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.

The investment will accelerate the commercialization of copper recycling in water and expand ElectraMet’s reach.

Wieland, a copper manufacturer with American offices in Louisville, Kentucky, has made an undisclosed investment in ElectraMet, an industrial wastewater recycler based in Lexington, Kentucky. The funds will enable ElectraMet, owned by PowerTech Water, Lexington, to accelerate product commercialization, including sustainable copper recycling from industrial wastewater.

"Increased demand and supply challenges from a decade of underinvestment are likely to drive the price of copper up by over 60 percent in the next few years,” says Cameron Lippert, CEO of ElectraMet. “Securing new sources of copper that doesn’t rely on mining in complicated geopolitical regions will be critical for the future. We are thrilled to be able to work with a world-renowned company such as Wieland to solve this challenge."

According to a news release from ElectraMet, the partnership with Wieland will further ElectraMet's ability to meet the growing customer demand for green solutions for wastewater treatment and the recovery of valuable resources that typically end up in landfills.

Wieland says it intends to use ElectraMet to recover copper in its facilities. 

"We are excited to partner with PowerTech Water on their ElectraMet platform, which has the potential to be a game-changer in water treatment," saysErwin Mayr, CEO of the Wieland Group.