The company says expected emissions savings were found to be 60 percent.

Vancouver-based Northstar Clean Technologies, Inc. has announced the results of a second independent carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) life cycle assessment. The LCA, completed by Burgess Environmental Ltd. and based on modeling from the front-end engineering design (FEED) completed by BBA Inc., assessed the impacts and benefits of reprocessing asphalt shingles at Northstar’s Calgary Empower Facility. These findings were compared with the impacts and benefits related to the disposal of discarded or defective asphalt shingles in landfills and virgin production of asphalt shingles.

The assessment, Northstar says, found that the Calgary Empower Facility will have lower CO2e emissions than landfilling and virgin production.

According to Northstar, the facility would produce 77 kilograms of CO2e per 1 metric ton of feedstock. Virgin production and landfill disposal, on the other hand, was found to produce a combined total of 195 kilograms of CO2e per 1 metric ton of feedstock. The company says net savings come to a total of 117 kilograms of CO2e per 1 metric ton of feedstock, or about 60 percent in savings.

Net estimated CO2e emissions savings are expected to be in the range of 3,500 metric tons to 4,700 metric tons of CO2e per year depending on production volume.

In addition, each 1 metric ton of feedstock processed is expected to reduce water consumption in the range of 18,000 cubic meters to 24,000 cubic meters per year and avoid land disturbance in the range of 13,800 square meters to 18,400.46 square meters per year.

“The completion of the LCA is another step towards the development of our Calgary Empower Facility and builds on the momentum of the completion of the FEED design and awarding of non-dilutive grant funding from Alberta Innovates. This analysis quantifies how our operations in Alberta can support our customers and industry partners in delivering circular and “green” renewable asphalt produced with significantly lower carbon intensity,” says Aidan Mills, president, CEO and director of Northstar.

Northstar says future revenue and margins from carbon credits could potentially arise from CO2e emissions benefits depending on the regulatory and legislative framework.

Construction on the Calgary Empower Facility is slated to begin in the second half of 2022 with operations beginning in the first half of 2023 according to Northstar’s website.

Michigan-based demolition company Homrich will take down former incineration plant.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says that city’s government has made arrangements with Carelton, Michigan-based Homrich to begin demolition of an abandoned municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator “within the next few weeks.”

The Detroit Building Authority selected Homrich as the company to perform the demolition following a bidding process. Per the Homrich proposal, the mayor’s office says the demolition work will generate approximately $1.3 million in revenue for the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority (GDRRA) from the salvaging of metals and other marketable materials.

The demolition process is expected to start in June and to be complete “within approximately six months from the time it begins, starting with the demolition of the lower trash processing portion of the complex and culminating dramatically with the implosion of the smokestack later this year,” says Mayor Duggan’s office.

“The presence of this incinerator has been a real pain point for this community because it was another example of a health hazard being placed in a lower-income community of color,” says Duggan. “We worked hard behind the scenes to get the incinerator shut down, and now residents of this neighborhood will finally be able to say goodbye to it forever.”

Since it opened in 1989 at a cost of approximately $500 million until it closed in 2019, the incinerator drew criticism from residents living nearby, citing health concerns, odors and emissions. During the last five years of its operation, the incinerator reportedly exceeded state pollution emission standards more than 750 times, according to the mayor’s office.

“Today’s announcement and subsequent demolition of the incinerator means further relief and hopefully a source of healing for impacted residents,” says City Council President Mary Sheffield.

In 2018, the Duggan administration says it began pressuring Detroit Thermal Energy (DTE), which operated the incinerator, to make upgrades to the facility to improve its emissions. Faced with the additional cost of operating, DTE instead agreed in 2019 to cease incinerator operations.

With a demolition contract now in place, the city is arranging for DTE to cut power to the complex by the end of this week. Arrangements are being made to maintain power to the adjacent facility that soon will house the new headquarters and shelter for animal care and control expected to open later next year.

Once that power issue is resolved, Homrich will be able to obtain its demolition permit, which the mayor’s office says “is expected to occur within the following week.” Once it has the permit, “Homrich will be able to mobilize and begin work almost immediately,” adds the city.

Initial work will consist of removing metal and other marketable materials from the facility before beginning active demolition on the processing facility portion of the complex. Demolition of that portion is expected to be completed this fall and implosion of the smokestack, which will complete the demolition, is expected by the end of this year.

The city says it is currently exploring potential future uses of the incinerator property.

Theresa Wagler, chief financial officer of the EAF steelmaker, says the company continues to shrink an already low carbon footprint.

Indiana-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) continues to find new ways to convert ferrous scrap into steel products while emitting CO2 at well below the industry average, according to an executive with the company.

SDI Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Theresa Wagler tells Recycling Today the company uses from 90 to 95 percent scrap to make its rebar and other long products. The company has a growing presence in the flat-rolled steel market, and those mills utilize a mix of pig iron, direct-reduced iron (DRI) or hot briquetted iron (HBI), with scrap making from 75 to 80 percent of the feedstock in that business unit.

Copper and other residual metals found in scrap can make prime grades the only viable scrap feedstock at a sheet mill. Wagler says that grade has remained in short supply much of the past three years.

Wagler says SDI continues to work with its own OmniSource business unit and other scrap suppliers to upgrade ferrous shred to produce a grade she says is “almost like a prime type of shred.”

Maintaining and even increasing the recycled content of its steel is important not only to SDI but also to many of its customers, says the CFO, who has been with SDI since 1998.

In the construction, automotive and several other sectors, measuring carbon footprints and product life cycles has become standard, which is good news for SDI, says Wagler. “From the customer side, we are the recycled content,” she remarks. “We’re the decarbonization story already—today.”

It is unclear to what extent projects tied to the big ticket infrastructure bill will favor recycled-content steel, says Wagler. However, United States-centric “melt and pour” requirements for steel are spelled out, favoring domestic mills.

“Of the $1.2 trillion potential in the bill, some $850 billion of it has steel-containing aspects,” she comments. “Our belief is there is going to be a benefit for those of us who produce recycled steel.” Wagler says rail infrastructure also is getting a boost, and “we are the primary rail producer” in the U.S., she says, referring to SDI’s Structural and Rail Division in Columbia City, Indiana. “It’s a real leg up for us. 

Additionally, the solar and wind energy components of the bill provide demand for steel going into housings for solar panels and windmill structures.

In the automotive sector, Wagler says the recycled content of SDI steel has helped it “have traction” at service centers and with OEMs. “They want to be able to say their whole supply chain has carbon reduction or neutrality embedded,” she says of some customers.

SDI is working on creating what Wagler calls an “almost perfect closed loop system” at its Sinton, Texas, flat-rolled mill. Several manufacturers of finished products and components in both the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to supply their generated scrap directly to the mill, “eliminating carbon emissions” because of the short journey.

To supply its Sinton mill, SDI also recently purchased Monterrey, Mexico-based multilocation scrap processing firm Roca Acero S.A. de C.V. It is the second Monterrey-based scrap company acquired by SDI, following Zimmer S.A. de C.V. in early 2020.

The closed-loop arrangements, the scrap processing acquisitions and ongoing efforts to use more shredded scrap as feedstock all are part of SDI’s path to decarbonization, says Wagler.

The company’s website features a headline that reads, “Sustainable. Intentional. Transformational.” In a brief writeup headed “What we do” beneath that slogan, the steelmaker states, “We operate using a circular manufacturing model, producing lower-carbon-emission, quality steel using EAF technology with recycled ferrous scrap as the primary input.”

The visible commitment to decarbonization (and recycling) is not temporary, and SDI is backing up that commitment with action, says Wagler. “Some of our customers say our Columbus, Mississippi-based flat-roll division has the lowest SCOPE 1 [direct greenhouse gas] emissions of all their suppliers,” she comments.

More decarbonization measures are coming, says Wagler, saying SDI’s target to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 is possible, adding she also would like to see a premium price attached to low-carbon steel “one day.” Says Wagler of the feeling within SDI toward its recycling-based, low-carbon approach, “There is an incredible excitement and momentum.”

The machine contains upgraded components and various innovations.

Tomra, based in Norway, has launched an updated model of its X-Tract metal sorting machine, featuring a new design and added features.

Notable is its dual processing technology, which increases the machine’s capacity per foot-width. This feature offers simultaneous single object and area processing, letting operators choose between high purity and high recovery sorting. The company says adjacent, overlapping and composite materials can all be identified through this process.

The sorting system features a Duoline XRT sensor with two independent line scans. According to Tomra, the sensor can detect copper wires and ultra-thin objects  to reduce material loss and increase profits.

Additionally, the new design is capable of sorting material at higher belt speeds ranging from 7.5 to 12.5 feet per second. Sorting chambers have been extended and new extraction ports have been added to accommodate the faster belt speeds.

The company says the accuracy of the new X-Tract has been strengthened due to an intensity scale feature that improves the detection of specific material groups such as printed circuit boards.

The equipment differs from older models in that it is based on a modular machine concept, Tomra says, which leads to more operational flexibility

Enhanced sensor shielding has been added to better protect X-Tract’s components while extending the lifetime of the machine. The sorting system comes with a 4-year extended warranty on the X-ray source and XRT sensor.

The add-on Tomra Insight service enables X-Tract to connect to online monitoring and digital services, letting Tomra’s service team identify potential issue and provide remote support.

The company says four new hires and two promotions bring growth and perspective.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has announced four new appointments to its team.   

The new hires include Natalie Garcia as technical division manager, Amanda Suntag as marketing and communications program manager, Kimberly Pittmon as database specialist and Monique Hyatte as membership services coordinator.   

SWANA also has announced Estela Martinez has been promoted to senior membership manager and Andre Owens has been promoted to membership manager.  

”We are very excited to onboard these new and talented employees to Team SWANA,” SWANA President and Executive Director David Biderman says. “I am very pleased to promote Estela and Andre in the membership department. These promotions reflect the terrific work that they have been doing at SWANA and for our members.”  

Garcia previously worked as an environmental health specialist for the city of Garland, Texas. Garcia will be working closely with SWANA’s seven technical divisions, which keep track of trending topics, connect experts and shape the future of the solid waste industry. Members of the technical divisions use the groups to share experiences and knowledge in their respected areas and network with others across the United States and Canada, and SWANA says Garcia’s background in communication and stakeholder engagement will be valuable as she assumes the role. Garcia has a bachelor of science in bioenvironmental sciences.  

Suntag joins SWANA’s marketing team after six years of experience in marketing, communication, branding and events. Suntag has worked for three associations and was most recently employed as a marketing and events specialist at the Center for Vein Restoration.  

Pittmon has 19 years of experience maintaining database integrity, reporting KPIs, writing database queries and providing member service. She formerly worked at the National Ready Mix Concrete Association.  

Hyatte brings years of association experience to her new role, first starting with association work in 1992. Since then, she has worked for multiple associations, accruing the customer service and database experience, which is essential to her role. Recently, she served as a membership and database manager for the National Club Association.  

Martinez’s new responsibilities will include management of SWANA’s Young Professionals (YP) program including developing and overseeing YP recruitment, retention and engagement. She will also oversee the YP Leadership Academy and provide guidance to the YP Steering Committee. Martinez will continue to be the main point of contact with SWANA’s 47 Chapters.  

Owens joined SWANA in November 2018 as the membership services coordinator. Some responsibilities that Owens will take on include management of MentorMatch, staff liaison for the YP program and managing the new member welcome program.