant and all its facilities in Portland, with closure-related employment separations expected to begin Oct. 22 or within two weeks thereafter.

Columbia Steel manufactures a variety of steel and iron parts for basic industry, including wear parts for metal and waste shredders. The company was founded in 1901, according to its website, and ultimately acquired by Hobart M. Bird, whose descendants continue to operate Columbia.

In a letter dated Aug. 22, 2022, that Marth B. Cox, president and CEO of Columbia Steel, sent to employees, she writes: “It is with deep sadness I need to inform you of the plan to close Columbia Steel by the end of this year. I understand the impact this will have on our hard-working employees and their families. The Bird family priorities have always been first to employees, then retirees, vendors, customers and our environmental responsibilities. Unfortunately, our efforts to secure a new owner or financing for Columbia Steel have not come to fruition.”

Cox writes that the effects of offshore competition that often is government subsidized, supply chain disruptions, COVID-related restrictions on sales travel, increased state and local environmental regulations and fees on energy-intensive industries and the inability to hire and retain sufficient employees to produce castings at a sustainable level, even after substantial pay increases, have contributed to the decision to close the 121-year-old company.  

She adds, “While Columbia Steel will continue to seek additional financing and to have discussions with various companies about purchasing its facilities and maintaining operations, there is no guarantee that this will happen.”

The company also sent a letter dated Aug. 22 to Rachel Soto, interim rapid response coordinator at the Oregon Dislocated Worker Unit Office of Workforce Investments at the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, about the closure and employee terminations as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988.

According to the letter to Soto, the plant closure is expected to be permanent, and 225 employees will be laid off.

Recycling Today has reached out to Columbia for information on the company's ability to fulfill orders prior to the closure and will update this story once we have a response.

RMDO facestocks feature 30-percent-recycled content.

Avery Dennison Labels and Packaging Materials, Mentor, Ohio, has introduced two machine-direction orientation, or MDO, film products with postconsumer recycled, or PCR, content. The new rMDO white and rMDO clear filmic facestocks enable brands to improve packaging sustainability and stay ahead of changing regulations for a broad range of household, personal care, cosmetic and food products, the company says.

RMDO facestocks contain 30 percent postconsumer recycled content, creating “a slightly less uniform appearance that consumers identify with eco-friendly packaging,” Avery Dennison says.

The white and clear rMDO facestocks feature good print quality with digital and conventional inks; perform like other film facestocks during printing, dispatching and application; and are suitable for curved, contoured, conformable and squeezable packaging, according to the company. Plus, they are paired with AD CleanFlake technology to enable recycling of rigid plastic packaging. 

“These new products are ideal for brands seeking to increase the recycled content in their packaging and connect with consumers looking for more eco-friendly products,” says Anh Marella, marketing director – Films at Avery Dennison Labels and Packaging Materials. “They also meet the needs of converters by integrating recycled content into the label without compromising print and application performance.”

Avery Dennison Corp., headquartered in Glendale, California, is a global materials science and manufacturing company specializing in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of labeling and functional materials. The company’s products include pressure-sensitive materials for labels and graphic applications; tapes and other bonding solutions for industrial, medical and retail applications; tags, labels and embellishments for apparel; and radio-frequency identification (RFID) solutions serving retail apparel and other markets.