Jefferson City, MO— The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has awarded $47,000 to Pike County Sheltered Workshop Inc. of Bowling Green for two recycling trailers and a new pickup truck. Pike County Sheltered Workshop picks up recyclable items free of charge from area businesses, government offices and schools. With the success of this program, area residents began asking the workshop to provide a recycling program for individual households. By placing one recycling trailer at Clarksville and another at Louisiana, the workshop will be able to collect the recyclables, unload them at the recycling center and return them the same day - thereby providing dropoff service to area residents. Since the workshop started its recycling program in 1996, area recycling has increased almost six fold from 240,000 pounds to 1.3 million pounds in 2002.

This grant is funded by the Solid Waste Management Fund, which is made up of disposal fees collected for each ton of waste taken to Missouri landfills or to transfer stations that transfer waste out of state. The projects funded by this grant will help the state achieve its waste management goals. For more information call Bruce Tylke of the department’s Solid Waste Management Program at 800-361-4827.

Jefferson City, MO— The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has awarded $20,000 to Southeast Missouri State University of Cape Girardeau, for construction of a building and purchase of a baler and forklift to assist the university’s recycling efforts.

This project will help Southeast Missouri State University put into operation the recommendations of a Department of Natural Resources’-funded waste audit in 2002. The audit highlighted the need for a facility to process recyclables, which will prevent them from being exposed to the weather, thereby increasing their value. The new facility will be used for processing the recyclable materials and also will house the new equipment that will be purchased.

Chicago, IL— U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 awarded the Moorhead, Minnesota, wastewater treatment plant first place in the medium, advanced treatment category of the 2003 Regional Operation and Maintenance Excellence Awards.

Moorhead was recognized for its exemplary compliance record, for using new technology that reduced operating costs, and for making improvements that saved over $890,000 in construction costs.

Washington, DC— The rubber and asphalt industries are joining together to educate buyers, sellers and other stakeholders on the benefits of rubber modified asphalt.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) is partnering with the Rubber Division, American Chemical Society (ACS); Rubber Pavements Association; National Asphalt Pavement Association; National Center for Asphalt Technology; Asphalt Institute; and the Rubber Recycling Topical Group, ACS to launch the first rubber and asphalt industry conference next May.

The event will be held May 19-20, 2004, at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It will follow the Rubber Division’s 165th Spring Technical Meeting from May 17-19 at the same location.

Grand Rapids, MI— Although landfills across the country are filling at an alarming rate, Big Chipper Inc., located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is anything but down in the dumps. Instead, the company has taken a proactive approach in recycling wood waste, effectively keeping it out of municipal landfills.

The company takes in a variety of wood and turns it into new products. From waste haulers, Big Chipper receives industrial waste, which is ground and distributed to two area power plants for co-generation fuel to produce electricity. Green waste comes to Big Chipper via residents, tree services and municipalities and is turned into mulch.

To color the mulch, Big Chipper switched to a dry granule colorant. After using the granule colorant for the past few months, Farmwald, the owner, predicts, “That’s definitely the future of coloring.” Farmwald speculates this because not only is the system cleaner, but the cost per cubic yard of granule colorant is less than liquid or powder systems.

Big Chipper colors mulch using Beast recyclers, manufactured by Bandit Industries. The cost of adding a coloring system was minimal in that all that is needed to color is a simple feeder and a manifold, used to add water. The system runs off the electronics of the Beast’s engine. Farmwald says Bandit’s system uses 10 gallons of water a minute, about 20 percent of the water used in liquid systems. The colorant is an oxidizing pigment, so it covers and penetrates the mulch very well. The granule colorant allows the material to exit the machine fairly dry, much dryer than colored mulch from liquid systems.

The mobility of his recyclers has also aided Farmwald in his business. The company travels to yards with stockpiled wood, grinds it onsite and hauls the ground wood back to be used for mulch or other purposes.

Farmwald hints that to entrepreneur hopefuls, wood grinding can be a lucrative business. Across the country, there is a growing need to recycle waste wood into useable products. If interested in learning more, Farmwald urges, “Come up here for a demo. You need to see your future.”

Silver Spring, MD— Dr. John Skinner, Executive Director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) announced the appointment of Meri Beth Wojtaszek as technical services education manager, Stewart Bybee as manager of government affairs and Arjun Grover as the technology support specialist.

Meri Beth Wojtaszek, who joins SWANA as the new technical services education manager, spent the last thirteen years working for American Express. 

Stewart Bybee comes to SWANA after working as a legislative correspondent for both Senator Richard Bryan and John Ensign.  Bybee has a strong background on environmental issues.

Arjun Grover is a recent graduate of the George Washington University in Washington, DC.  Grover graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and will lend his expertise to SWANA as a technology support specialist.  Grover’s work will focus on server management and new user administration.

Garden Grove, CA— Teletrac, Inc., the originator of metro fleet location information systems, announced an upgrade for FleetDirector, its main fleet tracking system, to run over General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. The upgrade enables FleetDirector to provide more expansive geographic coverage for its vehicle location capabilities in North America, and higher bandwidth transmission.

Teletrac also made available Prism, a GPRS location unit that current FleetDirector users can install in their vehicles to upgrade to the GPRS communication backbone. The Prism unit is now part of the FleetDirector system package, which includes hardware installed in the vehicle, and Internet-based software.

FleetDirector tracks the location of commercial vehicle fleets in real time, streamlining fleet operations and giving fleet owners the tools to ensure that drivers remain productive and fulfill the needs of their customers. It also increases security by enabling fleet owners to locate and recover stolen vehicles.

Washington,  DC— The American Forest & Paper Association is pleased to announce Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary and assistant to President George W. Bush, will be the guest speaker at the 127th Annual Paper Week Luncheon on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 in New York City.

As White House Press Secretary, Mr. Fleischer was the primary spokesperson for President Bush and delivered the daily White House briefings from 2001 to 2003.  He earned a reputation as not only one of the most loyal White House press secretaries in recent times, but also one of the wittiest.  His daily parries with the press were often covered live on 24 hour news networks.

AF&PA’s 127th Annual Paper Week will be held March 21-23, 2004, at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.  Paper Week is the premier annual event for the U.S. pulp, paper, and packaging industry, attracting more than 1,100 participants from all segments of the business, including domestic and foreign companies, producers, customers, suppliers, media, business strategists, industry experts, and leading financial analysts.

Eugene, OR— In order to offer customers more responsive parts service in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, Peterson has allied with Con-Way Logistics, Inc. (Con-way). Peterson parts will be stocked at Con-way’s distribution center in Mira Loma, California. To mark the new parts distribution center’s grand opening, Peterson is offering customers a chance to win a $500 Peterson parts credit. For each parts order placed from Southern California, Arizona and Nevada during the months of August, September and October 2003, Peterson will enter the customer’s name into the drawing for the parts credit.

The Mira Loma distribution center will stock critical spare parts plus certain wear parts.

While direct customers and Peterson dealers will still be able to order parts as they have in the past, they will now be able to pick up parts at Mira Loma or call in parts orders.

Petrolia, ON— Schred Max™ by Protoworks Inc., a manufacturer of primary reduction equipment, recently introduced a trailer-mounted version of the Schred Max™ 56 SD. The trailer is integrally built into the Schred Max™ mainframe structure and makes for quick setup when arriving on site.

The Mobile Max™ trailer running gear package features severe-duty components with robust construction. The sprung single axle design with four full size 11.00” x 22.5” tires has demonstrated it’s rugged nature being hauled through some of the toughest, muddiest and softest conditions.

The 60 HP diesel Mobile Max™ unit weighs 27,000 lbs., stands 12’ high, 8’ wide and 26’6” long.

Schred Max™ can process almost any material fed into it, including tires, C & D, white goods, railroad ties, MSW, shingles, furniture, mattresses, asphalt slabs, industrial and commercial waste, automotive components, metals and landfill reclamation materials.

Chattanooga, TN— Heil Industries has named Marv Banowetz, technical training manager. With 20 years of experience in the maintenance side of the refuse collection industry, Banowetz knows the importance of solid technical training.

After 13 years at BFI, where he worked his way up from mechanic to general manager, Banowetz joined Heil in 1996. As technical training manager, he is responsible for all aspects of Heil’s extensive technical training program, from putting together curriculum and conducting classes to coordinating and dispatching Heil’s mobile training centers and field service representatives.

Recently, the company updated the Heil Institute of Technology, located next to its manufacturing facility in Fort Payne, Alabama. The training center now combines electrical and hydraulics labs in a shop setting that includes truck bays, so students can move back and forth between lab work and hands-on training on the refuse collection vehicles being studied.

Each course lasts from three to three and a half days. Technicians who complete the factory training course earn continuing education units from Chattanooga State Community College. These credits are transferable to most technical colleges.

Raleigh, NC— Waste Industries USA, Inc., a regional, non-hazardous solid waste services company, announced that it has completed an asset purchase and sale with Allied Waste Industries.

Under the terms of the agreement, Waste Industries purchased Allied’s Norfolk, Virginia and Clarkesville, Tennessee operations. Simultaneously, Waste Industries sold to Allied its operations in Charlotte, North Carolina; Sumter, South Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; and Biloxi, Mississippi. The effective date of the transaction was August 1, 2003.

Jim W. Perry, President and CEO of Waste Industries stated, “This transaction significantly strengthens our position in two strategic markets (the Norfolk, Virginia and the Nashville, Tennessee areas). We plan to continue to look for similar opportunities to increase revenues and better position our company in desired markets.”

The EVR II line from Toter Incorporated is a revolutionary offering of universal, nestable refuse/recycling carts that can be shipped to customers fully assembled. This feature saves municipalities and private waste haulers essential shipping, assembly and storage costs normally associated with curbside containers. The EVR II carts are compatible with both fully and semi-automated collection systems and feature enhanced aesthetics, with superior durability.

According to the company, the EVR II cart line also incorporates features such as an aerodynamic design that improves wind and set-down stability and a patented Rugged Rim for exceptional container rigidity. The Statesville, North Carolina based Toter manufactures all curbside containers using a stress-free, advanced rotational molding process.

Peoria, IL— Caterpillar Inc. is expanding its presence in Asia with production of a new line of construction machines in India. In July 2003, the company commenced manufacturing Caterpillar backhoe loaders for sale in India. Caterpillar already manufactures off-highway trucks, track-type tractors, wheel loaders, engines and power generation equipment in India.

Since Caterpillar introduced its first backhoe loader in 1985, the machine has become the best selling and most popular brand in the world. Backhoes for the Indian market will be produced at the Thrivullar facility in southern India.

Caterpillar is represented by two independently owned dealers in India, Gmmco Ltd. and T I L Limited. The dealers have invested in a comprehensive network of about 50 sales and service facilities throughout India. In addition, the two dealers have a combined workforce of 3,000 people.

Hutchinson, MN— QRP announced the recent addition of Hutch Auto & Truck Parts to their network of premier auto recycling businesses.

With over 40 years in the auto recycling industry, Hutch Auto is another example of a second-generation family owned business. Brothers, John and Robbie Bajari handle most of the day-to-day operations at Hutch. Their father, Larry, mans the phones and performs some of the delivery duties while drawing on his years of experience and providing input when major decisions need to be made.

Historically Hutch Auto has focused on “quality rather than quantity” and currently recycles about 275 vehicles annually. These vehicles are a general mix of 1994 and newer cars and light trucks of both domestic and foreign makes.

By joining QRP, Hutch Auto & Truck Parts adds their inventory base to what was already the largest consolidated regional inventory of high quality recycled auto parts. Hutch Auto customers will benefit from the direct access that Hutch now has to the entire QRP inventory.

Quality Recycling, LLC has teamed with RCBC Technologies to develop an enhanced Material Recovery Facility (MRF). The heart of the new system is a rotating cylindrical combustion chamber that uses patented Rotary Cascading Bed Combustion (RCBC) technology. According to the company, this technology provides the ideal conditions for clean combustion of diverse fuels, including high sulfur coals, shredder fluff, municipal solid wastes, and sludge. A MRF and the RCBC combined produce the ultimate waste to energy plant.

These waste to energy plants burn municipal wastes to produce steam and electricity. A typical plant produces enough energy to pay for one third of its operating costs. This energy is produced with less harmful emissions than the conventional fossil-fuel powered energy plants.

The RCBC is not only more efficient than other combustors, but can be produced at about a third their cost. They also can be used as stand-along boilers or combustors.

Alger, MI— Roll-Rite Corporation, manufacturer of aluminum arm style tarp systems, has improved their patented, fully adjustable sliding pivot feature for 2003. The all-new tapered design is engineered for a compact, low profile installation and better accommodates older style roll-off and hooklifts still in use throughout the industry.

Roll-Rite side-to-side systems now include a lock-down variation for waste transfer trailers. Standard equipment includes the TarpStretcher, an electric gear motor designed for side tarping.

Roll-Rite manufactures a complete line of high performance tarping systems for roll-off, hooklift and lugger style container trucks, each suited for demolition, scrap or waste applications. Stationary and fully adjustable features can be combined to fit varying container sizes or to meet budget considerations.

More information and photos can be found at www.RollRite.com, or by contacting the company at 800-297-9905.

Phoenix, AZ— Recycle America Alliance, LLC has announced a new service partner to enhance its delivery of electronics recycling services. Sims Group USA will provide de-manufacturing services for materials collected or managed by Recycle America Alliance. Both parties will work on marketing commodities to end markets.

“This is a big step forward in building our California electronics recycling infrastructure for the growing volumes of TVs, monitors and other e-scrap,” said Kevin McCarthy, Director of Electronics Recycling for Waste Management, Inc., majority owner of Recycle America Alliance.

An all-new plastics recycling facility may be built in Toluca, Mexico, about 40 miles west of Mexico City. The project is a three-party joint venture involving Coca-Cola, its largest supplier of plastic containers and its largest bottler of soft-drink products in Mexico.

The facility will be based on the latest URCC recycling technology and is expected to process a forecasted volume of 25,000 tons of PET plastic bottles annually. The new plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2004 at a cost of roughly $20 million.