A range of products was made using injection molding through to conventional sheet extrusion and thermoforming.

Nextloopp, the global multiparticipant project that is using commercially proven technologies that include markers to separate food-grade polypropylene, or PP, and decontamination technologies designed to ensure compliance with food-grade standards in the EU and the USA, has completed the first full-scale packaging production trials using its PPristine food-grade resins.

Mannok Pack, a leading thermoformed food packaging manufacturer in the U.K. and Ireland, ran the trials at its County Cavan facility in Ireland, producing a range of products through injection molding with an in-mold label through conventional sheet extrusion and thermoforming. According to Nextloop, the finished packs showed “excellent visual and processing characteristics with only minor but acceptable product variations between the 30 percent rPP pack and the virgin PP pack.”

Mannok General Manager Mark McKenna says the packaging made with rPP demonstrated the huge potential for this project. He adds that he feels confident the project is poised to help the industry move toward closing the loop on food-grade PP, according to a news release from Nextloopp.

Helene Roberts, CEO of U.K.-based custom packaging manufacturer Robinson PLC, adds, “We were delighted with the results of these initial trials using the food-grade rPP material from Nextloopp that produced very similar aesthetics and performance to our current virgin-based products and little disruption to the manufacturing line.”

Professor Edward Kosior, founder of London-based global sustainability consultancy Nextek Ltd. and Nextloopp, says he was pleased with the trial results, describing PP as the “most prolific food-grade polymers.”

As Nextloopp finalizes the dossiers for its application to European Food Safety Authority and U.S. Food and Drug Administration for food-grade accreditation, it also is working in with industry bodies to advise on new design guidelines for food-grade circular recycling based on findings from these trials.

Shuttered for two years, the Coastal Resources of Maine facility could divert from landfills up to 80 percent of the municipal solid waste it receives.

A municipal solid waste facility (MSW) in Hampden, Maine, could soon be purchased by the Municipal Review Committee Inc. (MRC), a nonprofit organization overseeing MSW issues for 115 municipalities in coastal Maine.

During a June 29 MRC meeting, Eaton Peabody attorney Shawn Doil, representing the committee, said two lienholders who had been objecting to the sale have agreed in principle to a resolution.

The organization has departed from a prior plan to seek financing from its member towns and cities, MRC President Karen Fussell said.

“We’re actually working with a number of good potential private sector partners that we might work with to share ownership and operation of the facility,” she said.

Doil said she anticipates the sale should close sometime in the next several weeks.

Closed since May 2020, the Coastal Resources of Maine waste-to-energy facility would provide MSW collection and recycling for residents in the 115 towns the MRC serves. Coastal Resources of Maine LLC is subsidiary of Fiberight, whose technology is in the Hampden facility.

For the past two years, the MRC has monitored and maintained the shuttered 144,000-square-foot facility, paid its utilities and protected the equipment within, according to an MRC document on the plan to buy the facility, all while seeking a buyer and operator for the facility. However, several interested parties were unable to demonstrate the technical and financial capabilities necessary to own and operate the recycling facility.

The MRC anticipates the final purchase price of the facility will range from $1 million to $1.5 million, but the startup cost could be around $20 million.

An MRC overview of the facility says it was the first U.S. recycling facility with an integrated pulper that can process items such as dirty paper plates, coffee cups and pizza boxes in addition to more routine recyclables. The facility is capable of diverting from landfill 60 percent to 80 percent of the material it receives.

The MRC says in its redevelopment plan for the facility that it should be able to turn a profit at full operation, which would include an investment of up to $5 million, but market conditions for recycling commodities and cellulose pulp also have improved markedly since the May 2020 closure which was around the time of the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 72 million euro investment included more than 480 maintenance and environmental protection measures implemented in 56 days.

The planned maintenance shutdown at the Aurubis plant in Hamburg, Germany, was completed June 28, according to a news release from the company, a leading global provider of nonferrous metals and one of the largest copper recyclers worldwide.

The shutdown lasted 56 days, which was 11 days longer than originally planned because of unfavorable weather conditions that delayed certain crane operations because of high winds, the company says. The need for additional work that could only be identified after operations were shut down also led to the longer maintenance time.

Aurubis, which is headquartered in Hamburg, says it performed 480 technical renovations and maintenance measures at the smelter, as well as taking action to improve the site’s environmental protection. The site, which is one of two primary smelters the company operates, also processes scrap. In addition to inspecting the waste heat boiler, Aurubis says it renovated the plant’s highest forge, installed two new metallurgical cranes and replaced heat exchangers in the contact plant – the latter of which was done in preparation for the second expansion stage of industrial heat extraction project to supply up to 20,000 households in Hamburg with CO2-free industrial heat as early as 2024.

Aurubis Chief Operating Officer Heiko Arnold says, “With this shutdown, we have invested a total of 72 million euros ($74.8 million) in the increased effectiveness of our production facilities and the further improvement of the site’s environmental protection--59 million euros ($61.3 million) in just this year.”

The company says that while the longer shutdown will affect earnings, it does not change the current year’s forecast for operating earnings before taxes (EBT), which is expected to be between 500 million euros and 600 million euros, or $519.4 million and $623.3 million.

Tire Stewardship British Columbia says material from nearly 15,000 scrap tires will be used in 13 projects in the province.

Tire Stewardship BC (TSBC), headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, says it has finalized the 13 B.C. organizations that will receive TSBC grants for community development projects. In total, nearly 15,000 B.C. scrap tires will be used to complete the projects, the not-for-profit group says.

Projects include the surfacing of playgrounds, walkways, parks and other gathering spaces.

“Tire Stewardship BC is pleased to provide financial support to organizations across the province that have chosen to use recycled tire rubber for their upcoming projects,” says Rosemary Sutton, executive director of the organization.

“These grant recipients will use B.C. rubber for the surfacing of various communal areas making them durable, nontoxic, and low maintenance,” Sutton adds. “Rubber surfacing made from B.C. scrap tires is also nonslip, making it safer for everyone, and it creates a soft landing in playground areas. Additionally, rubber surfacing is cost effective and visually attractive.”

The TSBC community grant program has been designed to support municipalities, registered nonprofit community groups or organizations, schools and First Nations and Métis settlements who can use products derived from scrap tires as they are building or upgrading facilities. To date, TSBC says it has awarded more than CA$5.8 million in community grants.

“TSBC will continue to look for opportunities to partner with businesses that are making environmentally conscientious decisions and understand the importance of utilizing recycled products in the development of their community infrastructure,” Sutton says.

The provincial B.C. scrap tire program has been recycling tires for more than 30 years and is described by TSBC as the oldest recycling program in Canada. Since the scrap tire recycling program was first established in B.C. in 1991, more than 100 million tires have been recycled in the province, according to the group.

Canadian battery recycling firm opts for new name.

American Manganese Inc. has announced it intends to change its name to RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc. at its upcoming shareholders meeting in early July.

“Over the last five years, we have pioneered the development of lithium-ion battery recycling-upcycling of cathode materials through our RecycLiCo patented process,” says Larry Reaugh, president and CEO of the firm. “To reflect the work we have achieved, we decided on a name change that better represents the company’s focus on our RecycLiCo process.”

In an update provided in late May, the company, which is based in Surrey, British Columbia, says it had begun testing the first stage of its RecycLiCo demonstration plant project with lithium-ion battery cathode production scrap feed material. The demonstration plant is designed with a 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) per day input capacity of lithium-ion battery scrap.

“Kickstarting the first stage of our demonstration plant project is an incredible milestone, and we look forward to showcasing our scaled-up technology to existing collaborators across the lithium-ion battery supply chain as we diligently progress through the demonstration plant processing steps,” Reaugh said at that time.

In 2021, American Manganese expressed confidence in its ability to upgrade black mass into “cathode precursor” lithium-ion battery material.

The company, which describes itself as a critical metals company focused on recycling lithium-ion battery scrap into high-value battery cathode materials to achieve more than 99 percent extraction of lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese, will continue to trade under the stock symbol AMY despite the name change, adds RecycLiCo.