Glen "Skip" Anthony, a senior car shredder expert, reviewed the launch of small and medium-sized paper shredders.
For fifty years, Glen "Skip" Anthony has been helping to build, design, install, and renovate automobile crushing plants in the United States and around the world. Anthony is currently the vice president of recycling services for Sargent's Equipment & Repair Service Inc. in Illinois. He has spent most of his career in St. Louis-based shredder manufacturer American Pulverizer.
In an episode of Recycling Today's "The Scrap Show" podcast, senior editor Brian Taylor interviewed Anthony to learn about his career and the broader trends and changes he has witnessed (and participated in) in the industry over 50 years. The following is an edited excerpt from a conversation with Anthony.
Skip Anthony (SA): Well, initially, it was mainly a large-scale operation that justified putting in the shredder. Moreover, the amount of scrap available at the time was not what it is today. Therefore, they must have a larger market to extract waste. In addition, their main concern at the time was to obtain clean ferrous metal scrap. The by-products that are popular today were not that important at the time. Therefore, in order to produce enough materials to make a profit, quantity means a lot.
SA: Exactly. One thing that recurred in conversations across the country was small and medium-sized enterprises that wanted to be shredded. At the same time, they can also increase profits by recycling other materials, and the best way to separate and recycle materials must be shredding. Many operators always pack and cut, or may have a niche or bring material, perform minimal processing on it, and then pass it on to a larger operation using a large shredder. The driving force is: Can anyone come up with a smaller shredder that we can afford, run at a lower output and still be profitable? I think this is the reason that pushes other companies to enter the shredder manufacturing field, thus allowing other [waste processing] companies to enter the shredder field.
SA: Well, this is one thing in this industry, it will never stand still. There are many entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks to reach different levels and find better ways of doing things. Therefore, they continue to push manufacturers to meet these needs and help them expand the market. With the emergence of several different sizes of paper shredders and different types of paper shredders for different materials, some more specialized paper shredders have appeared, because small and medium enterprises want to develop and be able to enjoy some that they have not obtained before profit.
What I see is a huge investment in training, facilities, tools, and operating attitudes, where [maintenance] is a constant part of the operation. If they maintain their equipment and perform what you do during any manufacturing process, it will produce [steel] scrap at the end of the production line and non-ferrous metals on the other side.
Government agencies in the United States and elsewhere have identified the waste recycling industry as an industry that poses a huge risk of workplace accidents.
In the United States, the Waste Recycling Industry Research Institute in Washington has been emphasizing its safety program for the past two decades. At the same time, the Shredder Committee of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) strives to better understand the time and cause of accidents at waste shredder facilities.
BIR released the "2019 BIR Shredder Safety Investigation Report" in 2020, and in early June of this year announced an updated 2020 paper shredder safety investigation report.
The report released in 2020 summarizes the results of the survey sent to BIR member companies that operate shredding plants equipped with motors of 1,000 horsepower or more.
Christopher J. Bedell, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of David J. Joseph Co., based in Cincinnati, led the investigation together with Scott Newell III and Ross Bartley of Newell Recycling Equipment of El Paso, Texas. BIR Head of trade and environment.
Although the shredder accident may remind people of the terrible results, the reality is not that serious, and no deaths were reported in the 2019 investigation.
Nonetheless, BIR survey respondents recorded several different types of lost work accidents, including at least one amputation and several contusions and fractures. The other most common injury is classified as a "foreign body in the eye."
Although conveyor belts do not perform loud or destructive processes like shredders, accidents usually occur. 20% of injuries occur during the picking process, and 18% occur during conveyor repair or maintenance work. These are two of the three biggest tasks to be performed when an injury occurs.
In the recommendations section of its 2019 report, the BIR Shredder Committee wrote that one of the best ways to prevent injuries is one of the oldest and easiest methods for managers: wear appropriate personal protective equipment.
The 40-page "2019 BIR Shredder Safety Investigation Report" can be downloaded from the BIR website www.bir.org/ShredderSafetySurvey2020.
SA: Well, it has changed tremendously, and it continues to change. ... Initially, as I said, the main goal was to clean ferrous metal materials. Then, with the development of the vortex, they are now able to remove the zorba product from the mixture. Initially, the operators are satisfied with this, and then they will select some mixed materials, and the remaining materials will either go to another processor or landfill. At first, everyone pursued easy-to-obtain results, but only a few specialized companies pursued hard-to-obtain materials.
Now, even small crushing operations of about 2,000 to 3,000 tons per month are installing equipment to try to recover all materials as much as possible. The availability of these other products significantly increases the return on investment of the system and allows smaller operators to crush and recycle materials and succeed without having to make major overinvestments to get there.
SA: This is great because you have seen the scale and type of recycling equipment being installed. I mean, think back to the eddy current and the original sensor. Now you have a machine that can perform multiple separations. You can run batches and [perform] multiple separations of different materials.
SA: We have seen such a push in automotive aluminum parts and material separation using X-ray technology and optical color sorting. These materials can now meet certain grades of requirements, enabling them to be used to make higher-quality alloys. This is a constantly changing recovery environment. They continue to introduce equipment from different industries that we never thought about 25 years ago, such as the medical industry or the food industry.
Glen "Skip" Anthony is the vice president of recycling services for Sargent's Equipment & Repair Service Inc. in Illinois. For more detailed information, please visit www.sargentsequipment.com.
The price of black scrap has maintained its value during the purchase period in July.
Although high-quality scrap gained more value during the purchase period in July, the influx of large amounts of scrap steel into the yard seems to help the supply of other ferrous scrap to catch up with demand.
Fastmarkets AMM July Export and Midwest Scrap Index pricing shows that overseas buyers are unwilling to increase the bids of domestic US buyers for scrap. At the same time, domestic buyers have to pay another US$20 per ton for high-quality, instant scrap. The prices of shredded steel scrap and No. 2 steel scrap have risen 1 heavy melting steel or HMS is flat.
Although prices did not increase in July, the fact that they just kept their value for another 30 days seems to make scrap processors happy.
"This is a good 12 months and a good time in the first half of 2021," said a waste processor on the east coast. "With very strong ferrous and non-ferrous metal prices, we have been able to expand our profit margins, and sales before the COVID are recovering," he added.
The processor said that although export prices may not soar, continued overseas demand has its benefits. “A strong container market with prepaid and CAD [through bank cashing documents] terms is very good for cash flow and can fund regular 30 to 45-day shipments in the domestic market,” he said.
The processor stated that his company invested in its paper shredder downstream system two years ago and received a handsome return, while the price of zorba "is 150% higher than before COVID," he added. "We feel good about the coming year and beyond."
The high-priced ferrous scrap market continues to be related to domestic and global demand for finished steel. Weekly steel production data from the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) shows a rebound from the darker days affected by COVID last year.
As of July 10, the year-to-date domestic steel output exceeded 48.7 million tons, and the steel plant capacity utilization (capacity) rate was 79.2%. AISI reports that this is an increase of 16.7% from the 41.7 million tons in the same period last year, when the production capacity was 66.7%.
Globally, as of May, the crude steel output of 64 countries reported to the Brussels-based World Steel Association was 837.5 million metric tons. This is an increase of 14.5% over the steel output as of May 2020.
Compared with May 2020, global production in May increased by 16.5%. Compared with May 2020, steel production in Europe, America, and Africa has increased by 33% to 65%, when many countries’ restrictions were at the strictest level.
By May, Turkish steelmakers' steel production increased by 21.2% compared to the first five months of 2020, while Indian steelmakers' production increased by 33.6%. These two countries provide a stable export market for U.S. scrap ferrous metal processors.
Ensuring supply, arranging transportation, and managing risks are still the management tasks of processors and traders, otherwise they may be satisfied with a prosperous market.
In terms of supply assurance, Peru-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steel manufacturer Aceros Arequipa took action in July to enter the US scrap market and supply its steel mills in South America.
Aceros Arequipa announced that it has agreed to purchase an automatic shredder yard in Florida, which was previously operated by Grimmel Industries in Maine. As part of the transaction, the Peruvian steelmaker will also acquire a second Grimmel shipyard in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The company’s announcement partly stated that “the main assets acquired include two 116,000 square meters (12.5 million square feet) yards, a 6,000 horsepower and 450 rpm paper shredder, and a magnetic metal separator that can Allow the isolation of non-ferrous metal materials that are mainly exported to Asia."
The EAF steelmaker stated that it hopes to supply 100,000 tons of ferrous metal scrap annually from its Florida operations to "strengthen the supply of recycled steel" for its upgraded EAF smelting plant in Pisco, Peru.
During the International Recycling Week online event in late June, shipping issues and hedging issues were discussed at a round table on ferrous metal scrap.
Ved Prakash of Gemini Corp., a secondary commodity trading company based in Belgium, said that although soaring freight rates have been a topic of frequent complaints in late 2020 and 2021, rising global ocean freight rates did not impose an undue burden on Gemini. It transports approximately 130,000 containers every year.
"The [transaction] price of the logistics cost percentage is usually about 20%," he said. He said that despite the increase in freight rates, this profit margin will be “still the same” by mid-2021 because scrap prices have also increased.
The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) in Silver Spring, Maryland reported that the number of deaths among solid waste workers has declined in the first half of 2021. The preliminary data collected by SWANA shows that it is the same as the previous three years.
SWANA Executive Director and CEO David Biderman said: "SWANA is pleased with the decline in fatal accidents recorded in the first half of 2021, which continues the year-on-year decline since 2018." "I am concerned. There is a seasonal increase in accidents and injuries in the summer. I urge government agencies, solid waste companies and other agencies to remind frontline workers of best practices and consider technological and operational changes that can improve their safety performance," he added.
According to SWANA's press release, the most common event leading to worker deaths in 2021 is being hit by abandoned vehicles or heavy equipment. Single-vehicle accidents involving garbage collection vehicles (which are the main fatal incidents for workers in 2020) have declined. Only one death this year was the result of a bicycle collision.
In addition to the number of worker deaths, SWANA also tracks public deaths in solid waste-related incidents. Compared with previous years, these fatal events in 2021 still exist on average, and 43 people have died so far. So far this year, the number of incidents of collection vehicles hitting pedestrians has increased significantly, reaching 12, compared with 13 in 2020.
Presidential executive orders can help solve maritime and rail transportation issues.
The recycling industry has always been plagued by transportation problems, whether it is trying to transport materials by truck, rail or ship.
In the trucking industry, the rates for some lanes have tripled, and some recyclers have had to deal with unreliable services. As an executive at a waste disposal company in the Midwest told me, “Going to a place for a penny and a pound no longer exists.”
The problem of trucking has been magnified to a certain extent by the pandemic, but the problem of rail services in this industry can be traced back to a longer time. For some time, recyclers have been expressing concerns about increasing demurrage fees. Changes in demurrage fees have reduced the loading and unloading time before charging starts and increased rates, to name a few.
In April of this year, when the Local Transportation Board (STB) passed a final rule on establishing minimum information requirements for Type I demurrage invoices, the Waste Recycling Industry Association (ISRI) in Washington declared victory for the recycling industry. seek.
ISRI President Robin Wiener said at the time, “STB’s rules recognize that the exchange of correct information helps prevent many misunderstandings between rail shippers and carriers.”
However, many recyclers report that the problems with Class I railways still exist. The subject of this month’s cover story, Mark, Jason, and Brad Lasky, co-owners of Sadoff Iron & Metal Co. Not a qualified driver," Jason Laski said. Due to service and availability issues, the company is considering buying or renting rail cars.
According to the assessment of the earnings report by a consulting company headquartered in Denmark, in the maritime field, although the profitability of the 11 largest shipping companies has increased, their combined EBIT in the first quarter of 2021 exceeded US$16 billion. -Intelligence, the recycling industry has found that rates have increased in certain areas of the United States, making it difficult to obtain containers and reservations
It remains to be seen whether the executive order signed by President Biden in early July will help resolve maritime and rail transport issues, but ISRI's response has been positive.
Wiener said: "We applaud President Biden for issuing this important executive order, which recognizes the systematic disruption of our country’s manufacturing supply chain and instructs his government to take all appropriate actions to help improve our transportation. The internet."
She added: “This administrative order helps our basic industry fulfill its mission of providing energy-saving, environmental protection, natural resource protection and regulatory-grade commodities that help combat climate change.”
The normal operation of the global supply chain requires timely and cost-effective transportation. Perhaps this executive order is a step in this direction.
Professionals in the recycling industry share their views on the industry.
Companies in the United States and around the world are increasingly developing and investing in new technologies and methods for recycling lithium-ion batteries. Nth Cycle, a metal processing technology company based in Boston, has been exploring new ways to recycle lithium-ion batteries in recent years.
Megan O'Connor, founder and CEO of Nth Cycle, said that she had the idea of starting a company when she was studying for a PhD at Duke University and Yale University in 2017. She had the opportunity to participate in the Green Electronics Summit hosted by Yale University. She said that R&D leaders from large electronics companies and semiconductor companies attended the event.
"While I was sitting there taking notes, I heard over and over again how end-of-life waste management, especially recycling strategies, did not work today," she said. "Listening to these pain points of people in these industries really inspired my enthusiasm. I used my background in chemistry and environmental engineering to develop technologies to try to solve this problem and create this clean but affordable technology to truly recycle these materials. To generate these new supply chains."
O'Connor changed her PhD program to help develop a process for economically and cleanly recycling materials from items such as lithium-ion batteries.
Today, Nth Cycle focuses on the use of electrical extraction technology to recover metals from end-of-life batteries and electronics, low-grade ore and tailings. Since its launch, Nth Cycle has received $3.2 million in funding from investors led by Boston-based Clean Energy Ventures.
O'Connor provided insights on Nth Cycle's business model and her goals.
Megan O'Connor (MO): I just defended my PhD. A week ago, my co-founder and I sat down for a beer in a bar in Boston and decided to start Nth Cycle. The technology shows such promise, even on a laboratory scale. As early as 2017, we really focused on recycling rare earth metals-these metals that are very critical in wind turbines and electric vehicles, and all the clean energy technologies that can truly realize the energy transition we are all fighting for... We have also studied various other materials, such as cobalt, nickel and lithium ion batteries, as well as tailings and raw ore.
MO: What makes us different from others is that we are clean, stable and very low-cost. We have filtration technology-instead of using strong acids or very large, dirty furnaces, we can actually pull these metals out in a cleaner and more efficient way.
MO: The vision of Nth Cycle is to truly realize a world where all the key materials needed for an energy transition are already in circulation. Our mission is to realize the low-impact and simplified supply of these minerals through electric extraction technology to realize the energy transition. Therefore, I think Nth Cycle is an additional technology for all these players in the industry who collect this material or have resources that have not yet been developed due to environmental regulations, because the existing technology is too dirty to be like today use. Therefore, we can really use this new technology to help develop all these resources and create this new supply chain.