This is the fourth add-on acquisition for Circon.
Circon Environmental, based in La Porte, Texas, has announced the acquisition of Water Integrated Treatment Systems (WITS), of Dolton, Illinois. According to the company, this acquisition will help boost its centralized waste treatment (CWT) capabilities.
WITS supplies waste treatment services managing nonhazardous liquids for water treatment, nonhazardous waste streams for solidification, and oil/water for recovery and treatment. The company was founded in 2015 by Rico Martinez. WITS operates two CWT facilities in Dolton and Kenosha, Wisconsin, and supplies transportation services to supplement its core treatment capabilities. According to Circon, WITS has been able to rapidly scale its operations and gain market share in two densely populated industrial markets: Chicago and Milwaukee.
“We are excited to add the WITS facilities and team to our expanding network of CWTs across the existing network of Circon locations,” says Circon CEO Frank Iezzi. “Circon continues to be committed to expanding in both new and existing geographies to better serve its customers and deliver a greater level of services with a focus on delivering sustainable services with quantifiable metrics. Our new Dolton, Illinois, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, locations will play a key role as we increase our services in the Great Lakes region. We are most importantly thrilled to welcome the WITS team, which has a history of delivering world-class service, to the Circon family.”
Circon, a portfolio company of New York City-based Kinderhook Industries LLC, specializes in industrial liquids management and serves both hazardous and nonhazardous liquid waste generators. It is also a provider of hazardous waste removal, transportation and disposal solutions. The company specializes in procuring, blending, treating and processing petroleum, petrochemical products and waste streams.
The company provides services primarily in the Gulf Coast and Chicago regions. Circon has 10 facilities, including six CWTs, two Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Part B facilities, and two diversified co-products processing facilities, as well as storage along the Houston Ship Channel.
“The acquisition of WITS will enable Circon to win market share and expand its CWT presence, which has been a strategic focus for the company,” says Rob Michalik, managing director of Kinderhook. “We look forward to welcoming the WITS team and its longstanding reputation of quality service to Circon and look forward to using this transaction as a catalyst for future growth.”
The company has partnered with Pratt Industries to create cardboard packaging that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save trees.
To commemorate Earth Day, HelloFresh has introduced cardboard packaging made of 100-percent-postconsumer-recycled content for its HelloFresh and EveryPlate meal kits. The food-delivery company has partnered with Pratt Industries, a food packaging producer in Conyers, Georgia, to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6,800 tons and save more than 115,000 trees in a year, HelloFresh says.
Pratt Industries’ cardboard boxes are made from 100-percent-recycled paper. The performance-based packaging protects food while in transit while offering a more sustainable solution.
According to a news release from HelloFresh, using these cardboard boxes to ship meal kits from HelloFresh’s Georgia and Texas distribution centers will contribute to meaningful, positive environmental impacts. This includes saving more than 115,000 trees and 47.6 million gallons of water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 6,800 tons per year.
“Pratt Industries is honored to be part of HelloFresh’s drive to be more sustainable,” says Chris Stanton, president of the Pratt Specialty Group. “Building better packaging, with the ultimate goal of reusing that packaging yet again, takes a united thoughtful approach. HelloFresh truly has a cutting-edge vision around sustainability, and our team is thankful for like-minded environmental leaders.”
HelloFresh is also implementing a new analytical Box Fit program that assigns the smallest possible box size to a customer’s order based on the volume and size of its contents. Using this algorithm in the fulfillment process increases the use of small boxes to 60 percent, eliminating unnecessary packaging, the company says. The program also reduces the use of cold packs and insulation, increasing the number of boxes that fit on a truck for distribution.
“Our approach to packaging is to avoid using it whenever possible. When packaging plays an essential role in protecting the quality and safety of the food in our meal kits, we are committed to either reducing or optimizing it for recyclability,” says Jeff Yorzyk, director of sustainability at HelloFresh U.S. “Leveraging cutting-edge technology and the new 100 percent recycled cardboard from Pratt Industries are two important steps towards continued leadership in sustainable packaging solutions for meal kits.”
The introduction of sustainable packaging supports HelloFresh’s long-term strategy to lead the industry in sustainable business practices. This includes offsetting 100 percent of its carbon emissions and leveraging a demand-driven subscription model. HelloFresh says the model minimizes food waste throughout its supply chain and then sends only the exact ingredients customers need to make a meal. This reduces at-home food waste by 25 percent when compared with grocery store-bought meals, based on the HelloFresh Global Food Waste Study and the United States Department of Agriculture.
“Our goal in changing the way people eat forever is to provide better access to fresh ingredients more sustainably. This includes constant innovation, investment, and partnerships with sustainability leaders like Pratt Industries to improve the recyclability and minimize the environmental impact of our meal kit packaging,” says Uwe Voss, CEO of HelloFresh U.S. “The introduction of fully circular packaging is a significant and measurable step towards achieving our long-term sustainability strategy.”
The state claims Columbia-based Ecology Services Inc. operated without a permit and violated a stormwater discharge agreement for a site in Pasadena.
As reported by the Capital Gazette, the state of Maryland has sued Columbia-based Ecology Services Inc. for an estimated $2.1 million on claims that the company operated without a permit for most of last year and violated a stormwater discharge agreement at a site in Pasadena.
The lawsuit includes two counts against the waste management and recycling company for alleged violations at its Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard property. One count is for operating without a permit for 213 days from Jan. 3 to Aug. 3, 2020. It comes with a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each day with a permit, according to the suit.
The second count is for four times breaching multiple parts of a stormwater discharge agreement issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment in August. The suit states that the state is seeking $10,000 per day for that violation.
“We have a strong case and a clear urgency to take enforcement action now. We were already looking at a possible enforcement action weeks ago and as soon as we confirmed the noncompliance and the gravity of the situation, we wanted to take action immediately,” said Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles in a statement. “It’s important to prevent further harm and send a strong signal to all that violations of stormwater pollution will not be tolerated.”
During a series of visits to the property last year starting on Jan. 3, 2020, the Capital Gazette reports state inspectors observed numerous violations, including vehicles tracking sediment onto Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard, which “mixes with stormwater from the Boulevard and is discharged to the Magothy River.”
Other violations included unpaved roadways, waste storage containers, vehicle parts and trash exposed to precipitation and signs of soil stains indicating the discharge of oil at the site.
According to the lawsuit, Ecology Services stores, operates and fuels its fleet of trucks used to serve the greater Anne Arundel County at the site near Lake Waterford. The company also stores waste containers and vehicle parts there—actions considered “industrial activity” that require general and discharge permits—which Ecology Services did not have at the time.
Those permits require permitholders to contain runoff, minimize erosion and sediment discharge and keep chemicals, waste and other materials from leaking into nearby waterways.
Follow-up inspections on Feb. 12, and Feb. 21, Sept. 10, and Oct. 16, 2020, found additional violations, including continued sediment tracking, vehicle parts and “stains on the ground from unknown liquids, and unidentified containers exposed to precipitation in un-paved areas...,” according to the lawsuit.
On Aug. 3, the state and Ecology Services agreed to a consent order for the site to control polluted stormwater discharge at the property. Inspectors witnessed additional violations after the consent order was agreed, some as recently as March 18, 2021.
The companies have selected Recycling Technologies to build facilities in France and Belgium.
Polystyrene producers Ineos Styrolution, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and Trinseo of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, have announced a partnership with Recycling Technologies of Swindon, England, to build two polystyrene (PS) recycling plants in Europe. The companies hope to make PS a circular material through depolymerization.
Following an assessment of technology options, the companies chose Recycling Technologies as the technology provider for commercial-scale recycling of PS. The companies say they determined that Recycling Technologies’ solution provided the highest yields in the conversion of PS to styrene monomer and provided the most scalable solution due to the company’s fluidized bed reactor combined with the expertise of its technical team.
Recycling Technologies is a specialist in chemical recycling of mixed plastics.
“Our collaboration with Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo is a strong recognition of our technology’s ability to make polystyrene circular,” says Adrian Griffiths, CEO and founder of Recycling Technologies. “We look forward to working with these two global leading companies to build Europe’s first chemical polystyrene recycling facilities.”
The companies say the properties of PS allow for full circularity because postuse PS can be returned to its chemical building blocks before being polymerized again. The recycled PS will have identical properties to virgin PS.
Life cycle assessment calculations reportedly show “significant decreases” in greenhouse gas emissions when compared with PS production from naphtha.
Before building the commercial-scale recycling plants, a PS recycling pilot plant will be built in the U.K. in 2022. There the three companies will develop the PS technology for launch in their commercial plants. The pilot plant will provide information and data related to chemical recycling and operations to support future development of the commercial scale recycling plants, Packaging News reports.
Ineos Styrolution says it plans to build its commercial-scale recycling facility in Wingles, France. Trinseo will build a plant in Tessenderlo, Belgium, expected to be operational in 2023. Each plant will aim to convert 15,000 metric tons per year of PS scrap into recycled styrene.
“Polystyrene turns out to be a wonderful polymer. Not only is depolymerization an effective recycling method, but it also allows for recycling while also maintaining food contact compliance,” says Nicolas Joly, vice president for plastics and feedstocks at Trinseo and president of Styrenics Circular Solutions.
The company recently donated to the Glass Recycling Foundation to achieve this goal.
Knauf Insulation LLC, a building materials company that operates 27 manufacturing sites in 15 countries, has made a donation to the Glass Recycling Foundation (GRF), Ann Arbor, Michigan. According to the Glass Recycling Foundation, the contribution will advance its efforts to pilot projects leveraging best practices to improve glass recycling.
A representative from Knauf declined to say how much money the company donated.
“We are proud to partner with the Glass Recycling Foundation in advancing community efforts to increase glass recycling,” says John Eichbauer, vice president of operations at Knauf Insulation. “The environmental benefits of glass recycling are a focus for Knauf Insulation, and this effort will help divert waste from the landfill. We hope that glass will make its way to our facilities, increasing the recycled content in our fiberglass insulation.”
The use of recycled glass has additional environmental benefits, lowering the amount of energy necessary for manufacturing and lessening the number of minerals that need to be mined, GRF says.
The donation comes on the heels of the foundation’s first grant award of $10,000 for drop-off glass recycling pilot in Erie County, Pennsylvania. The grant provided Erie County’s nearly 270,000 residents access to glass recycling at 15 locations that collect and recycle glass bottles and jars. To close the recycling loop for glass, Prism Recycling spearheaded a drop-off pilot program through a public-private partnership between the Erie County Recycling Program, the Erie Area Council of Governments, CAP Glass Recycling and the Glass Recycling Foundation.
Knauf Insulation is a family-owned global manufacturer of thermal and acoustical fiberglass insulation for residential, commercial, industrial, OEM and metal building applications. The company uses more than 60 percent recycled glass content in its manufacturing of fiberglass insulation products.
The GRF is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 2019 that raises funds for localized and targeted assistance, demonstration and pilot projects that address gaps in the glass recycling supply chain across the United States.
“The need for funding to increase glass recycling capture to meet end-market demand is considerable,” says Scott DeFife, president of the GRF. “Knauf’s donation will help us spark action for regional glass recycling, pilot projects and educational outreach.”