May 4 to 10 is International Compost Awareness Week
International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) was established in 1995, and is the world’s largest environmental education event for composting. ICAW is a multi-media publicity and education initiative to showcase compost production and demonstrate compost use. In its 13th year, the event has grown in both strength and numbers through its sponsors and compost advocates, serving the important role of bringing the “Compost!” message to the attention of the public, businesses and other groups. The U.S. Composting Council (USCC) and the Composting Council of Canada (CCC) are central to North American efforts in celebrating ICAW. This year, activities span the globe with celebrations planned across the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia and Ireland. For local area info and for a list of resources to plan events, visit www.composting-council.org, or www.compost.org.
Abanaki purchases Aerodyne Development
Abanaki Corporation has announced its purchase of Aerodyne Development Corporation, which manufactures dust collection systems equipment and solid-material-handling components. “Abanaki purchased Aerodyne as part of the company’s plan for growth in the solid-materials-handling market,” said Abanaki owner and president Tom Hob-son. “This is a great fit for the company,” Hobson explained. “Abanaki has begun to evolve into this market, and Aerodyne has a well-thought-out line of collectors. So it’s the right direction.” Aerodyne Development Corporation, headquartered in Chardon, Ohio, manufactures products for separating particles from air and liquid, including dust collection system equipment for foundries, quarries and other large-scale operations, as well as material-handling valves used in such collection processes. Included in its product lines are Vacu Valve, fans, pneumatic conveyors and grit collectors.
Satellite-based tools provide estimates of biomass
Organizations seeking woody biomass resources for the rapidly growing biofuel industry now have access to highly accurate and timely forecasts of available supply.
Scientists at Lanworth have successfully calculated woody biomass volume using satellite data. The team has also developed sophisticated models that use soil, elevation, slope, wetlands and other data layers to estimate extraction costs, as well as the total delivered cost of fibre to a processing site. The tools have helped clients compare potential biofuel sites as well as assess if the region has the biofuel capacity to absorb additional demand. Besides making the fibre procurement process more ef-ficient, Lanworth has also assisted clients in validating whether or not the “fibre basket” is environmentally sustainable.
Lanworth has used similar tools to estimate pulp and timber volumes from forest tracts using satellite imagery for most of the forest products companies and land managers globally. “It has been a natural extension for us to deploy our tools to organizations pursuing wood pellet plants, biomass boilers, cellulosic ethanol, or other woody biomass-based facilities,” said Shailu Verma, vice-president at Lanworth. “I believe we can help make these significant investment decisions, which not only have an important impact on the economics of fibre supply in a region, but also help manage the region’s environmental balance.”
Hazardous waste plan approved in Ontario
Stewardship Ontario has received word that the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) program, which it developed for Waste Diversion Ontario, was approved by the Environment Minister on February 19. It is to be launched on July 1. This means that stewards of these materials will become obligated to report on the quantities supplied into the Ontario market and to pay fees on them as per the MHSW program plan. Stewardship Ontario will provide information to stewards about the requirements of reporting and fees for these special waste materials.
In the Environment Ministry’s news release, Gerretsen said, “We’re moving aggressively to step up diversion efforts in Ontario over the next couple of years. This new program ensures we can each do the right thing for the environment when it comes to dealing with these wastes.” The MHSW diversion program plan sets out how Stewardship Ontario will work to double the diversion from landfill of special waste materials from 16,000 tonnes to more than 33,000 tonnes in five years.
In a Stewardship Ontario news release, Jim Quick, president of the Canadian Paint and Coatings Associations and chair of Stewardship Ontario’s MHSW program committee said, “The first thing Ontarians should know is that these are products that we all have had around our homes for decades and use every day. Some of them have special uses and require special care when we are finished with them and for that reason, industry worked with Stewardship Ontario to develop this plan. It sets out how we will put systems in place to collect more of these waste materials for reuse, recycling and, if necessary, proper disposal.” For more information on which materials are included and more on the MHSW program, visit www.steward-shipontario.com.
McCloskey unveils new “Centre of Excellence” for screen systems
Construction of McCloskey’s new 100,000 square foot (9,290 m2) facility in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, is underway. The facility will house the rapidly growing engineering team behind the company’s “high energy” vibratory screeners as well as the company’s recently announced mobile crushing plants. A series of four manufacturing bays dedicated to specific product lines will deliver S-Series screeners, R-Series screeners and C-Series jaw crushers for McCloskey customers worldwide. “This region is the ancestral home of the world screening industry,” says John O’Neill, McCloskey’s VP.
Based in Peterborough, Ontario, the company’s North American facilities will continue as its worldwide centre for trommel engineering, manufacturing and service support. The new facility in Dun-gannon is projected to commence operations by fall 2009.
CONEXPO sets records for attendance and exhibit space
CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2008 and the co-located IFPE 2008 expositions, which took place in March, set records for attendance, exhibit space and number of exhibiting companies. The construction industry event is now reportedly the largest trade show in North America of any industry, in 2008.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE showcase the latest equipment, product innovations and technological advances for the construction, construction materials, C&D, and power transmission industries. More than 144,600 industry professionals from around the world attended this year, during a five-day run from March 11 to 15, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show covered more than 2.28 million net square feet of exhibits (211,966 net square metres), taken by 2,182 exhibitors, and was 21 percent bigger than the last show held in 2005.
IFPE 2008 (dedicated to power transmission and motion control technologies) was also the largest in its history with more than 129,000 net square feet of exhibit space (11,994 net square metres) used by 469 exhibitors – a 16 percent increase in space compared to 2005.
Metso expands manufacturing operations
Metso Minerals Industries, Inc. has announced plans for a major new expansion of its manufacturing operations in northeast Ohio. The new fabrication facility will produce Lindemann scrap metal shears, small shredders and provide a rebuilding service for rotors used in automotive shredders. It will be located in northeast Ohio near the company’s existing engineering and manufacturing facility in Brunswick.
The company expects the new facility to be online in the spring of 2008. It will have a total crane capacity of 80 tons and is expected to double the fabrication capacity of Metso Minerals Industries’ Ohio operations. The Brunswick operation (formerly BEST, Inc.) was acquired by Metso in March of 2007 and since the beginning of 2008 has increased its fabrication capacity by 100 percent. “This expansion gives us the platform to continually grow and introduce new and innovative recycling products in the future,” said Tim Conway, Metso Recycling NAM vice-president of marketing and business development. “The combined strength of the Texas Shredder, Mueller Engineering, BEST and Linde-mann brand names makes Metso Minerals Industries, Inc. the perfect choice for our customers’ recycling needs.”
27 million pounds of scrap available for bid
27 million pounds of scrap metal from aircraft hulls, wings and wheels will soon be available for bid through online auction marketplace, www.govliquidation. com. In its largest scrap metal auction to date, the organization will start accepting bids on April 21 for its sale that includes an assortment of metals including aluminum, steel, magnesium and titanium as well as rubber. Detailed information as well as photos can be viewed online at www.cgi.govliquidation.com.
Through its contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), Government Liquidation is making it easier for buyers to find and purchase scrap metal throughout the U.S. Interested buyers can easily search for, find and bid on scrap auctions located at over 60 scrap yards throughout the country. All sales of scrap and material are conducted via online auction at www.govliquidation.com through Inter-net auction or sealed bid events. In 2007, Government Liquidation sold over 172,000 million pounds of scrap metal on behalf of the US DOD.
