Company acquires locations in Phoenix and El Paso, Texas.

SA Recycling LLC, based in Orange, California, has made two acquisitions that it says will help it strengthen its business through the West.

The first deal involves the acquisition of Arizona Recycling Corp. (ARC), headquartered in Phoenix. ARC operates four ferrous and nonferrous yards in the Phoenix and Mesa areas.

The newly acquired Arizona facilities will act as feeder yards for SA Recycling’s Phoenix shredder operation. SA says none of the ARC facilities operate large-scale ferrous processing equipment and the deal was based on a long-term relationship between the two companies.

The second acquisition is of Newell Recycling Co. of El Paso in that Texas city. The deal, the first for the company in Texas, also was the culmination of a long-term relationship between SA Recycling and Scott Newell, the owner of Newell Recycling El Paso. The Texas scrap metal facility includes a shredding operation that will support SA Recycling’s existing business, the company says. 

SA Recycling says the acquisition of the Newell Recycling Co. of El Paso is intended to supplement its existing operations and to add to its feedstock supply. The addition of the shredder brings the number of auto shredders SA Recycling operates to seven.

Both acquisitions were effective June 1, 2014, with the acquired companies to be renamed as SA Recycling.

SA Recycling operates 50 recycling facilities in California, Arizona, Nevada and now Texas. The company processes and supplies ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal to the domestic and international market.

CarbonLite chooses equipment from AMUT, EREMA and BHS for its 45,000-tons-per-year recycling plant.

Equipment company AMUT, based in Italy, says plastics recycling company CarbonLite Recycling has selected it to provide some of the equipment for its new plant in Abilene, Texas. When operational, the facility will process postconsumer PET bottles into recycled PET pellets that will be used to make new bottles.

CarbonLite says it expects the plant to cost $40 million and to produce 45,000 tons per year of finished product when it is operational in late 2014. The company says it expects to supply Nestle’s Dallas-area bottling facilities with the recycled PET pellets. 

CarbonLite already operates a facility in Riverside, California, that opened in 2011 and processes 100 million pounds of recycled PET per year.

AMUT says it was chosen as one of the equipment vendors for the facility not only for its experience in manufacturing high-capacity washing plants and for its bottle-to-bottle process guarantee but also for its prewashing and dry-cleaning systems “that are suitable to deal even with tough materials.”

The AMUT equipment to be used at the new plant includes:

For  food-grade purification and pelletizing, CarbonLite will use equipment from EREMA North America Inc.

Other equipment to be installed at the Texas plant will be a front-end bale-opening and bottle sorting equipment built by Bulk Handling Systems, Eugene, Oregon, that will include sorting modules from its NRT subsidiary.  

Company establishes LDPE agricultural film recycling facility in Florida.

Florida Agricultural Plastic Recyclers LLC (FLAG), based in Avon Park, Florida, has announced the completion of a private placement with an international investor group that it says will allow the company to begin implementing the first phase of its low-density polyethylene (LDPE) agricultural film recycling program. The phase will include the completion of two wash lines and commencing contracted sales of shredded and washed LDPE. Joseph Miceli, president of FLAG, says, “This capital gives FLAG the opportunity to take advantage of a market abandoned by the recycling community. With favorable market conditions and FLAG’s position as the sole agricultural film recycler in Florida, this year, FLAG will be one of the largest ongoing suppliers of clean recycled LDPE film in the county, if not the world. Miceli adds, “We currently have over 30 million pounds of used ag-film in inventory and are in the process of aggregating an additional 30-40 million pounds annually that we have contracted with farmers throughout Florida and adjacent states. FLAG offers farmers the most cost-effective and environmentally green solution to dispose of their waste ag film and enables them to conform as green suppliers to national retailers.” Younis Zubchevich, CFO of FLAG, says, “We have agreements in place to sell over 40 million pounds of our output to buyers we have worked with for over 20 years. As recyclers learn that we are the source for large quantities of recycled LDPE, we expect our agreements to double by year end upon which we will implement two additional wash lines to complete Phase II of our Florida operations and expand to fully utilize our 8 acre, 65,000-square-foot warehouse facility." He adds, “With annual global production of virgin LDPE at approximately 50 billion pounds, we project an ongoing growing demand for recycled LDPE."

Brackets are designed for all DustBoss suppressor sizes.

Peoria, Illinois-based Dust Control Technology (DCT) has introduced a family of adjustable mounting brackets for the DustBoss DB-R series of dust suppressors. Developed in direct response to customer feedback, the new bracket design is available to suit the entire range of ring sizes from 17 to 100 inches and can be installed in about an hour, the company says. The DB-R is engineered specifically for use at conveyor discharge points, designed to create a virtual curtain of mist around the material flow for outstanding particle containment. “Because of the wide variation in conveyor designs, in the past we’ve left the mounting of the rings to the individual customer,” explains DCT CEO Edwin Peterson. “But it was clear that customers looked to us for guidance. So now we’ve designed an adjustable bracket that can fit virtually any conveyor design, with movable arms to allow precise location of the atomized mist circle to match the specific conveyor, material and outflow.”

The DB-R fully encircles the discharging material to apply suppression directly as the flow exits the conveyor. With no moving parts, the brackets are designed to deliver focused dust suppression on a continuous-duty basis, designed to capture fugitive particles on radial stackers and other offloading points with a durable, intrinsically safe design, DCT says. DCT says customers are finding that it’s well suited to conveyor discharge of sand, aggregates, biomass and other traditionally dusty materials. “For some bulk material handlers, it can be a very affordable alternative to more extensive dust management tactics,” Peterson says. “Larger operations are finding that the source-point suppression of the DB-R is the perfect complement to their open-area dust control measures.” The DB-R is currently available in nine standard sizes from 17 to 100 inches in diameter. Available options for the DB-R include a booster pump to elevate low water pressures, a variety of nozzle sizes/configurations and water filtration. Customers also can order the units with a two-way valve and/or hose included. More information is available at www.dustboss.com.  

North Carolina plastic scrap consumer to increase capacity by more than 70 percent.

Unifi Inc., Greensboro, North Carolina, has announced the planned expansion of its Repreve recycled-content plastic fiber manufacturing plant, which opened in Yadkinville, North Carolina, in May 2010. The expansion will increase its recycling capacity from 21,000 tons to 36,000 tons per year. The increase is being driven by increasing demand from from companies such as Ford, The North Face, Nike, Volcom and Patagonia, says Unifi.

The company says the expansion is expected to create 10 new jobs. The recent $5 million capital expenditure will bring the total investment in the Repreve Recycling Center since its opening in 2010 to $15 million.

“Expanding our Repreve manufacturing capabilities highlights our commitment to the Repreve brand and provides increased flexibility to better serve our customers,” says Roger Berrier, president and chief operating officer of Unifi. “As we bring the new machinery online, it’s clear that the increased versatility will help better position Repreve to support the growth and demand for recycled products."

The company says the largest and fastest growing segments for Repreve continue to be apparel and automotive. The expansion increases the availability of Repreve product offerings such as lower deniers that support lighter-weight fashion trends, flame retardant yarns and WaterWise color technology.

“The expansion also reflects our commitment to remain the market leader in recycled products and sustainable solutions,” adds Berrier.