Cousins Clint and Kolby Cornejo of Allmetal Recycling in Wichita, Kansas are working to improve the image of the waste industry by focusing on transparency and community involvement.
In terms of the wider community in which they operate, scrap companies do not always have the best reputation. At best they can only be seen as a thorn in the eye, and at worst they are a source of pollution. Customers may doubt their pricing, claiming that it lacks transparency.
When the brothers Marty and Ron Cornejo founded Allmetal Recycling in Wichita, Kansas in 2009, they tried to change the image of the waste industry by providing customers with transparent business dealings, well-maintained waste yards and equipment, and environmentally friendly methods. Contribute to the community. Their sons Clint and Kolby are the second generation descendants of the Cornejo family, which owns and operates the Allmetal Recycling business, and this tradition still exists.
Marty and Ron founded Allmetal Recycling when they purchased and renamed Caster Iron & Metal in 2009. The brothers were familiar with the scrap industry when they ran their previous company, a construction company called Cornejo & Sons, which they sold in 2010.
Clint said that after purchasing the Caster Iron & Metal yard, Marty and Ron tried to make it more attractive to their retail customers, who at the time made up the majority of the company's business. They completely paved the yard and focused on maintaining safe operations.
Co-owners: General Manager Clint Cornejo and Operations Manager Kolby Cornejo
Location: Three yards in Wichita, Kansas, including the company headquarters and a shredded paper airport, and the shipyards in Harper and Salina, Newton, Kansas, totaling six yards. The co-owners also own and operate AMR Steel & Supply, which provides contractors, manufacturers, repair shops and homeowners with new and reusable steel products and supplies from a location in Wichita.
Equipment: mobile shears; multiple non-ferrous metal balers; three shears/balers/recorders manufactured by Sierra International Machinery of Bakersfield, California; one 80x115 shredder manufactured by Harris, Cordele, Georgia Paper machine; 35 aluminum disc machines; 28 material handlers from Sennebogen LLC, Stanley, North Carolina, and Liebherr, US headquarters in Newport News, Virginia; dozens of ro-ro Trucks and hundreds of containers, trailers, and tractor trailers; and software provided by ScrapRight, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Services: Provide ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap management for commercial customers, especially customers in the aerospace industry; produce automatic shredding equipment for No. 1, No. 2, and foundry grade shredded paper; provide certified destruction and dismantling services for industrial customers; Retail scrap purchase; scrap processing and trading at five feed yards in Kansas; and sales of new and used steel through its sister company AMR Steel & Supply
The brothers then expanded their business in 2012 by purchasing Kamen Iron & Metal, also in Wichita, and several smaller companies, which they merged into the former Kamen property on 21st Street. This site is the headquarters of Allmetal Recycling.
Around that time, Marty's son Clint and Ron's son Kolby started the business. Clint, 31, said that he and Kolby, 29, always like to work around the family business, taking advantage of any opportunity they had when they were young to work on Saturdays. They are also keen to work for the family business during the summer vacations of high school and college. Kolby started working at Allmetal in 2011, followed by Clint in 2012.
Clint said that in 2015, the cousins took over the ownership and day-to-day operations of the company from their father, and their father is still involved, especially when it comes to property, equipment purchases or acquisitions. Working with their father, he added, “It’s fun. They allow us to make mistakes and correct us when needed.”
Clint said that he and Colby are "hands-on" bosses. They like to run the equipment in the yard, which he said is "an interesting part of the business." Clint added, "We try to limit the time spent behind the desk."
Clint said that although Kolby is the operations manager and Clint is the general manager, their roles are not strictly defined. "We are involved in all aspects of the business."
The cousins have always been very close and grew up across the street. "We know what the other person is thinking, and we trust each other in decision-making," Clint said.
Since becoming the owner of Allmetal nearly six years ago, Kolby and Clint have expanded the company's Kansas business through a series of acquisitions, including Glickman Metal Recycling in Wichita in 2019 and Salina Iron in Salina, Kansas more recently. & Metal.
For these former competitors, Clint said that they and Allmetal respect each other and have a good business relationship. "Relationships are everything in business," he added. "There is no doubt that this is the case with these acquisitions."
He said that most of the companies acquired by Allmetal Recycling are owned by people who want to retire and exit the industry. "For many people, this is a personal matter," Clint said of the owners of these companies when they decided to sell them to Allmetal. "They recognize our rapid growth and our expansion, improvement, and overall business approach. They know they are dealing with a reputable company that can take what they have built to a new level."
Allmetal Recycling Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, focuses on improving the state of the waste industry. One way to do this is through community involvement. The regional non-profit organizations supported by the company include the Kansas Brothers and Sisters, the American Youth Achievement Association, the Kansas Humane Society, and the Kansas Honor Flying Association.
Kansas Honor Flight is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to paying tribute to the state's veterans in World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War by providing them with a three-day full-paid visit to their memorial in the capital. It is part of the National Honor Flight Network.
Chris Leon, a Wichita resident with Down syndrome, took full advantage of his love for soda. He collected cans at Allmetal, scrapped them, and donated the money to the organization. Wichita’s KSNW reported that one of Leon’s grandfathers served in World War II and the other served in the Korean War.
Kolby and Clint Cornejo, the co-owners of Allmetals, noticed Leon's approach and decided to help, allowing customers to donate directly to Leon's Kansas Honor Flight Fund. Colby said Allmetal also organized a fundraising event for the organization, which raised $15,000.
"Feedback makes you feel good," Clint said. "It's worth seeing the reaction on the faces of veterans returning home from travel."
Clint said that part of changing the reputation of the scrap industry includes providing greater transparency through scale bills and providing a customer portal where industrial customers can view their goods and bills, which was developed by Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. The convenience provided by the company software provided by ScrapRight.
Clint said that by providing this level of transparency, “we have gained a lot of market share and trust among current and potential industrial customers.”
Although the acquisition of Wichita-based SOS Metals Midwest in 2018 expanded Allmetal's footprint into the aerospace sector (Spirit Aerosystems, Textron Aviation and Bombardier Learjet are all located in Wichita), the acquisition of the former Glickman yard and automatic shredders expanded This acquisition gives Allmetal more capacity to process materials in its feed yard and industrial accounts, and makes the company an exporter to other scrap distributors and recycling yards in central Kansas.
"Since obtaining the location of the paper shredder, we have been able to purchase and grow consistent and larger shredded paper feedstock, and we plan to add more shredded paper to our non-ferrous metal downstream processes," Clint said. "We are slowly fixing [downstream processes] together and laying the foundation for this. Hopefully this will be up and running in May of this year," he added.
Kolby explained that these equipment added to the existing non-ferrous metal downstream of the shredder will transform Allmetal Recycling from producing zorba and zurik packaging to simultaneously producing Twitch and red heavy packaging.
Through the acquisition, Allmetal Recycling's customer base has also shifted to major commercial customers, especially in the aerospace and agricultural industries. Clint said that 80% to 90% of the company's business is related to industrial customers; when Allmetal was founded, the situation was the opposite. He added: “We try not to forget how we started and continue to provide quality services to our retail customers.”
The company operates six yards in total: three in Wichita, one each in Harper, Newton, and Salina, Kansas. Allmetal serves customers as far north as Nebraska and as far south as northern Oklahoma.
Clint said Allmetal sells its ferrous scrap by rail to consumers throughout the Midwest and South, while its non-ferrous scrap is shipped to the United States and internationally. The company processes 185,000 to 200,000 tons of ferrous metal scrap and 65 to 75 million pounds of non-ferrous metal scrap each year. Clint said that most non-ferrous all-metal handles come from the aerospace industry.
He said that although industrial power generation has generally recovered to within 80% to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, the aerospace industry has still fallen by about 50%. Clint said that he does not expect the industry to rebound from the pandemic until 2022.
2020 has brought a series of challenges to global companies, including Allmetal. But Clint said he and Colby are both focused on things they can control. This means observing what they are buying and selling.
Keeping up with technology, especially downstream of the shredder, is also a challenge. Although Clint stated that it is important to "remove as much material from the shredder as possible," he added that it may go too far when investing in downstream equipment. "I believe that we are doing the right thing, and we will soon know where to invest and what equipment to invest in," he said.
In 2015, Clint and Kolby Cornejo, owners of Allmetal Recycling Inc. in Wichita, Kansas, also founded Allmetal's sister company, AMR Steel & Supply. The company stocks more than 1 million pounds of new and reusable steel products at its Allmetal headquarters in Wichita. Kolby said that the addition of AMR enables Allmetal to extract feed waste that can be resold and reused.
Kolby said that AMR was established in response to customer requests. "People came in asking for things we didn't have, so we ordered new ones, and it just grew from there," he said.
"It's very suitable for what we are trying to do," Clint added. "We are working hard to become a one-stop shop for our customers, and more of a solution-oriented partner, not just a scrap dealer."
He said that in addition to acquisitions, this is also the way Allmetal grows. "We rarely say no. We help customers find solutions."
Kolby added that the company is investing in concrete and housekeeping and equipment, which is related to its desire to improve the image of the waste industry in the communities where the company operates. "We spend more time here than in our own home, so we like the first-class yard and facilities," he said.
Allmetal does a lot of this work internally instead of using external contractors. "Although most of the improvements we have made cannot track ROI (return on investment), we believe that this money is well spent, helps retain customers, and provides a positive working environment for our employees," Clint added.
The company will purchase equipment for refurbishment in its repair shop. Allmetal has 10 full-time mechanics, 5 full-time welders, two men working on concrete, and 3 full-time painters to ensure that the company's facilities and rolling stock make a good impression among neighbors and customers. This "attention to detail", as Clint said, "everything can be traced back to changing the image of the industry."
He said that Allmetal's goal is to "exceed expectations every day," and added, "If you do this, whether it's employees or customers unloading in a tin dump, or an aerospace customer, you are doing it right."
The author is the editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at dtoto@gie.net.
For many companies, truck scales are like cash registers and an important part of their success. Truck scales help inventory tracking, transportation and logistics compliance, avoid overload fines, weight verification, axle load safety, and legal trade weighing. Truck scales can also save time by weighing all materials at once. When you invest in a truck scale, you should believe that it can reliably run for at least one generation or even longer.
When planning the installation location of a truck scale, you need to consider the traffic flow of the operation, the optimal location of the foundation, electrical and plumbing requirements, soil conditions and drainage systems, the convenience of maintenance, and the location of accessories. Ensure that there is enough space around the scale for maintenance and to ensure the safety of the driver. Consider the amount of space required to accommodate a row of trucks. Creating flow charts to map traffic patterns, marking where trucks enter the site, load and/or unload materials, and leave the site will help ensure that there is enough space for the driver to operate.
To ensure a long service life of your truck scale, it is recommended to check it regularly every six months. Every truck scale should be calibrated and tested by a state-approved maintenance agent, and use a certified test weight of not less than 25,000 pounds. Foundation maintenance is also extremely important-if left untreated, small cracks will grow rapidly. Proper preparation, regular inspections and diligent maintenance of your floor scale will help your truck scale stand the test of time.
When planning to purchase a truck scale, the structural integrity of the weighbridge is the most important factor. The open bottom design will not allow moisture to stay in the floor scale, thereby preventing rust. You will need to choose a design that strengthens common stress points. Also look for truck scales with more longitudinal steel L-beams to help prevent severe structural fatigue. With the additional L-beam, the weight of the vehicle is more supported, thereby reducing the pressure on individual components. Scale design that minimizes maintenance downtime is very important. Inferior design can lead to lengthy repairs or frequent adjustments, which can significantly increase the total cost of ownership.
It is common for foundations to be more durable than truck scales, although it is difficult to find alternative truck scales that match the size of existing foundations. Old-style truck scale models have a low profile when manufactured, which means that most standard truck scales currently produced do not fit these existing foundations. The solution is to find a manufacturer that can provide low-profile truck scales or custom designs to fit the existing foundation. Not all manufacturers use the same approach to provide alternative truck scale solutions, so you should research a few before making a decision.
Aqua Metals Inc. of McAllen, Nevada stated that it has cooperated with BASF. BASF will provide electrolytes while exploring technological improvements to improve Aqua Metals' AquaRefining performance.
According to Aqua Metals, AquaRefining is a room temperature water-based process that emits less pollution than traditional methods. The modular system aims to reduce the environmental impact of lead-acid battery recycling. Aqua Metals plans to provide partners with equipment, services and licenses for AquaRefining technology.
BASF SE is headquartered in Germany. BASF is its North American subsidiary in Florham Park, New Jersey, which manufactures and sells chemicals and related products in North America.
According to the Aqua Metals press release, BASF will provide the initial supply of Aqua Metals electrolyte for all new licensee facilities and will become the licensee's preferred supplier partner to meet its continuing needs. The specially formulated AquaRefining electrolyte is the key compound used in the AquaRefining process. BASF will provide AquaRefining to its existing and potential battery recycling customers, and Aqua Metals will include BASF products in every initial deployment and system filling. Aqua Metals and BASF will also explore technological improvements to further improve the electrolyte formulation to improve AquaRefining performance and extend the service life of the equipment.
"We are very pleased to work with BASF, one of the leading chemical companies, to become our preferred supplier of AquaRefining electrolyte," said Steve Cotton, President and CEO of Aqua Metals. "We chose BASF because of their commitment to industry-leading standards and a record of providing high-quality products. This partnership will also leverage BASF's global influence to help applicable companies in its global customer base provide AquaRefining, And in the future, we will cooperate with us to explore ways to enhance the electrolyte to improve the performance of AquaRefining," he added.
In addition, Aqua Metals stated that it is developing a method to simplify its recycling process and has applied for a provisional patent for this method. The company stated that the process is expected to provide economic and environmental benefits to AquaRefining licensees. To learn more, please visit http://bit.ly/aqua-metals-patent.
Jack Grundfest, Alter's senior vice president and chief administrative officer, said: "Alter Trading and Toyota Tsusho have a long-term relationship, and this joint venture is a logical next step for both companies."
He declined to disclose each company’s stake in Altech and said: “We do not discuss the details of the transaction, but I can tell you that this partnership is beneficial to both parties on multiple levels. Alter is an operation that works closely with TAI. partner."
TAI is a North American subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corp. of Japan, which is a member of Toyota Group, which also includes Toyota Motor, Toyota Industries, Aichi Steel, JTEKT, Toyota Auto Body, Aisin Seiki, Denso, Toyota Boshoku, Toyota Real estate, Toyota Central R&D Laboratory, Toyota Motor East Japan, Toyoda Gosei, Hino Motors, Daihatsu Motors, Toyota Family, and Toyota Kyushu.
According to Alter's press release, the Altech plant will convert zorba, a mixed metal shredded scrap mainly composed of aluminum, provided by Alter and other shredder operators as needed to meet market demand. The heavy media plant will produce two main products through the zorba it processes: a clean aluminum product called twitch in the industry and a secondary product commonly called heavy materials.
Altech Recycling will sell its products to TAI and global consumers based on market demand, which Grundfest describes as "the highest quality product available".
"The vast majority of tics will be consumed at Toyota Tsusho's plants for domestic consumption, while the heavy-duty will be sold to export customers for further processing," he added.
Initially, Altech Recycling will employ approximately 25 employees and will be located on Central Airport Road in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Altech plans to start operations in the second quarter of 2021.
Alter has a network of nearly 20 automatic shredders in the United States, two of which are operated by Tenenbaum Recycling Group (TRG), which Alter purchased in North Little Rock and Rogers, Arkansas in 2018. Grundfest said that the Altech plant in North Little Rock is located about 2 miles east of the TRG shredder and has been included in TRG's purchase.
"The property provides a perfect start to the project," he said. "As the project progresses, it is clear that this is a value-added location in North Little Rock, because it is located in the center of a city with a very pro-business mentality."
"We are proud to work with a global business leader in the world on this project," said Jay Robinovitz, President and CEO of Alter. "The combination of the talents and advantages of the two entities will provide suppliers, consumers and business partners with high-quality long-term solutions."
"At TAI, we are committed to creating value for our communities and markets by creating solutions that are beneficial to everyone," said Shawn O'Connor, TAI's vice president and head of the metal division. "TAI's innovative cooperation with Alter, Alter is a well-known and respected company for its recycling expertise and performance, which proves that when we cooperate not only for business but also for the benefit of society, everything is possible. "
Toyota Tsusho Corp. has operations in more than 120 countries. TAI and its affiliates have been operating in North America for more than 60 years to support the automotive business of Toyota Group Corporation and other automotive industry manufacturers. Some of TAI's existing green supply chain plans include operations in the collection and conversion of post-consumer and post-production scrap metal into secondary aluminum alloys, as well as closed-loop recycling with its customer base.
Rio Tinto, a London-based mining and metals company, said it will invest US$8.4 million to add a remelting furnace to its aluminum production facility in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec.
The company said that this investment will help it expand the recycling capacity of the site, thereby "providing North American rolled products customers with a new sustainable solution that combines low carbon and recycled aluminum."
The new remelting furnace will be installed in the foundry center of the factory. It will recover aluminum scrap from Rio Tinto's own operations and scrap obtained from rolling mill customers in the manufacturing industry. According to Rio Tinto, these rolling mills usually serve the automotive and packaging industries.
The company stated that the initial capacity of the remelting furnace is 22,000 metric tons of final products per year, and the system is expected to be put into use by the end of 2021.
Tolga Egrilmezer, Rio Tinto's vice president of sales and marketing, said: "This investment continues Rio Tinto's focus on enhancing the recycling solutions it provides to customers and supporting the transition to a circular economy. "This new furnace will enable us to provide customers with recycling services for waste generated during the manufacturing process, helping them meet the growing consumer demand for sustainable products. This innovative step will increase our responsible production in Quebec , Where we use hydropower to produce aluminum with the lowest carbon footprint in the world."
Rio Tinto stated that its rolled product recycling service "will complement Rio Tinto's closed-loop solution to billet customers starting in 2021, providing high-quality alloys made from low-carbon primary aluminum and recycled components."
New York State Senator Todd Kaminsky and Senator Steve Englebright introduced S.1185A, which will require packaging manufacturers in the state to pay for recycling.
The bill states that by shifting financial responsibility for handling packaging and paper products from local governments to corporate producers, recycling in the state will increase. According to the bill, manufacturers will be required to provide funds for the recycling of paper products and packaging materials, but will also be rewarded for improving the recyclability of items.
S.1185A stipulates that within three years from the date of its implementation, the producer must comply with the provisions of the Act alone or as a part of the producer's responsible organization. Within one year after the department approves the producer responsibility plan, the producer will be required to meet the minimum post-consumer recycled material content rate and minimum recovery rate of the covered material or product approved by the department in the producer responsibility plan.
According to the bill, the plan will also create a funding mechanism to cover costs, which will be adjusted based on the rate of recycled content used in the product.
If S.1185A passes, no manufacturer may sell any covered materials in New York State unless these products are included in a producer responsibility organization plan that has been approved by the state regulatory agency.
The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) in Brussels has notified its members that the Indian government has reduced or eliminated some tariffs on imports of certain scrap metals.
BIR stated that it has confirmed that tariffs on scrap iron imports from India “have been reduced to 0% until March 31, 2022”.
An 11-page Treasury Customs Tariff Procedure document published by BIR on its website shows that the 7204 Harmonized System (HS) code related to ferrous scrap has been changed from 2.5% to “zero”. The tariffs on imports of copper-containing scrap have also changed, and the document shows that the HS code of 7404 has been reduced from 5% to 2.5%.
The February 1 document includes a wider range of manufactured products, semi-manufactured products, agricultural products and mineral products.
Eastman Chemical Company, headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, announced that it will construct a "molecular" recycling facility for end-of-life polyester products and packaging at an existing site in the city. Eastman Chairman and CEO Mark Costa announced the news at a press conference on January 29, which was also held online. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee also joined him.
Eastman's Kingsport site is one of the largest integrated chemical plants in North America. Costa told Recycling Today, “We evaluated many possible locations, and in the end, we made a decision based on our size and integration in Kingsport. In addition, we were able to work with Tennessee officials to proceed here. This investment."
The company said it will use methanol decomposition to convert scrap polyester products and polyethylene terephthalate packaging that are difficult to recycle mechanically into recyclable raw materials for the production of the company's specialty plastics.
Eastman said that in the next two years, it will invest approximately US$250 million in the facility, which will support its commitment to solving the global waste crisis and mitigating the challenges posed by climate change, while creating value for its stakeholders. Using the company's polyester recycling technology, the facility will consume more than 100,000 metric tons of scrap plastic that cannot be recycled through mechanical methods.
"The plant will be able to process a variety of raw materials from the packaging, carpet and textile markets," Costa told Recycling Today. "We have sourced polyester for our molecular recycling technology from multiple sources, and are working with our partners to develop plans to increase production as the plant starts approaching. With this technology, Eastman will transfer Waste that is landfilled, incinerated or eventually enters our waterways. We can do this indefinitely."
At the press conference, Costa pointed out that California is currently a leading supplier of scrap carpets through the company's cooperation with Circular Polymers. Circular Polymers densifies the fiber so that it can be transported to Eastman's Kingsport site by railcar.
"Since Eastman was founded, innovation has been at its core," Costa said at a press conference. He added that the methanol decomposition plant will become "a huge new growth vehicle for us in the circular economy" and involves "a major infrastructure announcement that requires the cooperation of all people in the state."
Costa said Eastman also plans to deploy the technology more widely in the future.
Eastman said that the use of scrap plastics as the main raw material is a material-to-material solution. Compared with fossil raw materials, the company's use of fossil raw materials and its greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 20% to 30%.
The facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2022 and will help Eastman achieve its sustainability commitment to solve the plastic waste crisis, including recycling more than 500 million pounds of plastic waste each year through molecular recycling technology by 2030, The company claims to be carbon neutral by 2050. Eastman said it has pledged to recycle more than 250 million pounds of waste plastic each year by 2025.
For more detailed information about the Eastman program, please visit www.RecyclingToday.com/article/eastman-chemical-recycling-plastics-investment.