The 54,000-square-foot addition includes four extrusion lines with the ability to expand to six, processing 11.8 billion bottles annually.

Evergreen, a supplier of food and nonfood grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), has finished its building and production expansion at its facility in Clyde, Ohio.   

The company says the expansion began in 2021 as a $22 million project with three lines and evolved as a result of increased customer and consumer demand for rPET plastic. The 54,000-square-foot addition includes four extrusion lines with the ability to expand to six, processing 11.8 billion bottles annually. This will result in a local capacity of 113 million pounds of food-grade PET annually. Evergreen says it processes 217 million pounds of PET bottles across its four North American facilities.  

This expansion was made possible in part by American Beverage Association and the Ohio Beverage Association, in partnership with Closed Loop Partners, as part of a $5 million investment under the beverage industry’s Every Bottle Back initiative. Evergreen says the investment helped it evolve its business model, expand its services to process recycled PET plastic into food-grade recycled rPET pellets used to manufacture new bottles and create a strong local market for recycled plastics.  

“The team at Evergreen and our partners Ohio Beverage Association and Closed Loop Partners are looking forward to sharing this expansion project with our customers and community,” says Omar Abuaita, CEO of Evergreen. “With the financial and strategic support of The Sterling Group, we can respond to the demands of the consumer through growth and innovation and are preparing to share a first-of-its-kind industry announcement soon.”  

The expansion has added 20 manufacturing and management jobs in the Sandusky County region. Evergreen employs 350 manufacturing workers, managers and organizational leaders across four locations in North America. This includes Clyde, Ohio; Riverside, California; Albany, New York; Amherst, and Nova Scotia, Canada.   

“We’re excited to support Evergreen’s expansion, which will help Ohio’s beverage companies reduce our use of new plastic and keep our 100 percent recyclable plastic bottles out of the environment,” says Kimberly McConville, executive director of the Ohio Beverage Association. “Our industry is committed to using more recycled content in our containers and Evergreen’s bold leadership will help ensure our bottles get remade as intended.”  

The organization says total shipments in June for both grades decreased compared with last year.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Washington, has released its June 2022 printing-writing and packaging papers monthly reports, which indicate shipments for both grades decreased compared with June 2021.

According to the printing-writing paper report, shipments decreased 2 percent in June compared with June 2021 while total inventory levels decreased 2 percent compared with May 2022.

The AF&PA also reports U.S. purchases of total printing-writing papers increased 3 percent in June compared with last year.

The AF&PA says packaging and specialty packaging shipments in June decreased 4 percent compared with June 2021 and essentially were flat compared with the same six months of 202.

The packaging papers report also shows:

The ground glass pozzolan, made by Urban Mining Industries, can be found in projects across New York and Connecticut.

For more than a decade, New Rochelle, New York-based Urban Mining Industries has been advancing a new use for recycled glass in the form of Pozzotive, a ground glass pozzolan used in concrete production. Like other artificial pozzolanic materials such as coal fly ash, ground glass can assume cement-like qualities when it reacts with a combination of water and cement. Patrick Grasso of the Grasso family, owners of Urban Mining Industries, says Pozzotive strengthens concrete and lowers CO2 emissions. In using locally sourced glass, Pozzotive also has ushered in a circular economy for the glass industry in Connecticut, where it is now being made.

Grasso, a partner with Urban Mining Industries, says his family has long been involved in the construction industry. The Grassos’ story starts more than 15 years ago with the family first obtaining a block manufacturing plant in upstate New York. After rebuilding the plant, they used it to make grey construction block. Louis Grasso Jr., Patrick’s nephew, wanted to find a way to distinguish their gray block from every other gray block made in America. After Louis was advised to include recycled content in the block, a series of trial-and-error tests were done to find a material that could meet this goal. It was decided that glass was the best choice. After realizing the use of bigger chunks of glass wasn’t the best approach, they eventually created a fine powder of ground glass that became Pozzotive.

“So, as a result of that block manufacturing plant, we were able to see the market way back then when no one else was willing to experiment with this kind of stuff,” Patrick Grasso says.

The magic of Pozzotive’s effect in concrete, Patrick Grasso says, starts with a chemical reaction when it is paired with water and cement. Before Pozzotive becomes involved, the hydration of cement introduces two key compounds. One is calcium silicate hydrate (CSH), which Grasso says is the “glue” that develops the concrete’s strength. The other product is calcium hydroxide (CH), which conversely weakens the concrete and causes porosity. When a ground glass pozzolan is introduced, it gives up a silica atom and joins the CH to become CSH. This pozzolanic reaction allows ground glass to gain cementing properties and act as a partial replacement to cement. In most mixes, Pozzotive replaces 20 or 30 percent of cement.

Initially, Pozzotive was produced in small quantities at a product validation plant in New York. Before 2022, the company was mostly focused on getting a solid footing in the pozzolan market. It took four years, Grasso says, to obtain an ASTM 1866 standard that specifically confirmed the viability of ground glass pozzolans in concrete. This process involved a committee of industry professionals that vetted and signed off on 3rd party testing done with Pozzotive.

Since its inception, Pozzotive has been used in projects at various locations, most of which are in New York and Connecticut. Some of these include the ESPN Digital Center 2, the New York Police Academy and the Second Avenue subway station in Manhattan. During the UN General Assembly Building’s renovation, 60 tons of window glass were harvested from the building and used to create pavers with Pozzotive for the UN Plaza. Grasso says smaller projects in Connecticut that have used Pozzotive, including Ox Ridge Elementary School in Darien and New Canaan Library in Canaan, particularly demonstrate the significance of Pozzotive in building a local circular economy.

In addition to supporting a circular economy, Patrick Grasso says Pozzotive addresses other challenges in the glass recycling industry: the cleaning and separating of glass and costs associated with transporting and logistics if a processor is not nearby. A common route for recycled glass is turning it back into bottles, but complications can arise in this process as the glass needs to be separated by color and any ceramics need must be removed because of their different melting temperature. The color of the glass does not affect Pozzotive, and pieces of ceramics are welcome since they are pozzolanic as well. Pozzotive also can use glass from electronics that don’t contain lead, plate glass and demolition glass. The glass is taken through a cleaning and separating process and is milled into a pozzolan that is 95 percent smaller than 325 mesh, Grasso says.

A primary issue within the cement industry, Grasso says, is CO2 emissions. Cement production accounts for about 7 percent of all global carbon emissions, and the U.S. alone uses more than 100 million tons of cement per year, he says. Twice as much concrete is used in construction than wood, plastics and aluminum combined. Even though common postindustrial cement replacements such as fly ash and slag, which is residue from steel manufacturing, can create a lower carbon concrete, Grasso says he considers postconsumer ground glass an even better replacement.

“A glass bottle is a glass bottle pretty much anywhere in the world in terms of its chemical composition … you can make a very consistent finished product because of the feedstock you’re starting with,” he says.

Grasso says that every ton of cement generates almost a ton of CO2. Urban Mining Industries has done testing to replace up to 50 percent of cement in concrete with Pozzotive, reducing the carbon footprint by almost a ton–for–ton basis of the cement it replaces, he says.

Pozzotive has other benefits that exhibit how it enhances performance of concrete along with its sustainable qualities. Concrete with greater percentages of Pozzotive feature a brighter white color, meaning it can reduce the heat island effect in urban areas, where temperatures are higher in light of a greater abundance of manufactured surfaces that absorb heat. Grasso says Pozzotive does a greater job of preventing efflorescence—when a white powdery substance bleeds out of concrete—and shrinkage, which means less cracking. He says concrete with Pozzotive is five-times more powerful in reducing moisture and chloride penetration than a straight cement mix.

“I think it’s a holistic solution, a climate solution, a health solution—avoiding heavy metals and some of these other alternatives … and the circular economy issue about really just taking regenerative waste streams regionally and putting them back into those regions,” he says.

Pozzotive has been used by different companies and organizations, including Torrington, Connecticut-based ready mix company O&G Industries. T.J. Oneglia, vice president at O&G, says he believes the use of pozzolans in general is likely on the rise in the concrete industry. Oneglia points to recent trends of using more recycled material and lowering buildings’ carbon footprint.

“I am seeing support in our local market from the designers, the architects, the engineers and also the owners and the end users of the concrete. [There is] a desire to build green, and so Pozzotive, just by its very nature, in my opinion, is greener than the other sources of materials,” Oneglia says.

Ground glass pozzolans in particular could experience higher demand due to potential supply issues with other pozzolans, Oneglia says.

He says O&G plans to continue using Pozzotive mixes, which are starting to be specified on school projects and municipal projects.

“We intend to supply it as an ingredient in our concrete wherever and whenever it’s specified,” Oneglia says. “And then, in addition to that, we intend to use it just as a part of our daily concrete when we’re able to.”

Patrick Grasso says Urban Mining Industries’ focus is now on further commercializing Pozzotive and using it for bigger projects. The first large scale Pozzotive plant was established in Beacon Falls, Connecticut, in 2021. Grasso says this is a good central location from a glass feedstock perspective and allows Urban Mining Industries to serve the greater metropolitan New York market while also expanding into the Boston market. The new facility will allow the company to produce an estimated 50,000 tons of Pozzotive, Grasso says.

“We had to go through this four-year process of getting an ASTM standard. And we’ve had to have this product in use now for over 10 years to make sure it wasn’t some fly-by-night thing, it was real. We had to have the first plant up that can produce it commercially, large scale, and so all of those steps are now in place. So, any market where there is a need of a glass solution of some reasonable size, we can be there,” he says.

Packaging producer says results were driven by strong execution in its consumer packaging and industrial paper packaging segments.

Global packaging producer Sonoco, based in Hartsville, South Carolina, has reported record net sales and net income for its second quarter, which ended July 3.

Sonoco reports net sales were $1.91 billion, an approximately 38 percent increase from second quarter 2021 sales of $1.38 billion, and net income per diluted share was $1.33 compared with a loss of $3.34 in the same period in 2021.

"Our Sonoco team delivered strong second-quarter results which exceeded the high-end of our raised guidance," Sonoco President and CEO Howard Coker says. "Our current-quarter performance represents a step-change improvement year over year and resulted in record sales and record net income driven by continued strong execution in our consumer packaging and industrial paper packaging segments." 

Coker adds that the company's second-quarter earnings primarily benefited from continued strong strategic pricing performances across most of its businesses, continued strong results from the Sonoco Metal Packaging acquisition and productivity gains.

Sonoco says its consumer packaging segment achieved record sales while operating profit grew nearly 114 percent compared with the same period in 2021, and its industrial paper packaging segment improved nearly 57 percent compared with last year.

The company also reports its operating profit is up approximately 6 percent.

"I am extremely proud of the way our team has advanced our value-creation strategy to produce the best first-half financial operating performance in the history of Sonoco," Coker says.

Sonoco also provided an update for its Project Horizon, which includes a planned shutdown of its corrugated medium machine in Hartsville to transform the machine into what it calls the "lowest-cost producer of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) in North America." The eight-week shutdown is expected to negatively impact the company's third-quarter industrial paper packaging operating profit between $10 million and $15 million.

Project Horizon is a $125 million investment to update the Hartsville machine and will have an annual production capacity of 180,000 tons. The project is expected to be completed at the end of the third quarter and, once finished, will use 100-percent-recycled fibers to produce paper and will allow Sonoco to eliminate the manufacturing complex's virgin pulp mill and chemical recovery operation.

Sonoco's full second-quarter financial report can be found here.

The company's Aluminum Metals and Extrusions businesses posted record results in Q2 2022, but Hydro sees growing market uncertainty going forward.

Norway-based Hydro ASA has reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the second quarter of 2022 of 11,594 million Norwegian kroner, or $1.18 billion, compared with 6,598 million kroner, or $670 million, for the same quarter last year, resulting in a 12-month rolling adjusted return on capital employed of 27 percent. Hydro says its Aluminum Metal and Extrusions businesses delivered their strongest quarterly results on record, fueled in part by higher metal and alumina prices, stronger margins in Extrusions and currency effects. However, these positive factors were offset in part by higher fixed and raw material costs upstream, the company adds.    

President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim says the company’s results are backed by strong markets, continued demand for Hydro’s greener aluminum products and its 2025 improvement program, which calls for strengthening the company’s position in low-carbon aluminum and metal recycling and diversifying and growing in the area of new energy.

“We continue to implement initiatives to support our 2025 strategy of low-carbon aluminum and renewable energy,” Aasheim says. “This quarter we have pursued strategic recycling growth projects to meet increasing customer demand for low-carbon aluminum, and we have progressed on our decarbonization road map.”

In the last quarter, the company announced the groundbreaking for its aluminum recycling plant in Cassopolis, Michigan, which will produce some 120,000 metric tons of aluminum extrusion ingot per year from scrap. Hydro says it plans to double its use of postconsumer scrap by 2025. Hydro’s Extrusion North America division is upgrading recycling capabilities at its site in The Dalles, Oregon, allowing it to process an additional 10,000 metric tons, or 11,023 short tons, of postconsumer scrap annually and to increase overall recycled aluminum output by 27,000 metric tons, or nearly 30,000 short tons.

More recently in Europe, the company began construction on the expansion of its aluminum recycling plant in Rackwitz, Germany, in July, enabling the plant to produce 25,000 metric tons of HyForge per year and increasing recycling capacity of postconsumer scrap. In addition, Hydro made the decision to upgrade and restart the foundry alloy casthouse in Årdal, Norway, to increase capacity for recycling of PCS by 25,000 metric per year. The two investments further support Hydro’s ambition to double recycling of postconsumer scrap by 2025.

Despite the record quarterly performance, Aasheim says the company sees “increasing market uncertainty” going forward, noting rising energy prices and a softening market for aluminum products.

The war in Ukraine has affected second-quarter growth and 2022 forecasts, with Europe being the most exposed to the resulting economic and social impact, Hydro says. Global supply chain shortages, high energy prices and concerns about inflation and increasing interest rates are sources of uncertainty. Hydro is facing a new reality and the changes are happening faster than before.

Although realized aluminum prices and results were strong in the second quarter of 2022, the three-month aluminum price decreased during the quarter as fears of recession and weak demand in China led to a large drop in base metal prices, the company says. The outlook for some aluminum production capacity remains uncertain as high global energy prices put pressure on smelter margins, resulting in producers in Europe and the U.S. curtailing parts of their production.  

Nordic power prices increased significantly compared with the same quarter last year and are relatively stable compared with the previous quarter, Hydro says, adding that Norwegian transmission system operator, Statnett, has stated that energy security in Norway may be a concern towards the end of the year. 

In these volatile markets, Hydro says it continues to address challenges and mitigate risks while also continuing to position the company according to the Hydro 2025 strategy.

Greener aluminum with a lower carbon footprint is seen as a key enabler for the green transition, and in the second quarter, Hydro continued to see increased demand for the greener products, Hydro Circal and Hydro Reduxa. In the second quarter of 2022, sales were 89 percent higher year on year, supporting Hydro’s ambition to double sales of greener products by 2025, the company says.

A significant step in Hydro’s recycling ambitions could be delivered if its acquisition of the Polish recycler Alumetal S.A., announced in May, is successful. Following the launch of a tender offer for 100 percent of the shares of the company in the start of the second quarter, Hydro announced in July that it will extend the subscription period to Oct. 10 to provide additional information requested by the European Commission.

In the second quarter, Hydro Extrusions decided to invest 300 million kroner, or $30.5 million, in a new extrusion press in Tønder, Denmark. The 12-inch press will serve the European automotive and electric vehicle market. Automotive customers continue to set ambitious decarbonization targets, Hydro says, and low-carbon and recycled aluminum will be key levers to meet their Scope 3 emissions targets.

At its Capital Markets Day in December 2021, Hydro launched a new climate ambition, confirming the target of cutting its own carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and setting new ambitions of becoming net zero in terms of Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier. An important enabler to meet the ambition is the decarbonization of the Brazilian alumina refinery Alunorte, where the Alunorte fuel switch project to replace heavy fuel oil with natural gas is progressing according to plan, the company says.

In the second quarter, Hydro Rein announced two renewable energy projects in Brazil that will supply Hydro’s bauxite and alumina operations with renewable power for existing and planned electrical boilers, supporting Alunorte’s decarbonization efforts. Hydro Rein and Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group entered into agreements to form a joint venture to build and operate Feijão, a 586-megawatt combined wind and solar power project in the northeast of Brazil. Hydro Rein, together with Equinor and Scatec, also started construction activities for the 531-megawatt Mendubim solar project in Brazil.

The transition to a lower-carbon society also provides opportunities for Hydro's new energy areas. In May, Hydro's 50/50 joint venture with Northvolt, Hydrovolt, commenced operations of its industrial-scale battery recycling pilot in Norway. In parallel, Hydrovolt will, in the second half of 2022, be taking steps to develop production in Europe to support growing demand.

A central pillar in Hydro’s 2025 strategy is the financial framework, and the company says its profitability and sustainability agenda continues to guide capital allocation. Hydro says it continues its commitment to an investment grade credit rating and aims to keep adjusted net debt less than 2x adjusted EBITDA throughout the cycle.

Hydro has updated its targeted capital structure, aiming to have adjusted net debt of around 25 billion kroner, or $ 2.5 billion, over the cycle.

Hydro strives to drive a cost of capital advantage based on the sustainability of its operations, and in the second quarter Hydro launched a green and sustainability-linked financing framework, including a second-party opinion by the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO). Hydro’s framework is ranked Medium Green by CICERO, the second greenest ranking after dark green, and can be used for future sustainability-linked financing products.