Sennebogen partnered with Cronimet to develop the new battery-powered material handler.
Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH, a metal recycling and trading company based in Karlsruhe, Germany, has deployed the new Sennebogen 825 Electro Battery scrap handler at its facility in Karlsruhe.
According to a news release from Straubing, Germany-based Sennebogen, the company partnered with Cronimet to develop the 825 Electro Battery machine. The new battery-powered handler combines the flexibility of traditional diesel-powered excavators with the benefits of a zero-emission electric excavator that also features lower maintenance and energy costs, say the firms.
The Sennebogen 825 Electro Battery model is based on the Sennebogen 825 E model with a 110-kilowatt electric motor. The new model features an operating weight of about 30 tons and range of 14 meters, the same as on the 825 E model. The 825 Electro’s power storage unit, a lithium-ion battery pack with 378 kilowatt hours of storage capacity installed at the rear of the machine in place of the counterweight, enables the machine to operate for up to eight hours without intermediate charging. When used stationary by cable, the scrap handler can work and charge at the same time.
According to a news release from Cronimet, the electric handler can be connected to conventional power sockets through an onboard charger and 63A CEE plug system, which ensures there is no need to invest in additional charging columns.
Sennebogen says the 825 Electro Battery model features a comfortable cab environment for operators, as it is quieter and has lower vibrations compared with a traditional diesel-powered unit.
The companies say the Electro Battery model “enables completely emission-free work” to help Cronimet reduce CO2 emissions at its operations.
Marijo Zeljko, managing director of Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH, says the project to develop the 825 Electro Battery was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.
“With this innovation project, we are taking a decisive step on the road to CO2 neutrality,” Zeljko says. “Electrification of our machinery is a key component of our climate strategy.”
Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH operates nine material handlers at its facility in Karlsruhe. The facility processes about 140,000 metric tons of stainless steel scrap and other alloyed scrap per year. Cronimet plans to use the new battery-powered model to feed the site’s baler, preparing material for the baler and for sorting work in its inbound inventory department.
Sennebogen says the Sennebogen 825 Electro Battery will be on display at Bauma 2022 Oct. 24-31, which will take place in Munich.
The company has acquired Monument Waste Services and Rocky Mountain Sanitation, both based in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Republic Services, Phoenix, has acquired two waste collection companies based in Grand Junction, Colorado, according to a joint Sept. 1 letter sent to customers.
The acquisitions of Monument Waste Services and Rocky Mountain Sanitation represent a notable expansion into western Colorado, building upon Republic’s already ample service area, which includes cities like Denver, Boulder and Aspen.
“We’re delighted to bring the experience and expertise of two trusted waste disposal companies, Monument Waste Services and Rocky Mountain Sanitation, together to join one team. We are now one local, combined team with the support from a national environmental services company,” reads the Sept. 1 letter.
The letter also states the two companies will bring a combined 80 employees to Republic’s existing team of more than 500 employees in the state.
According to its website, family-owned Monument Waste Services was founded in 2016 by Dan Kirkpatrick. Since starting operations, the company has quickly grown its market area with the acquisitions of Mesa Disposal Services, Evergreen Waste Services, Grand Valley Services, Commercial Refuse Service and the S-Road Facility.
The company states the S-Road Facility Landfill is a non-hazardous waste disposal site located about 8.5 miles northwest of Mack, Colorado. Under the ownership of Monument Waste Services, the landfill has undergone significant upgrades, including the installation of a Geosynthetic Clay Liner system in a new disposal cell.
As reported by the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, a western Colorado newspaper, Rocky Mountain Sanitation was founded in 1997 by Lisa and Loren Mullen. Described by the couple as the “oldest locally owned waste removal company in Mesa County,” the company has changed drastically since its start—quickly growing from a two-truck and one-employee operation in the basement of the Mullens’ home.
The recent purchases of Rocky Mountain Sanitation and Monument Waste Services mark Republic’s third and fourth acquisitions of this year. In an August earnings report, company executives noted plans to invest over $600 million in the recycling and solid waste space in 2022.
Republic declined to comment on the transactions but told Waste Today in an email that the company “is committed to growing the company through strategic and tuck-in acquisitions that leverage our core capabilities and expertise while enhancing and expanding the environmental services we provide to our customers.”
Through this partnership, RubiconSmartCity technology will be available on the Samsara App Marketplace.
Rubicon Technologies Inc., a digital marketplace and provider of software-based products for the waste and recycling industry based in Lexington, Kentucky, has partnered with San Francisco-based Samsara Inc. to help its municipal customers.
Samsara offers Connected Operations Cloud, which is built to access, analyze and act on operations data. Data sharing on Samsara’s application programming interface provides customers with a single source to improve efficiency, reduce costs and maintain operations. Rubicon offers its RubiconSmartCity cloud-based technology suite to help municipal governments manage heavy-duty waste and recycling fleet operations.
According to a news release from Rubicon, RubiconSmartCity is now available on the Samsara App Marketplace to improve efficiency and sustainability in government fleets. Shared municipal customers will have access to fault codes, speeding, fuel level and GPS data, as well as visibility into vehicle diagnostics information to improve safety and transparency.
“With billions of data points flowing through Samsara each day, we’re able to act as a command center for customers to run every part of their municipal operations,” says Sean McGee, vice president of Platform and Infrastructure at Samsara. “Through this integration, we look forward to coupling the scale of Samsara’s Connected Operations Cloud with Rubicon’s smart city technology to give customers the visibility they need to provide smarter and safer citizen services.”
Conor Riffle, senior vice president of Smart Cities at Rubicon, says Rubicon’s mission is to end waste, and he says this partnership helps to achieve that goal. He says, “Our mission refers to waste in the physical sense but also to wasted time and, in the case of Rubicon’s smart city technology products, wasted government resources. This technology partnership with Samsara allows both companies to deliver a superior solution for city solid waste departments and fleets as a whole, while continuing to save taxpayer dollars.”
With investment from Koch Technology Solutions, Ioniqa hopes to expand its ability to recycle colored PET, reaching food-quality standards.
Koch Technology Solutions, (KTS), a Koch Engineered Solutions company, and Ioniqa Technologies B.V. have announced a partnership to scale up and commercialize Ioniqa’s advanced polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling technology. As part of this collaboration, KTS, Wichita, Kansas, has committed to investing up to 30 million pounds in Ioniqa, which is based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Ioniqa has developed a process that uses low-grade postconsumer PET to produce a feedstock that displaces virgin raw materials used in the production of polyester products. Ioniqa has successfully demonstrated this technology in The Netherlands’ 10KTA production facility. “After the scaling of our technology to a 10KTA depolymerization plant in The Netherlands, this KTS partnership is a major steppingstone for Ioniqa in commercializing its technology on a global level,” Ioniqa CEO and founder Tonnis Hooghoudt says. “Our expertise in breaking down plastic waste into virgin-like monomers matches seamlessly with KTS’ track record in designing and licensing PET production processes worldwide. We believe that together we can meet the strong market demand for recycled PET materials by jointly providing licenses and cleaning up the planet.” The demand in the PET market currently runs at about 30 million metric tons per year. On its website, Ioniqa says it upcycles “all sorts of PET, even colored PET.” The company, which received a loan from the Coca-Cola Co. in 2018, says recycling colored PET has not been possible until now, but the raw material produced by the company’s depolymerization process results in plastics suitable for food packaging and identical to those produced from oil. During depolymerization, the plastic is submerged in a solution, such as water or glycol. The molecular structure of the polymer, which consists of identical units (the monomers), will then slowly start to dissolve. With the raw material that Ioniqa harvests, the company produces new, clear PET bottles that are food safe. “KTS has a long history in the polyester industry, and we recognize the value proposition of this disruptive technology that will fundamentally change how recycling is done,” KTS President Adam Sackett says. “With an aligned vision on the future of PET recycling, we’re excited to launch this partnership with Ioniqa and leverage our complementary capabilities to advance solutions which are tailored to the needs of the market.” KTS and Ioniqa’s partnership will address the growing demand for recycled content in the PET market and drive a circular process that addresses the environmental impacts of the current PET industry. Related articles: The Recycling Partnership launches PET Recycling Coalition | Bottle-to-bottle PET recycling makes gains
While Natura PCR will remain independent, working with WM will help it increase its PCR feedstock, while WM will expand its end market for plastic film.
WM, Houston, has announced that it has agreed to acquire a controlling interest in Houston-based Avangard Innovative’s U.S. business, which will operate as Natura PCR—an independent company expected to scale and grow recycling capacity to produce an estimated 400 million pounds per year of postconsumer resin (PCR) in five years. The transaction is expected to close in late 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Through Natura PCR, WM says it expects to deliver new recycling capabilities for its customers and provide circular solutions for films and clear plastic wrap used commercially, such as plastic stretch wrap for pallets, furniture film, grocery bags, and potentially shrink wrap around food and beverage containers. “WM’s controlling interest in Natura PCR positions us to grow and scale rapidly in the emerging PCR space,” WM President and CEO Jim Fish says. “WM’s core material supply capabilities, with the head start and knowledge provided by Avangard’s U.S. business, will help Natura PCR quickly deliver circular options to WM’s customers as an important component of our continued growth strategy in recycling. Today, there is so much untapped potential to reuse film—which impacts many of our commercial customers. We can help our customers close the loop and bring more recycled materials to the store shelf.” Leading materials science company, Dow, Midland, Michigan, has been working with WM to help increase the recycling rate of plastics and create sustainable solutions in packaging, infrastructure and consumer applications. Dow also has been working with Avangard Innovative since early 2020, purchasing the company’s PCR pellets to produce Revoloop, Dow’s product line with PCR content. “We have been working with both companies to increase the use of recycled plastic in Dow’s products, and Natura PCR brings together capabilities that will unlock more options for hard-to-recycle plastics for the industry,” says Nestor de Mattos, North America commercial vice president of packaging and specialty plastics at Dow. “Natura PCR further expands at scale, waste-to-market solutions across North America and advances our goal to help divert plastics from landfills to circular solutions.” Natura PCR will focus on the mechanical recycling of film and flexible plastics—some of the most complex plastics in the recycling stream today—and convert these materials to PCR that can be used to manufacture new products replacing virgin materials. These streams comprise almost a quarter of today’s plastic generation, but only about 5 percent is recycled today. Demand for PCR is expected to grow in response to consumer-packaged goods companies’ commitments to use recycled content and pressures from consumers and regulators to increase the PCR content in the packaging materials the companies manufacture. WM has demonstrated a track record of collecting materials from commercial streams for the feedstock needed to produce PCR content and expects its materials sourcing expertise will enable it to increase the supply of PCR pellets that Natura PCR can produce for use in new products. “This transaction helps the business quickly scale operations, maximize source feedstock and meet the continued rise in demand for environmental additives, such as recycled plastic resin,” Avangard Innovative CEO Rick Perez says. “After 30 years in the recycling business, WM’s significant involvement, coupled with the strong relationship with Dow and other customers, will set Natura PCR up to offer the most innovative end-to-end circular economy solution in the market.” WM says Natura PCR plans to expand its recycling capabilities at Avangard’s existing plant in Waller, Texas, and build new plant capacity in the Midwest. Natura PCR will be primarily owned and controlled by WM. Avangard and affiliated entities will hold a collective minority equity position in Natura PCR. WM says it expects to receive investment returns comparable to its previously announced automation investments in single-stream recycling.
The Recycling Today Media Group has contacted WM and Avangard for additional information on the transaction and will update this story.