The association’s Shannon Crawford says insufficient material is available to meet the recycled-content mandate.
In February of this year, California Assemblymember Phil Ting introduced AB 478 , a bill that would require thermoformed plastic containers sold in the state to contain postconsumer recycled plastic (PCR) starting Jan. 1, 2024. The amount of PCR required would increase over time so that thermoformed plastic containers sold in the state would contain no less than 30 percent of this material as of Jan. 1, 2030.
The bill would authorize CalRecovery to conduct audits and investigations regarding containers’ PCR content and take enforcement action against a producer to ensure compliance. Producers violating the legislation would be assessed annual administrative penalties for violating the requirements of the proposed legislation.
In response to the legislation, Shannon Crawford, the director of state government affairs at the Plastics Industry Association, Washington, testified before the California State Assembly Natural Resources Committee. In the remarks she prepared for delivery, Crawford writes that while the association's members “strongly support the use of recycled content” and that “legislating minimum requirements may be beneficial if done appropriately,” the association had some concerns regarding the legislation as proposed.
“While this bill would develop end markets for plastic materials, there should be an equal emphasis on improving the collection and sortation of these materials to get more plastics to these markets,” Crawford writes. “Unfortunately, our analysis indicates there will not be sufficient recycled content to meet the mandates of this legislation. We hope to work with this committee and other stakeholders to increase the availability of recycled content in the state to meet the goals of this bill.”
One barrier she notes is food safety regulations for the use of PCR in food-contact packaging. She adds that the association released industry guidance to ensure recycled plastic packaging meets and exceeds U.S. Food and Drug Administration compliance requirements.
“Additionally, we are developing a ‘best practices’ workbook for recycled content usage in manufacturing,” Crawford states. “The workbook will educate the industry on the benefits of recycled content usage as well as assist companies in reaching their sustainability goals.”
Despite these efforts, Crawford says “a significant gap” remains “between how much recycled content exists and the requirements of this bill.”
Instead, she suggests “this committee focus on advanced sortation and collection technologies,” citing the Pacific Northwest Demonstration Project, which used secondary sorting to increase the amount of recyclable material captured.
“We would be happy to work with this committee and other stakeholders to advance solutions that would increase the availability of recycled content in the state,” Crawford adds.
The machine is used to sort aluminum scrap.
Steinert GmbH, Cologne, Germany, has released the XSS T EVO 5.0 generation X-ray transmission unit for sorting scrap and aluminum. Dry density sorting using X-ray transmission is a method that is used by many scrap recyclers around the globe. With processors of high-performance aluminum in mind, the updated XSS T EVO 5.0 is used to recover free heavy metals, aluminum compounds, free magnesium and wrought and cast aluminum parts.
According to a news release from Steinert, the company says its ongoing development work ensures specific benefits for the sorting process.
The machine features multilayer data evaluation (MDE) software, enabling it to use more distinguishing criteria for detection thanks to high-resolution object recognition and by undertaking classification in parallel. Steinert says complex sorting tasks, such as magnesium detection, can be solved easily. Automatic X-ray monitoring and calibration (AXM) helps achieve consistently high detection and sorting quality.
Steinert reports that it also improved the hardware on its XSS T EVO 5.0. The high-resolution pitch of 6.25 millimeters enables more efficient sorting of fine material down to 5 millimeters. The X-ray scan area is cleaned automatically in the new generation of machines, which Steinert says reduces the amount of manual cleaning needed and maintains a consistently high level of detection quality.
In addition, Steinert provides a four-year warranty on the X-ray source and X-ray sensors. It also features some continuing software and hardware updates. The company says its warranty provides operational reliability and keeps operating costs low.
Steinert also offers a solution guide that can be downloaded as an e-book to provide an initial overview of the opportunities provided for sorting aluminum scrap and other materials. Although aluminum scrap comes from different sources, such as profiles and plates, incineration bottom ash, shredder systems or dense media separation, the stages of the sorting process are all similar: recovering nonferrous metals and upgrading the recovered metals, producing pure metal types.
According to Steinert, the e-book provides insight into both the heart of the systems—the Steinert XSS T EVO 5.0—as well as the upstream magnet technology and downstream fluorescence technology, which is of benefit to operators of aluminum shredders, secondary smelters or processors of waste incinerator ash. The downstream fluorescence technology produces pure heavy metal fractions, such as copper, brass and zinc.
Steertek NXT is now available to order on Kenworth T180, T280, T380 and T480 trucks and Peterbilt models 535, 536, 537 and 548 trucks.
Woodridge, Illinois-based Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems announced April 14 that its Steertek NXT fabricated front steer axle has been selected as the standard front axle on the new Kenworth and Peterbilt medium-duty truck models.
Steertek NXT is now available to order on Kenworth T180, T280, T380 and T480 trucks and Peterbilt models 535, 536, 537 and 548 trucks as standard equipment with the additional capacity options. According to Hendrickson, Steertek NXT’s proprietary design and manufacturing process saves weight compared to traditional I-beam axles while combining rigid strength, outstanding maneuverability due to 55 degrees of wheel cut and reduced maintenance.
As with the rest of the Steertek NXT portfolio, these new axles come with a service interval and feature an exclusive 10-year, 1-million-mile warranty, the company says.
“The availability of Steertek NXT being offered as standard on both of the new Kenworth and Peterbilt medium-duty trucks is a huge positive for the OEMs, Hendrickson and their collective customers,” says Sean Whitfield, director of marketing for Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems. “Steertek NXT offers a tremendous value with our best-in-class warranty and extended service intervals, and in the cost-sensitive medium-duty market, this value is a benefit for any fleet owner.”
Available in capacities from 8,000 to 14,600 pounds, Steertek NXT is approved for on-highway and medium duty truck bus and motor home applications. For additional information on Steertek NXT, visit www.hendrickson-intl.com.
The organization says the grants will pay for equipment that can capture more than 36 million aluminum beverage cans per year.
Two recycling facilities in North Carolina and Texas are recipients of the Can Manufacturers Institute's (CMI) Aluminum Beverage Can Capture Grant. The grant aims to improve how material recovery facilities (MRF) collect and sort aluminum cans.
Curbside Management of Asheville, North Carolina, and Independent Texas Recyclers (ITR) of Houston, will use the money to install equipment to capture 540 tons of aluminum cans that were previously missorted, CMI says.
The grant program builds off the CMI research released last year that found it is critical to capture all used beverage cans (UBC) flowing through MRFs. This research concluded that most MRFs in the United States wouldn't operate without the revenue from UBCs. CMI says this is because they are consistently the most valuable beverage package material in the recycling stream.
“It is important for the health of our nation’s recycling system to capture every aluminum beverage can for recycling,” CMI president Robert Budway says. “Aluminum beverage cans provide 33 percent of the revenue to MRFs in nondeposit states, which is more than any other residential recyclable. .Capturing missorted cans at the MRF is a cost-effective way to capture the valuable aluminum from cans. The return on investment of capturing incremental used can volumes is so high that additional equipment MRFs install will pay for itself in a short period.”
Both recipients of the grants operate single-stream MRFs that are undergoing construction projects to improve their capabilities. Curbside Management is replacing its existing eddy current with one that can more effectively sort aluminum packaging. ITR will put the funding toward installing a second eddy current to capture UBCs from the containers in the residue (i.e., material destined for landfill) line.
Capturing and recycling these more than 36 million aluminum cans each year is expected to have a significant environmental and economic impact. When sold, these cans will generate more than $500,000 in revenue for MRFs, the CMI says.
When these cans are recycled, it will save more than 15 million kilowatt-hours of energy and will avoid more than 3.5 million kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. That corresponds to saving enough energy for each person in the United States to watch a 40-inch LED TV for one hour and to avoiding emissions from driving an average car nearly 9 million miles, which is more than 350 times around the Earth, the CMI says.
ITR and Curbside Management are just the first two recipients of the program, announced last year. CMI says it expects additional grantees to be announced midyear.
The Recycling Partnership, an organization based in Falls Church, Virginia, that is dedicated to funding initiatives to improve recycling and sustainability in the community, picked the recipients of the grant and will provide technical assistance. Since 2014, the nonprofit says it helped divert 230 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, saved 465 million gallons of water and avoided more than 250,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases.
The CMI is the national trade association of the metal can manufacturing industry and its suppliers in the United States.
The can industry accounts for the annual domestic production of about 130.7 billion food, beverage and general line cans. The industry employs more than 28,000 people with plants in 33 states, Puerto Rico and American Samoa; and generates about $15.7 billion in direct economic activity.
The branch offers new and used equipment for sale and lease to the general construction, demolition, scrap and recycling markets.
Company Wrench, Carroll, Ohio, has opened a new branch in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis branch will offer new and used equipment for sale and lease to the general construction, demolition, scrap and recycling markets.
According to the company, the branch also will be equipped with full parts and service departments capable of assisting customers with multiple product lines.
“We are overjoyed to return to the great state of Indiana,” Company Wrench President Cam Gabbard says. “Indianapolis is a remarkable city that continues to expand. Our customers in this market will now have access to superior equipment and unmatched customer service and support.”
In addition to Indiana, Company Wrench has branches in Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Company Wrench represents a number of manufacturers, including JCB, Kobelco, Fuchs and LaBounty.