High-volume wire chopping line expands market, growth opportunities for GLE.

Wendt Corp., Buffalo, New York, has announced the sale of a high-volume MTB wire chopping line to GLE Scrap Metal. The purchase of the MTB line represents part of an overall company strategy by GLE to broaden its presence in the scrap industry, according to a Wendt Corp. press release.

“The scrap market is constantly changing,” says Dave Siejka, Wendt's MTB business development manager. “By adding wire chopping capabilities to their operations an already successful company like GLE takes its destiny into its own hands by adding the flexibility to meet the quality needs of their expanded customer market.”

A first generation, family-owned business, GLE Scrap Metal found its roots in electronics recycling in 1999. The company acquired its first nonferrous metals facility in 2004 and has grown to three ferrous and nonferrous facilities in Florida and Michigan with more than 150 employees.

A newly acquired facility in Ocoee, Florida, will house the wire chopping installation. GLE operates balers and collects scrap metal from the public, as well as industrial accounts and scrap dealers in the U.S., Wendt says.

GLE’s automated wire chopping line includes the “latest models of prechoppers, granulators, air density tables and vibratory screens” that MTB offers. The line can process a multitude of materials, from aluminum and copper cables to shredder wire and aluminum copper radiators.

“After our visit to France and processing our materials through the MTB processing facility, we were not only impressed with the equipment’s capabilities, but we felt that the personnel from both Wendt and MTB had similar core values and vision to that of ours at GLE,” says Danny Zack, GLE vice president. “Our commitment to growth in the scrap industry requires us to work with the best in order to be the best. We view our purchase of this wire chopping line as an investment in our future and as a partnership with Wendt and MTB that will continue well beyond this equipment.”

Siejka adds, “The demand for quality is a part of GLE’s culture; it permeates throughout their organization. Commitment to quality is what ties GLE, Wendt and MTB together.”

The company plans to start by processing copper wire and cables with the equipment, which is operational at the site. GLE plans to sell the upgraded materials package domestically and overseas.

“Our continued belief in organic growth and the new opportunities available to us with this equipment will not only provide more opportunities for our employees but will allow us to maximize the value of our products and ultimately the service we provide to our customers,” Zack says.

The company plans to switch output of paper machine from uncoated freesheet to linerboard and containerboard.

International Paper (IP), Memphis, Tennessee, has announced that it plans to postpone its plans to convert its No. 15 paper machine at its Riverdale Mill in Selma, Alabama, from producing uncoated freesheet to make white-top linerboard and containerboard. 

IP had initially anticipated converting its 235,000 ton-per-year uncoated freesheet machine to have the capacity to produce 450,000 tons per year of containerboard products. The company’s goal as of September 2017 was to have this completed by the third quarter of 2019. 

However, Mark Sutton, chairman and CEO of International Paper, reported on Nov. 28 at the Citi Basic Materials Conference in New York City that the company intends to postpone this project until the first quarter or half of 2020. According to Sutton, it would cost more for IP to complete this project sooner rather than later. He also cited issues with equipment and skilled labor. 

Recycling Today reached out to International Paper about this update, and the company declined to provide any additional comments on this. 

Sean Gertsch will serve as a key account sales representative.

American Baler Co., Bellevue, Ohio, has appointed Sean Gertsch as a key account sales representative.

In the new position, Gertsch will be responsible for developing national and original equipment manufacturer accounts. Prior to this position, Gertsch served as a sales representative for Hoosier Machinery Solutions, where he specialized in sales of capital equipment for recycling and material recovery facilities. 

American Baler manufactures recycling balers used in distribution centers, manufacturing and recycling centers worldwide.

FiberSort will help the recycling center sort paper from other recyclables.

Workers at the Florence Recycling Center, Alabama, will no longer have to sort recyclables by hand thanks to a grant from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for a new $486,000 FiberSort sorting system that is being installed at the recycling center, according to a Times Daily report.

With the new sorting system, recyclables--paper, plastic, cardboard--will be loaded into a pit and then fed onto a conveyor for transport to an optical sorter that will separate paper from other items.

The materials go across a vibrating screen that separates the materials. Fiber, paper and cardboard will go to one conveyor belt, and bottles and cans will move to another belt, Florence Solid Waste manager David Koonce told the newspaper.

Paper products will come directly off the conveyor belt and go into a baler.

Florence’s Recycling Coordinator Rachel Mansell told the newspaper half of the recyclables that come into the center are cardboard and mixed paper.

Florence Solid Waste Department also contributed to the purchase of the new sorting system, which will be installed at the recycling center this month.

Seven companies have been approved to import roughly 19,000 metric tons of copper scrap.

Seven companies in China have received the OK to import roughly 19,000 metric tons of copper scrap in the 25th batch of approvals issued for restricted solid scrap imports, according to a news item by Shanghai Metals Market . The site cites a news release from the solid waste management center of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) it says was issued Tuesday, Dec. 4, as the source of the information. 

“The 25th batch of approvals brought total approved copper scrap imports this year to 999,700 [metric tons] down some 66.7 percent from the volumes approved in 11 batches last year,” Shanghai Metals Market reports.

According to the article, the seven companies that received approvals are in Guangdong province. Four are in the city of Zhaoqing specifically, which accounts for 63 percent of the approved imports.