Global steel producer touts Big River Steel EAF output as key to its sustainable product line.
Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. has announced it will attach the name verdeX to a steel product line tied to its “commitment to sustainable practices.”
“We know that the urgency of the climate crisis requires more from all of us,” says U.S. Steel president and CEO David B. Burritt. “So, we’re changing our portfolio of steelmaking technologies [and] creating something new—steels that are best for our customers and best for our planet.”
In a promotional video touting the new verdeX product line, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer Kenneth E. Jaycox says that while “steel lasts for generations,” that “only matters if the planet does too.”
The video is long on iconography (solar panels, windmills and electric vehicle charging stations), but short on product chemistry, facility origin or energy sources for the newly announced product line.
The promotional video, however, prominently mentions U.S. Steel’s recently acquired Big River Steel electric arc furnace (EAF) mill in Arkansas. After that acquisition closed in late 2020, U.S. Steel noted, “Big River Steel will increase the steel recycling intensity within U. S. Steel’s footprint” and “reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity across [our] global footprint by 20 percent.”
The video also refers to the recycled-content steel produced by Big River in Arkansas as “the first LEED-certified steel in North America," referring to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building certification.
Steel in the verdeX line will use less water and energy and lessens the steel’s carbon footprint [compared with some other steel] by up to 75 percent, according to the video script. In addition to using EAF technology—which is decades old and used by several steelmaking competitors—the script also refers to “lighter, smarter alloys” as a feature of the verdeX line.
“U.S. Steel is now capable of producing some of the most advanced high strength steels with only a quarter of the carbon dioxide emissions previously required,” states the company in a news release announcing the verdeX line. Adds the company, “Additional detail will be provided at www.ussteel.com in the coming weeks.”
The 10-minute promotional video created by U.S. Steel is embedded below.
Sweden-based company to invest $33 million in facility that currently consumes billet and scrap.
Aluminum producer Gränges says it will invest $33 million to expand casting capacity at its Huntingdon, Tennessee, facility. The Sweden-based company, in an article posted to its online newsroom four years ago, said at that time it intended to melt some 3,000 tons of obsolete aluminum scrap monthly at the plant.
The company’s new investment will entail expanding its aluminum casting operations in Huntingdon and “follows the previous and successful investments in new rolling capacity at the sites in Huntingdon and Newport, Arkansas.” Gränges acquired the two United States plants from the former Noranda Aluminum in 2016.
“This investment is the third major U.S. investment we [have made] since 2017,” says Patrick Lawlor, president of Gränges Americas. “It underscores our commitment to growing our business with our customers and the markets we serve and strengthens our platform for continued profitable growth. It also supports our high sustainability ambitions by improving both energy and carbon intensity. We take pride in being a trusted partner to our customers for continued growth and innovation.”
The expansion includes investing in buildings and a new casting line. When completed, the casting capacity in Huntingdon will increase by about 25,000 metric tons per year and will enable higher capacity utilization in downstream rolling and slitting operations, says the firm.
Gränges says the project will take less than two years to complete, and the company will finance the expansion with existing cash and internally generated cash flows.
On its website, the global producer of rolled aluminum lists as among its sustainability goals to have its “share of recycled aluminum increase to 22.5 percent of total sourced metal inputs.” The company lists its current share at 19.8 percent.
The companies have partnered to recycle batteries and solar panels, and Redwood's co-founder and CEO JB Straubel has joined ERI’s board.
Information technology and electronics asset disposition provider ERI, headquartered in Fresno, California, and Redwood Materials have formed an exclusive partnership to recycle batteries as well as solar panels. Carson City, Nevada-based Redwood Materials was co-founded by JB Straubel, formerly of electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla. Redwood is focused on creating circular supply chains and developing fully closed-loop recycling for lithium-ion batteries.
Under the terms of the partnership, Redwood Materials has made a significant strategic investment in ERI, though John Shegerian, co-founder and chief executive of ERI, declines to comment on the size of the company’s stake. Straubel, CEO of Redwood, also has joined ERI’s board of directors.
Shegerian tells Recycling Today that the partnership reflects ERI’s collaborative nature. “We have had massive success collaborating before with innovators and leaders—and now we have a third strategic downstream partner to help take us to unparalleled levels of recycling capability. Plus, the leadership and expertise level on our board is unmatched in our space—with LS Nikko Copper, Alcoa and now JB Straubel of Redwood Materials on our board—it puts us in rare air.”
South Korea-based LS-Nikko Copper, one of the world’s largest copper smelters, took a minority position in ERI in late 2009 before increasing its investment in 2010. The partnership also provides a market for the copper and precious metal scrap generated at ERI’s electronics recycling facilities.
The aluminum producer Alcoa, based in Pittsburgh, also took a 10 percent stake in ERI in 2011.
“The strategic partners with whom we work to achieve circular economy goals are not only our downstream partners they are investors in our company and sit on our board,” Shegerian says. “This is a paradigm that is unparalleled in the recycling industry throughout the world.”
Regarding ERI’s partnership with Redwood, he says, “We’re going to be providing solar panels and batteries that we collect, and Redwood will be sending us materials that we are suitable to be handling.”
Shegerian says Redwood also will have access to ERI’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners that want to make their products greener, adding that “the commodities produced by Redwood Materials can significantly help with that process.”
ERI has been doing R&D in the area of solar panel recycling for the last five years, Shegerian says. “It’s one of the ‘last miles’ of responsible electronic waste recycling. We are already shredding panels and sending downstream materials to Redwood for processing. This impactful partnership with Redwood allows us to finally responsibly recycle solar panels throughout the U.S. and way beyond."
He adds that the partners also will function in a “radically transparent” manner to responsibly recycle cobalt, nickel, copper and lithium found in end-of-life batteries.
“Initially, Redwood will receive up to 30 tons a week of lithium-ion batteries collected by ERI,” Shegerian says. “And that volume will evolve and grow over time just as all of our volumes have over the last 17 years.”
“Redwood is focused on steadily and relentlessly improving recycling economics with technology to reduce the cost of materials and create a circular supply chain to power a sustainable future,” Straubel says in a news release announcing the partnership. “By partnering with ERI, we’ll be able to ensure the largest supply of e-waste batteries in the U.S. is recycled into materials to build new EVs and clean energy products.”
With the investment from Redwood Materials, Shegerian says ERI plans to expand. “We are going to continue to grow throughout North America as well as internationally. Europe, Asia and South America are all in our line of sight for growth and expansion.”
The company says strong demand prompted a $50 per ton price increase.
Sonoco, a packaging producer based in Hartsville, South Carolina, has announced that it is implementing a $50 per ton price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard in the United States and Canada, effective with shipments beginning April 26.
This price increase comes in response to strong demand across Sonoco’s U.S. and Canada mill network, Sonoco states in a news release on the price increase. The company says demand is driving significantly longer backlogs as well as stepped-up inflation of input costs, especially freight, papermaking chemicals and packaging supplies.
Almost one-third of European shoppers say they have stopped purchasing brands that don’t use sustainable packaging.
DS Smith, a packaging producer based in London, has released a new study that shows a surge in demand for fully recyclable and more sustainable packaging options for e-commerce. The company says consumers “are increasingly putting their purchasing power behind eco-friendly products, meaning brands that fail to embrace sustainable packaging risk being left out at the checkout.”
According to the study, 66 percent of Europeans claim to have shopped online more often since the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, and 82 percent of those same respondents plan to shop online at the same level or more this year. DS Smith says it has noticed demand “skyrocket” for sustainable e-commerce packaging over the past year, with European growth of 35 percent in apparel, 35 percent in home and office electronics and 51 percent in food and groceries.
DS Smith says “brands must recognize changing consumer demands as they respond to this opportunity.” According to the company’s study, almost one-third of European shoppers say they have stopped buying particular brands altogether because their packaging was not sustainable. While nearly half of Europeans (roughly 46 percent) reported that they want to use more cardboard or paper-based packaging rather than plastic-based packaging, 58 percent reported that they want to use less packaging overall.
“With such a dramatic change in the way we shop, it’s absolutely vital that our new online shopping habits are supported in a way that protects the environment,” says Stefano Rossi, CEO of DS Smith Packaging. “It’s clear that both businesses and consumers are becoming increasingly focused on sustainable alternatives. Our expert team of designers are creating new e-commerce solutions for products such as clothing, electronics, beauty and personal care every day, which provides both environmental and commercial advantages for businesses.”
Overall, DS Smith says using recyclable paper-based packaging can help bands increase market share. The company adds that it has unveiled three new ranges of sustainable e-commerce packaging within clothing, electronics and wine and beer. The sustainable e-commerce packaging ranges are designed to answer specific product needs while enhancing the consumer experience and supporting efficient product delivery. The solutions include paper-based edge protectors to keep electronics safe while replacing plastic foam, as well as tamper-evident packaging with a smart feature to ensure it has not been opened during delivery. DS Smith also offers returnable expanding cardboard envelopes that replace padded mailers or plastic wrappers for clothing.
The company says its Circular Design Principles help it to design for recyclability, design out waste and pollution and create packaging suited to a circular economy. The company set environmental targets to manufacture fully recyclable or reusable packaging by 2023 and take 250,000 trucks off the road by 2025.