BUSINESS/ORGANIZATIONAL BRIEFS

Bankruptcy Court approves sale of Marcal Paper

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey has approved the sale of Marcal Paper Mills Inc., Elwood Park, New Jersey, to Highland Capital Management, LP.

The sale of Marcal Paper Mills’ assets to the second lien lenders is pending closing requirements.

Budget Waste plans new recycling facility

Budget Waste, Inc., (BWI) headquartered in Calgary, Canada, announced that it is proposing to open a new waste recycling facility in the Calgary area.

This facility will have several unique features including multiple waste stream processing, advanced post sort processing capabilities, and the ability to produce finished products from sorted recyclables.

The facility is currently in the planning and layout phase and is anticipated to be fully operational by mid to late 2008.

Nampak Plastics and Greenstar form deal

Nampak Plastics has made an agreement with Greenstar to produce recycled content HDPE milk bottles.

The deal will see Greenstar provide Nampak with 6,000 tons of food-grade recycled HDPE from early summer 2008. The material will help in the company’s drive to increase the recycled content of HDPE bottles it manufactures. It has already committed to producing a 30% recycled content bottle in the UK during 2009, with the potential to increase this further in the future.

Tube City names new controller

Electa Boyle has joined Tube City IMS, LLC’s finance department as corporate controller.

Boyle, who will be based at the Company’s Glassport, Pennsylvania, office, has more than 20 years of finance experience. She will be responsible for the operation of the Company’s financial and administrative processes and controls.

Prior to joining Tube City, she worked most recently as controller of Alcoa Home Exteriors in Pittsburgh.

Greenbrier to acquire assets of American Allied

The Greenbrier Companies has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the operating assets of American Allied Railway Equipment Company and its subsidiaries for $83 million in cash, plus or minus working capital adjustments.

American Allied Railway Equipment Co., Inc. and its subsidiaries have been a supplier to the rail industry for over 40 years.

Waste Connections posts strong fourth quarter

Waste Connections, Inc. announced its results for the fourth quarter 2007. Revenue totaled $247.7 million, a 17.6% increase over revenue of $210.7 million in the year ago period. Operating income was $49.7 million, a 13.3% increase over operating income of $43.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. Net income in the quarter was $22.8 million, or $0.33 per share on a diluted basis of 69.5 million shares.

Management noted that current period results included approximately $2.7 million ($1.6 million net of taxes, or approximately $0.02 per share) from higher than expected fuel prices and the labor disruption in El Paso.

For the year ended December 31, 2007, revenue was $958.5 million, a 16.3% increase over revenue of $824.4 million in 2006. Operating income was $207.0 million, a 20.8% increase over operating income of $171.4 million in 2006. Net income was $99.1 million, or $1.42 per share on a diluted basis of 70.0 million shares. In 2006, the Company reported net income of $77.4 million, or $1.10 per share on a diluted basis of 70.4 million shares.

Schnitzer board declares quarterly dividend

The board of directors of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. declared a cash dividend of $0.017 per common share, payable on March 3, 2008, to shareholders of record on February 18, 2008. Schnitzer has paid a dividend every quarter since going public in November 1993.

Aleithe named VP and general manager at ABB

Aaron Aleithe has been named vice president and general manager of Low-Voltage Drives at ABB Inc., Automation Products, according to Rick Hepperla, regional division manager for Automation Products in North America. Aleithe fills the position Hepperla held before his recent promotion to division manager.

In his new role, Aleithe will be responsible for the continued growth and strategic business development of low voltage drives in the United States market. He also will serve as a member of the ABB Global LV Drives Business Unit team, and as a member of the North America Automation Products Division management team. Aleithe joined ABB in 2005 as vice president of business development for ABB’s global Medium Voltage Drives business. He was promoted to vice president for the Medium Voltage Drives business in North America in 2006 and named general manager for the Medium Voltage Motors and Low Voltage Motors businesses in North America.

BioGold Fuels appoints new board member

BioGold Fuels Corporation has appointed Moshe Krienberg to serve as a member of its board of directors. Krienberg has over 30 years experience as a process and chemical engineer.

BioGold appointed Munetka Ikeda as its executive vice president of Asian Operations. Ikeda has a background in engineering waste processing and waste to energy plants.

IronPlanet reports record growth in 2007

IronPlanet, an online auction company for used construction and agricultural equipment, continued to gain significant marketplace momentum in 2007, with gross auction sales of $231 million, an increase of more than 42 percent over 2006. Fourth quarter gross auction sales totaled $84 million, up 75 percent over the third quarter and up 65 percent over the same period last year.

In 2007 IronPlanet strengthened its relationships with key OEM partners, dealers, contractors, rental companies and other equipment sellers, increasing the average auction size to more than $10 million gross auction sales in the fourth quarter, an improvement of more than 50 percent over the same period last year. IronPlanet averaged more than 500 lots per auction in the fourth quarter, an increase of 25 percent over the same period last year.

Perma-Fix completes sale of Baltimore facility

Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. announced that it has completed the sale of Perma-Fix of Maryland, Inc., one of the company’s Industrial Segment facilities located in Baltimore, Maryland, to Triumvirate Environmental, Inc. for $3.825 million in an all cash transaction, subject to certain possible working capital adjustments during the first half of 2008.

Triumvirate Environmental is a full service environmental management firm headquartered in eastern Massachusetts. Triumvirate purchased certain assets of the facility and assumed certain liabilities.

Tube City announces new vice president

Tube City IMS, LLC, a provider of products and services to steel mills and foundries throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, South America and Asia, announced that Hank Wilson has been appointed to the new position of vice president - North American Sales and Business Development. He will work in the Company’s offices in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wilson, who most recently held the title of vice president - Southern Region at the Company’s Fairfield, Alabama, operation, will be responsible for coordinating the sales of scrap substitutes throughout North America, and oversee the scrap marketing efforts for the Company in the Midwest, South and Western United States, said J. David Aronson, executive vice president - Outsource Purchasing, Tube City IMS.

Prior to joining the Company in 1998, Wilson worked at Steiner-Liff Industries in Birmingham as president of its Shredders, Inc. division.

Wilson, who has more than 25 years of experience in the scrap, iron and steel industry, has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio.

City Carton names Brooks as facilities manager

Mike Brooks has been named the new manager of the Mt. Pleasant, Muscatine, and Creston City Carton Recycling Facilities.

Brooks will oversee operations of the three facilities. He is responsible for implementing products and services marketing plans for the plants, with goals to maximize customer service, vendor relations, sales, and profits. Brooks is also responsible for building needs, equipment needs, and personnel at the recycling locations. He will report to City Carton Recycling’s Southern Division manager, Tim Ockenfels.

Brooks has over 35 years experience in management and operations. For ten years prior to joining City Carton Recycling, Brooks worked for Hawkeye Foodservice Distribution, serving as vice president and general manager.

Harsco plans to begin share repurchases

Harsco Corporation announced that it plans to begin the repurchase of an undetermined number of shares of the Company’s common stock under its previously approved stock repurchase authorization.

The Company said that the repurchases will be made in open market transactions at times and amounts as management deems appropriate, depending on market conditions. Any repurchase may commence or be discontinued at any time.

RBRC’s Norm England submits resignation

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) announced the resignation of Norm England, its longtime president and CEO.

England served as president/CEO of RBRC for over eight years. During that period, RBRC’s collections of used nickel cadmium rechargeable batteries increased by almost 100% and RBRC expanded its program to collect and recycle additional battery chemistries and used cell phones. During England’s tenure, RBRC recycled over 36 million pounds of material.

GreenHunter Energy appoints new director

GreenHunter Energy, Inc. announced the appointment of Jack W. Zedlitz as the director of corporate communications.

Zedlitz was formerly employed with Capital West Securities, Inc. in their Corporate Finance group, where he was responsible for equity and debt financing for Capital West’s corporate clients. Zedlitz worked with GreenHunter Energy on the Company’s latest equity capital raise of $19.2 million completed in December 2007.

IronPlanet names Randy Berry as VP of inspection

IronPlanet™ appointed Randy Berry to the position of vice president of inspection and appraisal services. Berry will be responsible for scaling IronPlanet’s Inspection Services organization and capabilities as the company continues to grow. Additionally, Berry will launch IronPlanet’s equipment appraisal service to customers.

Berry has more than 25 years of experience improving business performance in Fortune 1,000 companies. He worked for 14 years with Accenture Ltd., most recently as partner in the firm’s supply chain management consulting practice. Berry’s experience also includes an operations management role with high-tech bellwether Apple, and a role in new business development for the world’s largest valuation consulting firm, American Appraisal.

Berry is a graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a B.S. in Industrial Management.

McKenzie Egender joins Sokolis Group

Sokolis Group, a developer of strategic fuel management programs, has named McKenzie D. Egender as senior account manager - consultant.

As a key business developer and client liaison, McKenzie will draw from her diverse experience to help Sokolis Group clients reduce fuel costs by securing more favorable product pricing, improving fueling process efficiency and streamlining administrative procedures.

New VP of sales chosen at Texas Recycling/Surplus

Texas Recycling/Surplus, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has named Kathy DeLano vice president - sales.

DeLano, who joined the company in March, 2006, as a sales representative, will be responsible for overseeing the procurement of material for the company’s paper and plastic recycling operations.

Balcones Resources merges with Austin Shred

Balcones Resources, an independent recycler of high-grade paper and provider of comprehensive environmental services in the Southwest, announced its merger with Austin Shred, an offsite provider of secure document destruction services.

Under the terms of the agreement, Austin Shred will function as the central Texas arm of Balcones’ secure document destruction operation. Shane Mericle will serve as vice president of operations for Austin Shred under the merger.

Effective January 1, 2008, the company will officially be known as “Austin Shred, a Balcones Resources company.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but are said to be a cash and stock combination.

New director appointed for EPA Region 7

Ron Hammerschmidt, director of the Division of the Environment at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, has been hired to lead the Environmental Services Division for Region 7 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Hammerschmidt’s new role will include supervision of scientists, chemists and engineers who handle field activities, a testing laboratory and technical support.

Allied Waste closes $33.9 million in revenue bonds

Allied Waste Industries, Inc. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Allied Waste North America, Inc., successfully completed the offering of $33.9 million in principal amount of California Municipal Finance Authority Solid Waste Revenue Variable Rate Demand Bonds (Allied Waste North America, Inc. Project) Series 2008A, due 2024.

The offering is backed by a letter of credit as credit enhancement for the bonds. Inclusive of the letter of credit fees, the initial all-in cost to Allied is approximately 4.20%.