Scrap Expo offers more than 10 acres of live outdoor demonstrations of scrap handling equipment coupled with a curated educational program.

Recycling Today Media Group has announced the launch of Scrap Expo. Scheduled for Sept. 13-14, 2022, in Louisville, Kentucky, the expo is unlike any scrap industry event. Attendees can expect acres of live operating scrap processing machinery, indoor exhibits and a robust operations-oriented program.

The expo will take place at the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is well-positioned to offer a vast outdoor demonstration area. Machines and materials will be on-site to give the feel of a working scrap yard. Operators will have the opportunity to grab the joysticks and get a feel for how different machines respond and operate, all in one location.

“For years, industry suppliers have asked us about coordinating roadshows to demonstrate equipment. At the same time, many of our readers are continually looking for machinery to streamline and improve their operations. Scrap Expo combines these two needs into one event that will be accessible to all companies operating in the metals recycling supply chain,” says Jim Keefe, group publisher.

From scrap identification classes to machine-specific technical sessions, attendees can benefit from education adjacent to the indoor exhibit hall during both days of the expo.

Scrap Expo will kick off Tuesday, Sept. 13, with live demos and the exhibition area from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and continues Wednesday, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Louisville is an ideal location for Scrap Expo. It’s within a seven-hour drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population and is located adjacent to the Louisville airport. Whether you drive or fly, it’s convenient and easy to access.

Registration details are coming soon. Sign up here to be notified as soon as registration is open. For information regarding sponsorships and exhibits, please contact your sales representative. Because of the nature of this event, space may be limited.

Details are being added to the website frequently. Visit www.ScrapExpo.net for more information. 

The company’s Vacurema Basic 2628 T plant can produce up to 40,000 metric tons of rPET per year.

Austria-based Erema Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH has increased the production capacity of its Vacurema Basic 2628 T plant in its most recent installation project. Erema delivered a Vacurema Basic 2628 T plant for a large-scale project to produce recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) pellets to a customer in Brazil. The plant is capable of producing up to 40,000 metric tons per year of rPET.

“For this purpose, we installed a screw with a length of 10 meters (nearly 33 feet), a diameter of 280 millimeters (roughly 11 inches) and a weight of 3.5 metric tons, which is the largest ever used in one of our recycling machines,” says Michael Heitzinger, managing director at Erema. “The entire project was a great team effort.”

During the test phase, 500 metric tons of input material were recycled in the machine, subject to strict quality control.

Prior to this installation, the largest Vacurema Basic plant commissioned had a capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year.

Erema says the screw was manufactured by 3S, a subsidiary of Erema GmbH. The plant also features a reactor with a height of around 10 meters.

EAF steelmaker buys majority stake in rolling, galvanizing firm California Steel Industries.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Nucor Corp. says it has reached agreements to acquire a majority ownership position in California Steel Industries Inc. (CSI). That Fontana, California, company converts semi-finished steel into hot-rolled, pickled and oiled, cold-rolled, galvanized and electric-resistance welded (ERW) pipe products.

Nucor says it has purchased a 50 percent equity interest in CSI from a subsidiary of Brazil-based Vale S.A. and a 1 percent equity ownership stake from Japan-based JFE Steel Corp. (JFE). CSI will become a joint venture between Nucor and JFE, pending regulatory approvals. Nucor will pay a cash purchase price to Vale of $400 million for the 50 percent stake.  

“Acquiring a majority ownership stake in California Steel Industries expands our geographic reach in sheet steel and gives us a strong presence on the West Coast,” says Leon Topalian, president and CEO of Nucor Corp.

When the acquisition is completed, it will be Nucor’s second joint venture with JFE. Since 2020, the two companies have been operating an automotive steel joint venture in Mexico. That facility in Silao, Mexico, has the capacity to produce 400,000 tons of galvanized steel for the automotive industry per year.

The beverage company’s investment backs its goals to convert all Pepsi-branded products to 100 percent rPET bottles by 2030.

PepsiCo Beverages North America, Purchase, New York, has invested $15 million in New York-based Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund to help the private equity fund strengthen recycling infrastructure and build circular supply chains.

According to a news release from PepsiCo, the investment is in line with the company’s target to cut virgin plastic from nonrenewable sources across its food and beverage portfolios by 50 percent by 2030. In the U.S., all Pepsi-branded products are expected to be converted to 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) bottles by 2030, with Pepsi Zero Sugar beginning to be sold in 100 percent rPET bottles by 2022.

PepsiCo’s 2020 Sustainability Report indicates that 87 percent of the company’s packaging is currently recyclable, compostable or biodegradable. According to the company, this latest investment with Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund could help to drive more collection of recycled materials for use in its packaging.

“The recycling landscape in America continues to be challenging, and as companies—including PepsiCo—set ambitious goals to use more recycled content in their packaging, there is more need than ever for partnerships and action to increase access to recycled material,” says Jason Blake, chief sustainability officer and senior vice president at PepsiCo Beverages North America. “We are honored to expand our partnership with Closed Loop Partners through this investment to advocate for and advance the necessary work that is being done to transform the recycling system.”

“Demand for recycled materials in packaging is growing at an unprecedented rate, signaling an opportunity for greater investment in the recycling infrastructure that keeps these commodities in play. At Closed Loop Partners, we are committed to strengthening the circular systems that make this possible,” says Ron Gonen, founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners. “PepsiCo’s investment in the Closed Loop Leadership Fund builds on its existing partnership with our firm, setting a clear path forward for the food and beverage industry to advance circular supply chains for packaging. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with PepsiCo and the beverage industry in building a more waste-free world.”

According to PepsiCo, the company has partnered with Closed Loop Partners in the past as well. In 2014, PepsiCo was a founding member of the Closed Loop Fund, which is now known as the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund. That fund provides investments that cities, counties and businesses in the U.S. use to move recycling to the next level, such as investments in new trucks and technology to help material recovery facilities.

PepsiCo also is an investor in the Closed Loop Partners’ Beverage Fund through American Beverage’s Every Bottle Back initiative, which aims to improve the collection of the industry’s PET bottles so that more bottles can be made into rPET.

Additionally, PepsiCo became a founding partner of Closed Loop Partners’ Composting Consortium this year, which brings together voices in the composting ecosystem in the U.S. to identify ways to increase the recovery of compostable food packaging.

The organization received widespread feedback from stakeholders throughout the packaging value chain.

The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, has published responses to public comments on its Pathway to Circularity Recyclability Framework. The framework was developed in collaboration with 35 industry leaders spanning the packaging value chain and defines a clear set of criteria to help companies navigate their packaging through the recycling system.

More than 750 public comments were submitted by stakeholders throughout the packaging value chain and beyond, which The Recycling Partnership says demonstrate the significance of the framework and the need for clear guidance on packaging recyclability as a step toward circularity.

“Together we are building the roadmap to the packaging system of the future--a guide to advance package design, improve community access, help policymakers define what is recyclable, inform recyclability claims, and drive new innovations,” says Sarah Dearman, vice president of circular ventures at The Recycling Partnership. “At The Recycling Partnership, we have a unique understanding of the entire packaging value chain and the complexities of recycling, this enables us to drive positive change at every step of the process.”

In response to the comments, The Recycling Partnership says it will adjust some portions of the framework, clarify others and determine which areas need further study with support from the Circularity Council, a group of 35 industry leaders representing various material types, brands, government, material recovery facilities (MRFs), nongovernmental organizations, retailers and trade associations.

The Circularity Council helped develop the common definitions presented in the original framework, which the organization says set the course for transparency involving all levels of the recycling supply chain.

According to The Recycling Partnership, an updated version of the framework will be published in early 2022, while several other workstreams will launch in 2022 to being addressing known gaps that are keeping various packaging types from achieving recyclability. For example, the organization will launch material-specific coalitions for PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and aluminum to improve access and capture while increasing overall system efficiency.