Metals shredding plants can now be found in at least 50 nations.

The list of the world’s metals shredding plants maintained and updated by the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) shows the processing method can be found throughout the world, as emerging economies now produce their own share of end-of-life vehicles and obsolete appliances.

The BIR and its Shredder Committee have identified shredders at work in 50 different nations in the 2020 version of its World Shredder List.

At the BIR Shredder Committee’s online meeting in early June, Shredder Committee Chair Scott Newell III of United States-based Newell Recycling Equipment LLC said some of the 1,158 shredding plants identified by the committee are currently idle because of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturns.

The 2020 version of the list shows the United States remains in the lead position globally, with 322 known shredding plants. However, its lead may be short-lived, as the People’s Republic of China now has 317 shredders, and its shredder population is rising.

In 2018, Scott Newell III’s father Scott Newell Jr., chairman and CEO of Newell Recycling Equipment, said his company had installed or sold 19 auto shredding plants to scrap recyclers in China as of April 2018. Newell Jr., who also is vice-chair of Nantong City, China-based China Recycling Newell Equipment (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., said one of his shredders installed in China can process up to 600 tons per hour.

At that time, the company also had orders for three large 11,000-horsepower (hp) shredders in China and had orders for “11 of our 6,000-hp machines, three of our 4,000-hp models and one of our 3,000-hp plants.”

While the scale of China’s shredding sector is hard to match, the nation’s recyclers are far from alone in adopting the shredding method. The BIR list shows there are now 16 shredding plants in Mexico, with United States-based Wendt Corp. having supplied one of those in 2017.

The Wendt Corp. Wendt Corp.’s modular M6090 model on the job for Roca Acero near Monterrey, Mexico, is emblematic of smaller units that are earning market share in nations with emerging economies and in North America and Europe.

Prior to installing its shredder, Roca Acero had been processing 75 percent industrial scrap and 25 percent what its CEO Rodolfo Camarillo Montemayor calls “mixed urban scrap,” most of which is obsolete material.

The addition of the 2,500-horsepower shredder and accompanying downstream system shredding plant helped the Mexican recycling firm change that percentage by allowing Roca Acero to handle a much wider range of obsolete scrap. That has been typical of why shredders have been considered a desirable processing option by recyclers around the world.

While nations like Mexico and China add shredding capacity, recyclers in developed nations continue to assess whether shredding makes sense at various recycling facilities.

In Japan’s Chiba prefecture, outside of Tokyo, Phoenix Metal Corp. operates a 3,500-horsepower Metso shredder to process ELVs and other scrap. The company’s two preshredders and its 80-inch Metso hammermill shredder process about 500 tons per day of ferrous and nonferrous scrap.

Regulations around the world, including in Japan, have prompted recyclers to consider ELV and appliance disassembly as either a predecessor or alternative to shredding.

Phoenix Metal also runs a large dismantling center not far from its shredding plant—not for ELVs, but rather for refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and other large appliances. The disassembly activity includes not only harvesting metals but also collecting fluids, identifying resellable motors and the shredding of some plastic parts.

The 2020 BIR figures seem to indicate the opportunities of shredding continue to outpace the challenges.  In addition to the 322 shredding plants in the U.S. and 317 in China, the BIR shows 300 in Europe, 110 in Japan, 26 in Canada, 16 in Brazil (as in Mexico), and 12 in Australia. In Europe, Italy leads the way with 52 plants, followed by 45 in France and 39 each in Germany and the United Kingdom.

The list does not show any plants for India, although steelmakers, recyclers and the government in that nation all have indicated they intend to prioritize auto shredding as a recycling technique.

Recycling Today maintains its own auto shredding plant list for North America. Recyclers who operate or know of a plant in the U.S., Canada or Mexico are encouraged to make Recycling Today aware of it, and can do so via this online form.

Recycling lessons from the Ontario Blue Box funding arbitration.

Municipal recycling first emerged in Ontario in the 1980s. Since then, it has transformed into what currently is known as the Blue Box Program, a recycling system that is operated by municipalities but is partially financed by brand-holders, first importers or franchisors of printed paper and packaging. These entities also are known as stewards.

In the past decade, this system has encountered increasing challenges related to fluctuating commodity markets and growing levels of contamination in the recycling system. The system has also witnessed an evolution in the mix of the materials that end up in Ontario’s Blue Boxes, resulting in reduced revenues and increased processing costs for municipalities.

The recent Stewardship Ontario v. Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority arbitration decision highlights some of the cost contribution and division of responsibility issues that have affected the participants in the Blue Box system as a result of these challenges. The decision provides helpful insights for other jurisdictions considering a shared responsibility model for the recycling of printed paper and packaging materials.

In the late 1990s, Ontario created the interim Waste Diversion Organization (WDO) to develop provincewide recycling initiatives for various types of material. In 2002, it enacted the Waste Diversion Act (WDA) to promote recycling and provide for waste diversion programs.   

Pursuant to the WDA, the WDO and an industry funding organization, Stewardship Ontario, entered into a program agreement to develop a diversion program for Blue Box recyclables. The program was known as the Blue Box Program Plan (BBPP). It required that stewards contribute 50 percent of the costs of the municipal recycling programs for printed paper and packaging (PPP). WDO would determine the amount of stewards’ funding required from Stewardship Ontario.

A decade after the program was established, disputes over stewards’ funding and the rising costs of materials that made their way into Ontario’s Blue Boxes reached a boiling point. In 2014, these disputes went into arbitration to decide stewards’ funding obligations.

In 2016, the province of Ontario began its transition to an individual producer responsibility model for the management of a variety of materials, including PPP. It enacted the Waste Free Ontario Act and replaced the WDO with the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA). The responsibility for determining stewards’ funding then switched to the RPRA.

By 2018, Stewardship Ontario again disputed the RPRA’s assessment of stewards’ funding obligation for 2019. It argued that the RPRA’s charges, amounting to $126.4 million, were not authorized. The charges included a costs-containment charge, an in-kind advertising charge and charges for municipal costs associated with recycling non-PPP materials.

In his decision following the arbitration of the dispute, the arbitrator, Ronald G. Slaght, found that the RPRA did not have the authority to levy in-kind advertising charges on stewards. However, he found that the RPRA’s costs-containment charge and charges associated with the recycling of non-PPP materials were authorized.

Costs-containment charge. The steward costs-containment obligation was introduced in 2016 to place some financial responsibility on stewards for the growing costs of their packaging choices on municipal recycling systems. Arbitrator Slaght agreed that municipalities were obligated to contain and properly manage costs associated with the Blue Box program. However, the BBPP, and every direction issued by ministers, made it clear that stewards also had a responsibility to act to contain municipal costs.

The arbitrator also upheld the formula the RPRA used to assess the costs-containment charges. He found that its intended purpose was to provide a means for the RPRA to ensure that stewards made some contribution toward the increased costs on municipalities resulting from the shifting mix of materials ending up in Blue Boxes. It was not meant to calculate on a dollar-by-dollar basis the real effect of these changes.  

In-kind advertising charge. Through in-kind advertising, newspaper industry stewards provide advertising space in publications for communities to promote waste diversion in lieu of cash to Ontario municipalities. On the RPRA’s assessment of in-kind advertising costs, the arbitrator was unable to find support for the RPRA’s inclusion of in-kind contributions by the newspaper industry, noting that the RPRA’s significant powers to impose costs on stewards were not absolute.  

Non-PPP materials. A number of items collected in a typical Blue Box Program, such as office paper, are not included in the definition of Blue Box materials in the BBPP. As a result, municipalities have long imposed charges on stewards for certain residue materials and the contamination that comes with the program.

Stewardship Ontario challenged the RPRA’s non-PPP charges on the basis that they were for materials that were not part of the definition of PPP under the BBPP. In his decision to uphold the charges, the arbitrator found that the financial obligation of stewards was intended to support municipal recycling programs without being constrained by precise definitions in the BBPP.  

The Blue Box funding arbitration involving the RPRA and Stewardship Ontario brings into focus some of the challenges of allocating responsibility among various actors in a recycling system. These challenges endure despite prior arbitration in 2014.

The decision comes at an important juncture in the landscape of waste management in Ontario as the province undertakes a transition of its Blue Box recycling system to full producer responsibility. By 2026, producers of printed paper and packaging materials will have the financial and operational responsibility for Ontario’s Blue Box system. The decision highlights the importance of such a transition given the degree to which industry choices affect recycling costs. By having full responsibility for paper products and packaging materials, producers will be able to make design decisions that decrease recycling system costs while maximizing efficiencies.

Denisa Mertiri is a legal consultant and principal at Toronto-based Green Earth Strategy. She provides legal and policy advice to clients on waste management, single-use reduction, circular economy and EPR laws. Mertiri has worked with the city of Toronto and other municipalities in Ontario on Ontario’s transition to EPR and on single-use reduction and circular economy policies. Alexandra Potamianos is an incoming third-year JD student at Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto.

According to the association, under the partners’ renewed and expanded relationship, more services, such as the software’s Municipal Measurement Program, are available to SWANA members.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has announced it has renewed its agreement with Canada-based Emerge Knowledge for its Re-TRAC Connect software to be incorporated as part of SWANA’s Affinity Program. According to the association, under the partners’ renewed and expanded relationship, more services, such as the software’s Municipal Measurement Program, are being made available to SWANA members.

“SWANA is pleased to renew and expand its relationship with Re-TRAC Connect,” SWANA’s Executive Director and CEO David Biderman says. “The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of recyclables as feedstock for a variety of products, and Re-TRAC Connect’s programs offer terrific ways for local governments in the United States and Canada to measure and improve their local recycling programs.”

Re-TRAC Connect is a web-based software solution that uses online forms to streamline and standardize data collection instead of the traditional spreadsheets, email, and paper forms many still rely on, the company says. The Municipal Measurement Program is a free tool designed and delivered by Re-TRAC Connect and The Recycling Partnership that enables municipalities to track tonnage data, generation and diversion rates, broader economic benefits and other metrics.

“We’re excited about our renewed Affinity Program relationship with SWANA,” Rick Penner, president of Emerge Knowledge, says. "While many SWANA members are already using the data management and reporting services we offer through our Re-TRAC Connect platform, this expanded relationship will help ensure everyone is aware of the ways our solutions can save agencies time and money.”

By May 2021, the company plans to open its new customer service center in Straubing, Germany.

Sennebogen, Straubing, Germany, has announced that it has started to lay foundation stone on its new customer service center in Straubing. Construction on the customer service center began in April. 

Sennebogen first announced plans to invest about 25 million euros (or $28 million) in a new customer service center in June 2019. The customer service center will feature two office buildings and a new spare parts warehouse built on 87,000 square meters (or about 940,000 square feet). 

According to a news release from Sennebogen, the new location is scheduled to go into operation May 2021. The facility will bundle service activities from spare parts, customer service and Sennebogen Vertriebs GmbH & Co. KG. 

Sennebogen reports that earthworks and foundation work for the buildings and for soil improvement are underway. Germany-based Max Bögl is the general contractor for the new service center, and construction is being planned and coordinated by Koch Group. 

“We are right on schedule with the construction project,” say shareholders Erich and Walter Sennebogen at the laying of the foundation stone July 10. 

The U.K.-based company also shares its investment plans following the completion of its acquisition by KKR.

Viridor Ltd., a large recycling and residual waste business based in the U.K., has announced that Phil Piddington plans to step up as the company’s chief executive officer. Piddington has been the company’s managing director since 2016. The personnel change comes only a few months after the company announced that it was being sold to Planets UK Bidco Ltd., a newly formed company established by funds advised by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (KKR) for 4.2 billion pounds sterling, or $4.8 billion. 

According to a news release from Viridor, the company’s investment in U.K. recycling and energy recovery infrastructure is set to continue on pace with the support of KKR, following the successful completion of the acquisition.

“We see enormous potential for Viridor as a standalone business,” says Tara Courtney Davies, head of European Infrastructure for KKR. “The company is already a sector leader with a strong platform and an experienced management team. With KKR’s support, Viridor is uniquely positioned to invest further and continue to build critical infrastructure, helping the U.K. meet long-term sustainability and environmental goals.”

Viridor has also announced the appointment of Ian Wakelin as chairman. Wakelin had been retired for a few years and prior to that he served as chief executive officer of Biffa plc., a waste management firm in the U.K., for about eight years. 

“Viridor is clearly well positioned to continue to deliver excellent growth, and this is enhanced by the investment from KKR, a group which values infrastructure development,” Wakelin says. “Viridor has a clear strategy based on market demand and a real understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this sector based on years of experience. I look forward to working with the Viridor management team over the coming years to deliver their vision for the company.”

Piddington adds that Viridor plans to continue to advance its plans for future growth with infrastructure investments backed by long-term contracts. He says the company is considering options for three more energy recovery facilities, including a new plant at Ford in West Sussex and another joint venture with Grundon Waste Management. 

He says, “This supports market demand for landfill-diversion facilities, which produce low-carbon heat and power and contribute to U.K. resource and energy efficiency.”