Installation in Italy plucks wood from mixed stream, feeds medium-density fiberboard plant.
Founded in 1882 and located outside of Venice, Italy, wood processing company Fantoni has been focusing on sustainability and recycled materials in its production for more than 20 years, according to sorting technology provider Steinert GmbH.
In 2019, Fantoni decided to source recycled materials from in-house sorting and reached out to Steinert. That inquiry has resulted in a sorting facility for recovering 250,000 tons of usable scrap wood each year recovered from a municipal solid waste (MSW) stream.
Fantoni faces what Steinert calls a “chronically poor availability of fresh wood in Italy,” and previously had been confronted by a shortage of high-quality recyclable wood. There also is growing demand on the market for sustainable products, with at least 50 percent of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panels required to be manufactured from recycled material by 2030.
Fantoni says it has invested 150 million euros ($152.5 million) in sustainability over the last four years, including in what Steinert calls the longest continuous MDF press in Europe and a modern sorting facility for wood scrap.
The sorting plant, says Steinert, forms the basis for sustainable MDF: clean wood fibers for producing the first MDF with a higher proportion of old wood than fresh wood.
In cooperation with Steinert, Fantoni developed a sorting concept in which impurities are removed in three steps. Once the material flow has been split into two grain sizes, metals are removed using magnet and eddy current technology. Then X-ray and near-infrared (NIR) technology cleans the wood from residues such as glass, stone and plastic, in another use of Steinert separation and sorting machines.
“The carefully selected and perfectly coordinated machines ensure optimum performance and therefore optimum sorting quality of the 250 000 tons of wood waste they process per year,” states Steinert. The company says Fantoni was able to test machinery using its own material at the Steinert Test Center at the company’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
“The option to do this was a key factor in our decision, not only to get a guarantee of the sorting performance we targeted, but also to be able to see the machines in action and convince ourselves of their build quality,” says Umberto Meroni, technical director at Fantoni. “After all, we hope they will run for 20 to 50 years.”
Continues Meroni, “Ultimately, we were won over by the robustness of the Steinert machines and the UniSort technology for detecting black objects, which felt more sophisticated than those of the competition.”
Marco Fantoni, a member of the board at Fantoni SpA, says, “We very much appreciated the Steinert personalities. Especially during the commissioning and start-up phase, Steinert has proven to be a reliable partner.”
The family business executive says the investment represents a milestone in MDF production, delivering a much more efficient product in both monetary and environmental terms. For the first time ever, claims the company, furniture-grade wood can now be recovered from MSW.
“Being the first to develop and offer this system will give us significant competitive advantages”, says Marco Fantoni.
September event in Louisville, Kentucky, lets attendees work the controls of some of the equipment on display.
The Recycling Today Media Group says scrap recyclers, demolition contractors and auto dismantlers who attend Scrap Expo next month will have the chance to operate some of the equipment on display.
At the event, taking place at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky, Sept. 13-14, attendees shopping for equipment will, in some cases, be able to try out machinery before buying it.
Unprocessed scrap metal is being brought onto the site so prospective buyers of material handlers, loaders, shears, loggers and end-of-life vehicle depollution equipment can see and feel exactly how the equipment operates.
The live demo area at Scrap Expo will feature many makes and models of scrap machinery that can be tested out by potential buyers, according to Recycling Today.
The list of exhibiting companies, which stands at 37 as of early August, can be found on this web page.
The two-day event also features equipment maintenance and scrap commodity informational sessions, and live recordings of industry podcasts. The schedule for those activities can be found on this web page.
Those seeking information on registering for the event can visit this web page.
Steelmaker to add 600,000 tons per year melt shop In Kingman, Arizona.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based steelmaker Nucor Corp. has announced it will add a new melt shop at its bar mill in Kingman, Arizona. The anticipated $100 million melt shop will have the capacity to produce 600,000 tons of raw steel annually. Construction of the melt shop is expected to take two years, pending permit and regulatory approvals.
“This investment in a new melt shop at our Arizona bar mill is part of our strategy to grow our core steelmaking business and will help us maintain our market leadership position in steel bar production,” says Leon Topalian, president and CEO of Nucor. “Adding new melt shop capacity will help meet the growing demand for steel bar products in the Western region, which is one of the fastest growing areas in the United States.”
Steel production in the West lags behind that of other regions, according to figures kept by the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). In the week ending this July 30, for example, just 64,000 tons of steel were made in the AISI Western region. That lags behind 728,000 tons in its Southern region; 562,000 in the Great Lakes region; 207,000 in the Midwest region; and 166,000 in the AISI North East region.
One of the last mills in California, an electric arc furnace (EAF) mill in Rancho Cucamonga last operated by Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), was idled in late 2020, with the land sold off last year. CMC has attempted to shift some of that capacity by expanding its EAF output in Mesa, Arizona. Nucor will now try to boost Western U.S. output with the Kingman project.
In September 2021, Nucor announced its intention to build a new melt shop at one of its existing bar mills in the Western United States. Nucor Steel Kingman is the ideal location for this project because it is a rolling mill that converts steel billets into coiled wire rod and rebar but lacks a melt shop. The Kingman mill currently employs approximately 80 teammates.
Wire rod and rebar made downstream of the melt shop in Kingman are used primarily in concrete reinforcement for the construction of roads, buildings, bridges and other structures. Nucor will use scrap-fed EAF technology and refers to itself as “one of the most sustainable steel producers in the world.” Nucor says its steel bar products last year averaged 98.5 percent recycled content.
“Nucor’s new sustainable steel production facility will strengthen Arizona’s vibrant manufacturing ecosystem,” says Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “Nucor’s new facility will produce quality steel and steel products while maintaining the highest safety and sustainability standards. We are grateful for Nucor’s commitment to Kingman, creating high-wage jobs while driving further economic growth in the area.”
Nucor has 15 bar mills in the U.S., with four of them focusing on special bar quality (SBQ) and wire rod products. Nucor estimates its current bar steel production capacity at approximately 9.56 million tons per year.
In addition to its EAF steelmaking operations, Nucor makes steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; overhead doors; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Through its Cincinnati-based David J. Joseph Co. business unit, it processes and brokers ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal.
The company has acquired Heath, Ohio-based Waste Away Systems.
WIN Waste Innovations, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has acquired Waste Away Systems, a Heath, Ohio-based solid waste and recycling hauling company.
The deal, which formally closed July 19, includes a transfer station that handles municipal solid waste and construction and demolition waste. Waste Away Systems currently manages 18 collection routes, with 8,600 residential accounts across 11 municipal contracts. It also has 1,800 commercial customers and a roll-off business that services temporary and compactor customers.
“Waste Away is a well-run company with an aligned goal of excellent customer service while prioritizing safety and sustainability,” a spokesperson for WIN Waste told Waste Today. “The addition of Waste Away’s business supports a base for future strategic growth near our existing landfill assets.”
As the company’s first major acquisition outside of the Northeast, WIN Waste is showing no signs of slowing down since its restructuring last spring. In April of last year, the company announced it would integrate 10 wase industry businesses into a single company operating under the WIN Waste Innovations brand.
WIN Waste, which now generates more than $1 billion in annual revenue, is comprised of the former Wheelabrator Technologies, as well as Stamford, Connecticut-based City Carting & Recycling and Tunnel Hill Partners; Londonderry, New Hampshire-based Charles George Waste Disposal & Recycling; Westboro, Massachusetts-based United Material Management; and others.
Today, the combined company operates roughly 50 strategically located collection, transfer and disposal assets. It serves more than 110,000 collection customers on over 200 collection routes using 346 total collection vehicles and eight hauling locations.
“Investing in our team across all lines of business and ensuring our assets are working optimally in both process and environmental health and safety remains our priority,” says the spokesperson. “We will pursue a continuation of our growth strategy utilized in New England where we prioritized smart, strategic growth opportunities to support vertical integration which can reinforce our assets and expand our depth of services throughout our footprint.”
According to the company’s website, Waste Away was originally founded in 1976 by John Young. In April 2012, the company was reestablished by Young’s grandson, Seth Ellington. Under Ellington, the company took a new approach to high-quality waste services.
Connecticut-based investor points to positives of population growth in the coastal South Carolina region.
Ironwood Capital has announced making an investment in Ridgeland, South Carolina-based Pro Disposal USA LLC. Ironwood says the investment, “will support Pro Disposal’s acquisition of Carolina Containers of Beaufort and Barnwell Resources (CCB),” which it calls a collection and hauling, transfer station and landfill business specializing in C&D materials.
Pro Disposal is described by Ironwood as a vertically integrated waste management service provider permitted to handle waste from initial collection to its transfer station to final disposal. The firm was founded in 2006 and serves communities near the South Carolina coast from Charleston to Hilton Head to Savannah, Georgia.
Ironwood, based in Avon, Connecticut, calls the operating region “an area experiencing significant population growth, contributing to high levels of demand for solid waste management.”
Comments Alex Cano, president of Pro Disposal, “We’re very excited about the acquisition of CCB, as it allows Pro Disposal to achieve full vertical integration and positions the company for future growth through geographic expansion and further penetration of the existing region.”
“Alex is an excellent leader and he and his team have done a tremendous job executing on organic growth, facility expansion and M&A, laser-focused, transforming the company in just two short years since Laurel Mountain Partner’s investment,” says Jeff Kendall, CEO of Laurel Mountain Partners and Pro Disposal.
Joe Ursuy, a Comerica Bank executive vice president involved in the transaction, says, “Since 1996, Comerica has financed several solid waste and environmental business acquisitions throughout North America with Jeff Kendall and Laurel Mountain Partners and are pleased that our partnership continues with this acquisition of CCB.”
Comments Dickson Suit of Ironwood Capital, “Ironwood has made numerous investments in environmental services companies backing proven managers and leaders and is thrilled to once again collaborate with Jeff and Alex, who founded Pro Disposal in 2006 with only two roll-off containers and a single truck. This entrepreneur dynamic, coupled with strong regional market tailwinds in South Carolina and Georgia and an overlapping footprint with the acquisition, make this a highly accretive and exciting transaction.”
Ironwood Capital describes itself as providing non-control growth capital to middle-market companies in the United States, having invested more than $1 billion in more than 100 companies since 2001.