Industry news

// Concrete and aggregates

Chicago area crushing plant approved

Northern Illinois quarry operator Boughton Materials Inc. has won approval from the Will County, Ill., county board of county legislators to install a concrete recycling plant on its property. The approval comes after adjustments were made to the initial proposal, which was rejected in February 2013.

According to a late December 2013 report in the Chicago Tribune, the Will County Board approved the agreement that will allow the crushing plant to be built at Boughton’s 200-acre Wheatland Township quarry near Naperville and Bolingbrook, Ill.

The February rejection vote took place after groups “representing 16 neighboring subdivisions” objected to the recycling plant, according to the Tribune report.

The December terms included stipulations that Boughton Materials will be required to install water spray bars as a dust control measure for inbound and outbound trucks, to limit the types of concrete materials it can accept for recycling and to be subject to county inspections.

According to the Tribune, three times previously Boughton Materials has had to sue the county relative to zoning decisions with which it disagreed, with Boughton winning those cases each time.

 

// Demolition projects

Cleveland’s Innerbelt Bridge demolition begins

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has announced demolition has begun on the Innerbelt Bridge, which has served as a major route for traffic into downtown Cleveland for more than 50 years.

The Innerbelt Bridge was a truss arch bridge which carried Interstate 90 traffic over the Cuyahoga River.

Trumbull Corp., in a joint venture with Great Lakes Construction Co. and The Ruhlin Co., known as Trumbull-Great Lakes-Ruhlin (TGR) was the successful bidder on the $273 million Cleveland Innerbelt Bridge project.

TGR was awarded the contract to demolish the 1959 bridge and construct a sister span to the already completed first bridge. The team has proposed a mixture of both traditional demolition and controlled—or explosive—demolition.

The bridge railings, lights, barriers and concrete driving surface will be removed using traditional methods. Specific spans over the river and railroads also will be disassembled in a traditional manner. Several spans will be demolished using a controlled demolition method. A safety perimeter of 1,000 feet will be set for the controlled demolition.

In advance of the demolition project, crews have begun removing light poles, a barrier wall and railings. Soon after, the concrete driving surface will be removed. This preliminary work is expected to continue into spring. Controlled demolition will occur during the late spring 2014 with the demolition project to be completed by summer.

ODOT is in the midst of replacing the 1950’s-era Innerbelt Bridge with two new bridges–one to carry westbound traffic, the other to carry eastbound traffic. Each new bridge will carry five lanes of traffic—one more lane than the Innerbelt.

More information on the bridge project is available at www.Innerbelt.org.

 

// Legislation & regulations

South Carolina repeals C&D flow control

South Carolina’s Horry County Council has passed an ordinance repealing the construction and demolition (C&D) portion of its flow control ordinance. The ordinance passed in three readings with the final reading passing by a vote of 7-4, according to local reports.

The change will allow C&D debris generated in the county to go to private landfills outside the county. Horry County officials say the move will free up landfill space in the county and extend the life of the landfill.

The flow control ordinance, which originally passed in 2009, will continue to be in effect for municipal solid waste. The law has been challenged but upheld in lawsuits at both the state and federal level.

 

// Company news

North Carolina city holds hearing on proposed C&D landfill

The North Carolina Division of Waste Management (NCDWM) held a public hearing in early December 2013 on a proposed C&D landfill.

Green Recycling Solutions LLC, applied for a Permit to Construct a C&D Landfill facility located at 11710 NC Highway 17, near White Oak River Road, in Maysville, Jones County, N.C. According to the permit notification, the Maysville Construction and Demolition Landfill (C&DLF) would have an operational life of approximately 30 years, segmented into six phases that would provide approximately five years of service each.

At complete build-out, the facility would cover an area of 16 acres with a disposal capacity of 602,102 cubic yards.

The permit notification states that in developing the property, Green Recycling Solutions was issued a Treatment and Processing (T&P) Permit to Construct in February 2013 for a C&D material recovery operation at the same location. The operation would serve to reduce the amount of waste material disposed in the C&D landfill. As proposed, the C&D landfill will only receive wastes that have been processed through the material recovery operation.

According to the document, the proposed Maysville C&D landfill would be the first landfill constructed in the state that complies with North Carolina General Statutes 130A–295.6 enacted in 2007. The statute requires, in addition to other design elements, a flexible membrane liner system and a leachate collection system.

During the initial five-year phase of operation, the C&D recovery operation is projected to receive a maximum annual amount of 99,750 tons of waste or 350 tons per day in year five of the initial Permit to Operate. The applicant projects a material recovery rate of 87 percent at that point that would leave an expected annual amount for disposal of 15,390 tons of waste or 54 tons of waste per day.

The public hearing was part of the 45-day comment period on the draft permit. A copy of the draft permit is available at portal.ncdenr.org/web/wm/sw.

 

// Green building

Austin company hauling construction debris from University of Texas project

At Your Disposal Waste Services (AYD), an Austin, Texas-based company providing roll-off dumpsters and hauling services, is currently working with JE Dunn Construction on the development of a new student housing apartment building in Austin. AYD is providing two sizes of roll-off containers and is transporting construction debris to local recycling centers in order to fulfill Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements on the project.

The new building is located at 24th St. and San Gabriel, several blocks from the University of Texas at Austin West Campus. The new six-story student housing building will be called Regents West at 24th, joining a similar student housing complex, Regents West at 26th, located just a few blocks away. The amenities offered to students will include a regular shuttle to campus, a study lounge, fitness center, wireless high-speed Internet and on-site maintenance. The building will offer students a variety of floor plans and apartment sizes ranging from efficiency studios to five-bedroom apartments.

As a LEED project, this construction requires all construction debris and waste to be appropriately recycled. AYD is providing both 20-yard and 40-yard containers on-site and hauling debris for recycling. Per LEED requirements, AYD also provides a percentage breakdown of all materials hauled and the total amount that is recycled.

“On brand new construction sites, we’re easily recycling 95 to 98 percent of all debris generated at the worksite,” says Chuck Herb, owner of AYD.

AYD earns projects points toward LEED certification and participates in the Texas Environmental Quality Initiatives Program.

 

// Scrap metals

MetalX earmarks $12 million for new yard

MetalX LLC, a scrap metal recycling company headquartered in Waterloo, Ind., has announced plans to open its newest facility in Auburn, Ind.

The new location is near Fort Wayne, Ind. The company expects to invest $12.4 million to purchase, renovate and equip the 240,000-square-foot site in Auburn. The new facility is located on a 30-acre site with main line rail access.

MetalX says it expects to commission the first line of its Auburn facility in April, with plans to have the plant fully operational by September 2014. The facility will allow MetalX to develop a consolidated nonferrous metal recycling and reclamation operation that will be capable of recycling more than 100 million pounds of nonferrous metals per year, half of which will be reclaimed from material streams previously going to landfills, the company says.

MetalX may qualify for up to $725,000 in conditional tax credits for the facility.

Danny Rifkin, president and CEO of MetalX, says the facility will target the wholesale, industrial and dealer network. The company also may add a retail section to the business in the future.

MetalX opened its first facility on a 70-acre site in Waterloo and has grown from 12 employees to more than 100 in slightly more than one year.

Rifkin says the company looked at the opportunity to use the new location to extract more nonferrous scrap, including metals contained in auto shredder residue (ASR) the company was generating at its Waterloo site. He adds that the company has outgrown its nonferrous capacity at its Waterloo location and is in need of a new location.

MetalX will now operate metal recycling and scrap processing facilities in Waterloo, Fort Wayne and Auburn, as well as a joint venture operation in Birmingham, Ala. MetalX also offers customized consulting and management services to industrial scrap generators throughout the United States.

 

// Demolition projects

Nebraska power plant demolition begins

Demolition activity at a former power plant in Norfolk, Neb., that is now a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site began in late January 2014. The demolition project will cost an estimated $2.83 million.

According to the EPA, activity at the former Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power gas plant site began Jan. 20, 2014. The project will consist of building demolition, soil excavation and backfilling operations.

The EPA classifies the Superfund activity as a “removal action” that will entail structural demolition and the excavation of contaminated soils to a depth of 10 feet below ground surface. After soil sampling is conducted on the walls and floor of the excavated areas, if the sampling results show contamination above the cleanup goals, excavation will continue until the concentrations are below the cleanup goals or until groundwater is encountered, according to the EPA.

Following the soil excavation, groundwater monitoring will continue until the EPA determines that the removal action objective is complete. Contamination at the site includes coal tar contaminated materials including benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and unwelcome metals.

 

// Biomass projects

Ineos Bio provides operational update

Ineos Bio has provided an update on the operations at its Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Fla., which is producing bioethanol from vegetative and wood waste.

“Ineos Bio’s Vero Beach facility has made significant operational progress and we are steadily moving toward stable operations in 2014 with a focus on improving performance metrics throughout next year,” says David King, site director. “Bringing the facility online and up to capacity has taken longer than planned due to several unexpected startup issues.”

King adds, “In the upcoming months we will focus on implementing these upgrades at the center as we look to continue to build its on-stream performance and reliability. We believe that performance at the facility to date has shown that, once these modifications are successfully implemented, Ineos Bio’s technology can meet and over time exceed the design technology performance metrics.”

The BioEnergy Center is a joint venture project between Ineos Bio and New Planet Energy. At full capacity, the plant will have an annual output of 8 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol.
 

// Demolition projects

Metrodome hosts final game

Minnesota Vikings fans celebrated their last victory in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on Dec. 30, 2013 as the NFL team played its last game there. Demolition began in mid-January with the deflation of the roof. According to www.bleacherreport.com, fans took the backs off of stadium chairs when exiting the stadium after the Vikings 14-13 win over the Detroit Lions.

The Vikings marked the end of the dome after the game with an on-field ceremony featuring retired players and running back Adrian Peterson. The Metrodome site will be home to the new Vikings stadium, which is scheduled to be ready for play by the 2016 season, according to reports.

Albrecht Sign Co., Fridley, Minn., tore out the seats and sold them to nonprofit groups and community organizations at $40 per seat. General seats were $60 per seat, and anyone who wanted a specific seat was charged $80 per seat, according to local TV station KARE 11.

As of Dec. 31, 2013, nearly 4,000 of the blue seats had been sold to individuals and nonprofit groups.

 

// Legislation & regulations

Ohio AG extends deadline for demolition funds

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has announced his office will be extending the deadline for Ohio counties to use all of their Moving Ohio Forward demolition grant funds from Dec. 31, 2013 to May 31, 2014.

“I am pleased with the progress made by communities to raze abandoned and blighted homes,” says DeWine. “By extending the deadline through late spring, we hope that counties will continue to take advantage of the funds available to them to get rid of abandoned homes that have attracted crime and are community eyesores.”

Several counties have asked for the extension due to wet and rainy conditions this spring, and finding qualified demolition contractors also was an issue in some areas.

According to the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Ohio’s share of the National Mortgage Settlement, $75 million for demolition, was directed by the attorney general to go to all of Ohio’s counties based on the percentage of foreclosures filed in each county between 2008 and 2011.

To date, the attorney general’s office has reimbursed counties more than $22.3 million and documented a total of more than $36.6 million in the demolition of more than 4,700 units.

 

// Association activities

NDA updates demolition manual

At a time of increased public interest in the issue of demolition work site safety, the National Demolition Association (NDA), Doylestown, Pa., has released the newest edition of its Demolition Safety Manual.

NDA Executive Director Mike Taylor says, “Our Demolition Safety Manual is used by professionals around the world and is the cornerstone of the NDA’s extensive demolition safety program. We work closely with OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), which helps fund the manual’s development, to correlate the recommended practices it contains with OSHA Construction Standard 29 CFR 1926 and numerous accepted environmental regulations.”

The latest revision of the manual enables demolition contracting firms and any other organization involved in the demolition process to manage their own company-specific safety program and promote a culture of safety within their organizations. The content has been studied and recommended by the NDA Safety Committee and other industry safety leaders.

The manual includes updated information on the safe handling of various hazardous materials found on some demolition sites, as well as information on topics such as quick coupler safety and the safe use of high-reach long boom arms. In addition, the new edition is more easily searchable from desktop computers and mobile devices.

The manual soon will be available in a searchable format online at NDA’s website at www.demolitionassociation.com. The Demolition Safety Manual—offered free to NDA members—also can be purchased online at the NDA Store for $100 for nonmembers. It joins the newly harmonized Hazard Communication Program and the Demolition Safety Talks program, a job site toolbox safety meeting resource, as the foundation of a demolition safety management program.

 

// Legislation & regulations

Cemex seeks RDF permit

Global cement manufacturing firm Cemex, with U.S. headquarters in Houston, has petitioned the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District to allow the use of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) as an alternative fuel in its cement manufacturing process at its Kosmos cement plant in Louisville, Ky. The company says the RDF will replace traditional fuels such as coal and petroleum coke.

Cemex already has approval for the use of RDF from the Louisville Metro Planning Commission and the Louisville Metro Solid Waste District. Additionally, the Kentucky Division of Waste Management permitted its use as a fuel in summer 2013. The draft permit is now with the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (LMAPCD) for review.

The Kosmos facility has been using tire-derived fuel (TDF) since 2010 to meet up to 25 percent of the plant’s energy needs, which has resulted in the consumption of more than 3 million scrap tires.

The facility uses other recycled raw materials, including coal ash and synthetic gypsum (spent lime from wet scrubbers) from electrical generating plants and mill scale from the steel industry.

The LMAPCD accepted public comment through Dec. 30, 2013, on a proposed new air quality permit for the plant that would allow the fuel to be burned.

The new permit would allow up to 10 tons per hour of RDF, and increase Cemex’s TDF to 9 tons per hour. Cemex says the switch would result in a potential fossil fuel substitution of more than 60 percent—an estimated 30 percent for RDF and an estimated 38 percent for TDF.

During trial runs, Cemex says it achieved a 30 percent fossil fuel substitution with RDF and about a 15 percent substitution with TDF, resulting in a total replacement of nearly 50 percent.

 

// Forecasts & statistics

Remodeling market poised for 2014 growth

Recyclers who receive materials generated at remodeling projects will ideally see steady to growing volumes of material from that sector in 2014, based on recent survey data.

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), Des Plaines, Ill., says its fourth quarter 2013 Remodeling Business Pulse (RBP) data points to an active remodeling market into 2014.

The RBP, which measures current and future remodeling business conditions, continues to show growth, according to NARI. Remodelers reported the highest overall rating on business conditions of the year, at 6.51 (from 6.41 in the third quarter), although numbers in other categories experienced a slight drop.

“Many remodelers entered 2014 with jobs in the pipeline, which hasn’t happened in the past few years,” says Tom O’Grady, chairman of NARI’s Strategic Planning & Research Committee and president of O’Grady Builders, Drexel Hill, Pa. “Although inquiries, requests for bids and conversion of bids are down in the fourth quarter, that backlog has given remodelers confidence that the overall business conditions will remain positive.”

“The fourth quarter of [2013] was very strong for many remodelers, as reflected in the RBP survey,” O’Grady says. “Average sale prices continue to rise, and consumers are more comfortable spending money on projects that will increase the value of their homes.”

“The outlook forecasts that favorable business conditions will remain strong across all regions of the United States,” O’Grady continues. “Consumer confidence is up, which translates into more homeowners feeling safe investing in their homes.”

 

// Association activities

OSHA renews alliance with Scaffold and Access Industry Association

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has renewed its alliance with the Scaffold and Access Industry Association (SAIA) to provide information to protect the safety and health of workers who use scaffolds and lift equipment. Through the alliance, OSHA and SAIA will work to reduce and prevent fall and caught-in-between hazards and issues related to frame, mast climbing and suspended scaffolds and aerial lift equipment. The agreement will remain in effect for five years.

“Worker injuries and deaths from scaffolding hazards can be prevented when employers provide training on safe set up and use of equipment,” says OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. “By renewing our alliance with SAIA we will expand our outreach to employers and workers and provide important training to protect workers in the scaffold and access industry.”

Alliance members also will use injury and illness data in selected industries to help identify areas of emphasis for alliance awareness and outreach activities.

SAIA is a national trade organization that advocates worker safety in the scaffold, aerial lift and access industry worldwide. The organization represents 1,000 member companies that employ more than 200,000 workers.

Through its Alliance Program, OSHA works with unions, consulates, trade and professional organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, businesses and educational institutions to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. The purpose of each alliance is to develop compliance assistance tools and resources and to educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities.

 

// Green building

The Jim Beam American Stillhouse earns LEED Gold certification

The Jim Beam American Stillhouse, Clermont, Ky., has received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The Jim Beam American Stillhouse, situated on the grounds of Jim Beam’s flagship distillery in Clermont, Ky., demonstrates leadership, innovation, environmental stewardship and social responsibility in all of its practices, says the company.

To spearhead these efforts, Beam established a dedicated environmental management committee to oversee improvement of its systems and processes worldwide. After more than two centuries in the business that largely relies on the land, especially Kentucky water to craft its top-selling whiskey, Beam says it takes a meticulous approach to protect the environment. Beam focuses on a handful of sustainability tenets including: water preservation, energy conservation and recycling.

The LEED Gold certification was based on several green design and construction features that directly impact the distillery grounds, such as energy use, lighting, water and material use as well as incorporating other sustainable strategies.

As part of its environmental commitment, the construction of the Jim Beam American Stillhouse:

• Used 25 percent recycled materials;
• Achieves 50 percent annual water savings due to the low-flow fixtures, faucets and flush valves
• Has 100 percent controlled lighting in its facilities to save energy; and
• Diverted 79 percent of its construction waste from landfills.

 

// Mergers & acquisitions

ReEnergy acquires Maine C&D processing facility

ReEnergy Holdings LLC, which owns and operates facilities that use forest-derived woody biomass and other wood waste residues to produce renewable energy, has acquired KTI Bio Fuels Inc.’s C&D processing facility in Lewiston, Maine. KTI is a subsidiary of Casella Waste Systems. ReEnergy, a portfolio company of Riverstone Holdings LLC, is headquartered in Albany, N.Y.

The newly acquired Maine facility has accepted and processed nonhazardous C&D waste for more than two decades. Through both mechanical and manual sorting, the facility recovers material that can be used as fuel at biomass-to-energy facilities. ReEnergy expects to use its in-house processing experience and technology to recover additional wood from the processing streams, reducing landfilled volumes and increasing wood fuel production.

Exclusive of this acquisition, ReEnergy owns 325 megawatts (MW) of installed renewable energy generation capacity and processes for recycling more than 500,000 tons per year of C&D material. ReEnergy operates in six states, including Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York and North Carolina and employs 290 people.

 

// Company news

AstroTurf unveils recycling program

AstroTurf, a Dalton, Ga.-based company, has begun recycling synthetic turf. The company says that it has become the first vertically integrated manufacturer of the synthetic turf to fully recycle the turf fields.

Under AstroTurf’s recycling program, specialized machinery removes the infill when a field is being replaced. Afterward, the field is cut into strips, rolled up and shipped to AstroTurf’s recycling facilities. There the rolls are ground up, melted into pellets and re-extruded into new plastics.

Postconsumer uses for synthetic turf include pallets and other industrial applications, the company says.

 

// Research developments

Canadian university introduces PCB cleanup system

Scientists from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, say they have developed a safer and more effective way to clean up polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the environment using ultraviolet (UV) light. University researchers say the new approach is the first time that this method to clean up PCBs has been used.

At the present time cleaning PCBs requires the transportation of contaminated soil to specialized incinerators. The university says that its new technology significantly improves the cleanup process. The system is housed in a 15-meter shipping container and uses UV rays for on-site cleanup. Researchers say the new PCB cleanup method is safer, less expensive and the decontaminated soil is safely returned to its original location.

The project was made possible by funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and completed in partnership with SAIT Polytechnic, TransCanada Corp. Innovate Calgary and IPAC Services Corp.

// Personnel activity

Sunshine Recycling adds to staff

Sunshine Recycling, a construction hauling and recycling firm in Orlando, Fla., has hired Heather Edwards as a sales representative. She will be responsible for handling customer service and account retention for the company, and will interact with current and potential clients to secure, monitor and follow up Sunshine Recycling’s services.

Edwards, with 23 years’ experience in the waste industry, has performed all facets of the job including dispatch, account retention, customer service and sales.

“I am very familiar with how all the different parts of the company work together to provide the best customer service,” says Edwards.