The camera provides a behind-the-scenes view of Sunnking’s electronics recycling process.

Sunnking, Brockport, New York, has released a live shredder camera that enables residents and businesses to remotely watch as devices get destroyed. The camera provides a behind-the-scenes view of the electronics recycling process.

According to a news release from Sunnking, the live-stream camera gives residents and businesses more insight into the privacy measures put in place after they drop off their devices to be recycled.

“We see thousands of people recycle their tech at our collection events, through our fundraiser or during business pickups, and they deserve to know what’s happening to those devices after they change hands,” says Robert Burns, marketing director at Sunnking. “To us it’s important people know the process and know what is happening to the devices they’ve trusted us to either erase or destroy.”

Sunnking collects electronics from residents at the company’s free electronics recycling events throughout the state of New York and from western and central New York businesses. The company’s shredders cut through nearly 500,000 pounds of material each month.

A high-definition Toshiba security camera powers the live shredder camera, showing the first stage of the shredding process. According to Sunnking, electronics are fed into the machine on a conveyer belt to be broken down. The conveyor pushes the material through a ring mill to be further crushed and pulverized. Next, a powerful magnetic pulley divides any steel materials from the mix, and human sorters then separate aluminum. The leftover materials are then sorted and sent for processing and future recycling.

With the new cameras in place, viewers can watch the company’s shredder demolish devices anytime Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. EDT.

“Privacy is so important for everyone in their personal and professional lives, and this is another tool for you to ensure who you’re recycling with is doing the right thing,” says Adam Shine, vice president of Sunnking. “There can be pounds of recoverable materials inside each device, like copper, plastic and gold, that we try to ensure each bit goes to the proper recycle stream.”

A handful of paper mills are producing unbleached recycled pulp, and more projects are in the pipeline.

Unbleached recycled fiber pulp (URP), also referred to as recycled fiber (RCF) pulp, is a relatively new grade of market pulp that is produced using recovered paper that has been processed through fiber stock preparation systems, formed and then dried or dewatered and shipped in bales or rolls. Wet lap pulp is a wetter version of URP. 

Many URP projects were in response to China’s restrictions and ultimate ban on recovered paper imports. While paper mills in China can’t import old corrugated containers (OCC) to make containerboard, these mills can import URP. Some recyclers have wondered if China could reverse its ban on recovered paper imports, which would greatly reduce the need for URP. Johnny Gold, president of Boston-based The Gold Group Recycling Consultants LLC, says he doesn’t think that will be the case, though.

“I don’t think these recycled pulp projects are just a Band-Aid because the investment made into them is multiple millions to build new machines and retrofit them,” he says. “I still think it’s economically expensive, but this must be the way mills over in Asia have to handle it.” 

To make recycled pulp, mills use a blend of OCC as well as some mixed paper. The pulp can be used to make either containerboard or away-from-home tissue products. To make containerboard, URP incorporates higher levels of OCC; to make away-from-home tissue products, URP incorporates higher levels of mixed paper.

Recovered paper prices began to rise at the start of this year, and the URP price also followed a similar trend upward to start the year. At the start of the year, Fastmarkets RISI began tracking brown recycled pulp pricing. In January, brown recycled pulp was $450 per ton CIF (cost, insurance and freight) to China. The price rose to $480 per ton CIF in February and to $520 per ton CIF in March. However, the price has hovered at about $520 per ton since then and was at $515 per ton CIF in July.

A handful of mills currently produce URP. Some speculative projects also are said to be on the way in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Bill Moore, president of Atlanta-based Moore & Associates, provides a list of URP projects that are completed and those anticipated to come in the future.

• Lee & Man, Selangor, Malaysia – 400,000 metric tons per year (wet lap); 

• Lee & Man, Bago, Myanmar – 340,000 metric tons per year (wet lap); 

• Nine Dragons, Pahang, Malaysia – 400,000 metric tons per year (wet lap); 

• ND Paper LLC, Fairmont, West Virginia – 217,000 metric tons per year;  

• ND Paper LLC, Old Town, Maine – 66,000 metric tons per year;   

• NORPAC, Longview, Washington – 135,000 metric tons per year (existing machine with intermittent production); 

• Shanying/AA, Chonburi, Thailand – 300,000 metric tons per year; and

• Sun Paper, Xepon, Laos – 400,000 metric tons per year. 

• Zhejiang Jingxing, Selangor, Malaysia – 800,000 metric tons per year. 

Speculative pulp mills and projects: 

• Kamine Development Corp., Tampa, Florida – 575,000 metric tons per year; 

• Nine Dragons, Maharashtra, India – 500,000 metric tons per year; and 

• Shanying, Southeast Asia – 770,000 metric tons per year. 

For a longer story on recycled pulp markets and insights from a recycled pulp producer, check out the upcoming September issue of Recycling Today.

Some 275 cargo vessels were sold for scrap in the first six months of this year, up 40 percent from last year.

Despite an international trading community clamoring for more shipping options, the first half of 2021 saw 275 cargo vessels sold for scrap. That figure is up by 40 percent compared with the first six months of last year and by 33 percent compared with 2019, according to an analysis by United Kingdom based VesselsValue Ltd.

The analysis, posted online by Guy Cooper of VesselsValue, cites “extreme scrap prices” as contributing to the high dismantling rate, with ferrous scrap trading toward the high end of its historic range throughout 2021.

Cooper also points to new emissions-related environmental regulations that have caused owners of aging vessels to conclude that (along with high scrap prices) the time was right to retire portions of their fleets. He calls it “the perfect blend to see scrapping numbers blown out of the water and some impressive records to be set.

“If steel demand continues to rally the demolition scrap price for shipping, then it is likely that scrapping numbers will increase throughout the year, especially if bulker and container rates begin to soften,” writes Cooper.

High steel pricing, he comments, “encourages scrapping but [is] bad for undersupplied sectors as it heightens new [ship]building prices.”

The 275 scrapped vessels tracked by VesselsValue have a combined 11.9 million in deadweight tonnage in cargo volume and yielded a total scrap value of more than $1 billion, the company estimates. Some 130 tankers were scrapped, along with 50 bulk vessels but just 10 container ships.

“Expectedly, container scrapping numbers are down 78 percent from 2020 as the sector relishes the extreme earnings,” writes Cooper. He adds, “Even if scrap prices continue to rally upwards, it is unlikely that we will see many more containers scrapped in the second half of the year.”

Geographically in the 2021 ship dismantling sector, Bangladesh scrapped 106 vessels in the first half of this year, up 80 percent compared with the first half of last year, according to VesselsValue. India and Pakistan scrapped 53 and 51 vessels respectively, placing them second and third globally.

Kristin Kinder, Mike McLaughlin and Derek Veenhof have been named to the board.

The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) board of directors has elected three new members. 

During EREF’s annual summer meeting, the board elected:

EREF’s board represents an array of major waste companies including haulers, equipment manufacturers, consultants and academic institutions. Multiple times per year, the board comes together to approve funding for research and education initiatives that fall in line with the foundation’s mission to advance sustainable solid waste science.

McLaughlin is the CEO of the central Iowa-based McLaughlin Family Cos., a diversified portfolio of businesses that include refuse equipment, animal control and veterinary equipment, vehicle manufacturing, new and used automobile sales and automotive parts and car care products distribution and sales. Scranton Manufacturing Inc. and its New Way Trucks brand of refuse collection equipment is the largest private manufacturer of refuse equipment in North America and the cornerstone brand of this family of companies.

He grew up in the equipment manufacturing business and has held various roles in the organization since 1992. McLaughlin has helped grow the McLaughlin Family Cos. from 50 employees and $3 million in annual revenues in 1992 to over 600 employees and worldwide distribution today. In 2017, he was recognized by the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) as its Member of the Year.

“New Way stands behind EREF’s mission to develop and evaluate new approaches to manage municipal solid waste and to provide scholarships to America’s future waste and sustainability professionals. We are proud to have participated in every aspect of EREF’s fundraising efforts, which have totaled over $670,000 since our initial involvement. I am humbled to have been appointed to the EREF board of directors and [am] excited to offer my insight to such an important organization in its continued efforts,” McLaughlin says.

In her decade in the waste industry, Kinder spent six years at Houston-based Waste Management, focusing on recycling education, behavior change and operations, and three years at Spokane, Washington-based ENGIE Impact in product management and performing waste audits for Fortune 500 companies across multiple sectors and geographies. 

Kinder joined Wastequip as vice president of research and waste stream sustainability in 2018 to manage the firm's corporate responsibility program and serve as an expert on key industry topics, driving positive environmental change, developing partnerships and speaking about sustainability. 

“EREF provides a platform unlike any other—one that fosters collaboration, challenges us to think from different perspectives and leads with objective, defensible data. These approaches are the only way to ignite a truly circular economy. I am honored to become part of such a forward-thinking organization and, with our new mission, cannot imagine a more meaningful time to join the team,” Kinder says.

Veenhof is executive vice president and COO leading the management and growth of Covanta’s North American business, which has an annual revenue of more than $2 billion.

He joined Covanta in 1996 as a business manager. Since then, Veenhof has held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility throughout the organization. From 2007 until 2013, he served as a vice president and then senior vice president, overseeing a $500 million merchant municipal and industrial waste contracting and supply portfolio and related growth efforts, as well as scrap metals commodity marketing. Veenhof was promoted to executive vice president in 2013 and took on COO duties in 2020.

Prior to Covanta, Veenhof worked in the environmental sector as a bioremediation project scientist and land-use consultant and was a research associate with Ontario Agricultural College, part of the University of Guelph and Canada’s leading agricultural research college. He is a published lead author and co-author of several peer-reviewed research papers on the topics of land use, environmental impacts and waste management.

“I’m excited to be a part of an organization that has a very significant alignment to Covanta’s mission of ensuring a safer, cleaner, more prosperous future for our planet by providing sustainable waste and materials management solutions for communities and businesses. In addition, EREF’s commitment to advancing scientific research and educational pathways to enable progress ties closely to my personal life experiences in research, education and sustainability. The waste management industry is comprised of many dynamic individuals and entities, and it is an honor to serve alongside many of them as a board member. I am thankful for the opportunity to work collaboratively to create long-lasting benefits for the entire industry,” Veenhof says.

Christopher B. Heald plans to retire on March 31, 2022, after a 20-year career with the company.

Casella Waste Systems Inc., Rutland, Vermont, a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, has announced that the company’s Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer Christopher B. Heald plans to retire March 31, 2022, after a 20-year career with the company.

“I would like to sincerely thank Chris for his exemplary service to the company and his strong contributions to our success throughout his tenure with the company,” says John W. Casella, chairman and CEO of Casella. “Chris has demonstrated the utmost integrity, a strong work ethic and a high level of service to our team throughout his exemplary career at the company.

“Through his steady leadership, he has helped to build the accounting and shared services teams and functions. While Chris will be greatly missed by the team, we wish him the best in his retirement, and we have great confidence in our accounting team to continue his legacy of excellence.”

Heald plans to stay on in an advisory capacity during a transition period.