ZenRobotics will retain its name and become a Terex brand.
Terex Materials Processing (MP) has acquired the assets of ZenRobotics Ltd., a company based in Helsinki, Finland, that designs and creates robots that sort recyclables using proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) software.
ZenRobotics will retain its name and become a Terex brand, with the unit reporting to Tony Devlin, who leads the Terex MP environmental businesses, according to a news release issued by Terex Corp., headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.
ZenRobotics was started in 2007. With its technology, operators can upgrade their recycling infrastructure to meet modern requirements, Terex says.
In 2009, ZenRobotics began using AI-based robots to sort recyclables, which led to the introduction of the ZenRobotics Recycler in Helsinki. In 2015, ZenRobotics launched its Heavy Picker, which is designed to sort bulky construction and demolition (C&D) debris. The company expanded into China and the U.S. market in 2016.
ZenRobotics' Heavy Picker is a multipurpose sorting robot for bulky material. Equipped with sturdy arms, various sensors and AI, Terex says it provides “a simple, unstaffed sorting process and makes waste sorting more accurate, safe, and profitable.” Its other offerings include the Fast Picker, a high-speed sorting robot designed for maximizing material recovery. It is compactly designed for easy integration into existing processes and conveyors in material recovery facilities, and it increases profits by enabling fully automated sorting and higher output purity, Terex says. ZenBrain is the company’s AI for sorting robots that has advanced recognition ability and autonomous decision-making.
Terex is active within global waste markets through Terex Ecotec, Terex CBI, Terex Fuchs and Terex Recycling. Zen Robotics will add to the Terex portfolio in global waste, where it will continue to be operated as a stand-alone business while also benefiting from MP’s broader market presence and from efficiencies enabled by MP’s global scale, Terex says. This acquisition of a highly “green-focused” company further supports MP’s commitment to its environmental business and environment, social and governance (ESG) goals.
“ZenRobotics is an exciting, modern company that lends itself perfectly to our pre-existing environmental expertise, and their ethos of making a circular economy more possible aligns perfectly with our goals and targets for the future of Terex MP,” Devlin says. “We’re excited to see the many ways that we can apply this technology and what potential this acquisition can bring Terex MP with the application of this technology. The journey that we’re about to begin with ZenRobotics and Terex MP is one that we look forward to starting, and we extend a warm welcome our new colleagues into the Terex MP team.”
Jarmo Ruohonen, CEO of ZenRobotics, adds, “We at ZenRobotics are delighted to be welcomed into the Terex MP team and we look forward to sharing our knowledge. As a company, we have worked hard for the past 15 years creating technology that helps companies efficiently deal with different types of waste materials, helping to chase down targets that propel us towards a more circular economy. Terex MP is the perfect partner to help us achieve that, and being part of the Terex MP team will give ZenRobotics more global opportunities to grow.”
The report also clarifies data from the U.S. EPA.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Washington, has issued a report on the progress of plastic recycling in the United States that compiles research and analysis from across the $236 billion recycling industry, including more than 9,000 community recycling programs and more than 100 postconsumer recyclers. The report, titled “Recommit, Reimagine, Rework Recycling,” finds that plastic recycling is responsible for more than 200,000 U.S. jobs and is a scalable solution for reducing plastic waste.
The APR says the report presents an important clarification on data provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the discussion on U.S. recycling rates, explaining that 80 percent of rigid plastic packaging is made from either polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene (PP). According to the APR report, 21 percent of these types of plastic are recycled based on EPA data. However, according to the EPA’s 2018 figures, the latest available, the overall plastic recycling rate was only 9 percent. The APR notes that the EPA’s statistics “include containers, packaging and durable goods meant to last many years as well as nondurable goods not intended for recycling like garbage bags.”
Misleading data such as the EPA figure discourage Americans who overwhelmingly support recycling, the APR says.
The report also includes the latest data for PET and HDPE bottles, which had recycling rate of 28 percent in 2020. With more supply of recyclable plastic material from consumers, the APR says U.S. plastic recyclers could boost PET and HDPE bottle recycling rate to more than 40 percent with minimal additional investment and using existing processing infrastructure in the U.S.
Growing the recycling rate for the plastics commonly used in packaging is necessary as demand for recycled material “is stronger than ever,” according to the report. “This higher demand is driven by a variety of factors, including brand sustainability commitments and legislative activity. Postconsumer resin (PCR) is increasingly seen as an essential packaging component for brands hoping to position themselves as leaders in sustainability.”
According to the report, “Plastic recycling is a chain of interconnected processes, and achieving a circular economy for plastic depends on every link of the chain working well together.” Therefore, the report concludes that meeting that high demand and continuing to sustain and grow recycling will require companies to manufacture plastic products and packaging that are compatible with recycling, consumers to put recyclables in the recycling bin and robust recycling infrastructure to collect, sort and process that material.
To achieve these ends, the report provides policy recommendations such as ensuring that all new products and packaging are made to be compatible with recycling; increasing and strengthening community recycling programs and creating harmonization among the types of plastic that are collected in those programs; and encouraging the consideration of the true cost of disposal and the low costs to landfill.
The report also notes that furthering the circular economy for plastic will reduce plastic waste as well as aid decarbonization efforts as using PCR to manufacture new products is linked to significant reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
“APR’s state-of-the-industry report tells the true story of plastic recycling in the United States,” says Steve Alexander, APR president and CEO. “This is an industry that processed almost 5 billion pounds of postconsumer plastic material in 2020 despite a pandemic and related lockdown, and we have every expectation that number will continue to grow.”
He adds, “Increasing the recycling rate is important because demand for recycled material, a key driver of the recycling chain, is stronger than ever, spurred by a variety of factors including brand sustainability commitments and legislative activity.”
Department of Energy says $675 million program seeks to bolster lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths supply chain.
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information (RFI) on the development and implementation of a $675 million Critical Materials Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercialization Program.
Funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Law, the program will address what DOE calls “vulnerabilities in the domestic critical materials supply chain, which are both an economic disadvantage and an impediment to the clean energy transition.”
Critical materials the DOE identifies include rare-earth elements, lithium, nickel, and cobalt. These metals, the agency says, “are required for manufacturing many clean energy technologies, including batteries, electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines and solar panels.”
The program is being designed to advance domestic sourcing and production, likely tying into an earlier announcement to bolster the markets for EV and alternative energy sources overall.
“We can follow through on President Biden’s clean energy commitments and make our nation more secure by increasing our ability to source, process, and manufacture critical materials right here at home,” says U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is supporting DOE’s effort to invest in the building blocks of clean energy technologies, which will revitalize America’s manufacturing leadership and bring along the benefits of good paying jobs.”
The DOE says global demand for battery-related critical materials is expected to increase by from 400 percent to 600 percent over the next several decades. For certain materials, such as lithium and graphite used in EV batteries, demand is expected to increase by as much as 4,000 percent, adds the agency.
DOE’s strategy calls for increased domestic raw materials production and manufacturing capacity, designed to reduce America’s dependence on foreign sources of critical materials. The agency includes “circular economy approaches” in a list of techniques it aspires to develop.
“The Critical Materials Research Program will expand on DOE’s decade-long history of investment in critical materials supply chains, which includes fundamental research on materials science, separation science, and geoscience; public-private partnerships, such as the [Iowa-based] Critical Materials Institute; and efforts to validate and commercialize new technologies through demonstration projects,” the DOE states.
The RFI issued by the Critical Materials Research Program is soliciting feedback “from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, state and local coalitions, labor unions, tribes, community-based organizations, and others, on the structure of these programs, timing and distribution of funds, and selection criteria,” the DOE writes.
Comments to be received have a deadline of 5 p.m. Eastern time Sept. 9, 2022, and can be submitted to CriticalMaterialsProgramRFI@ee.doe.gov.
Global aluminum producer reups sustainability-related certification for 47 Hydro Extrusion facilities.
The Hydro Extrusions business unit of Norway-based Norsk Hydro AsA says the renewal of its Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Performance Standard certification has been finalized and is now valid through May 2025. The recertification covers 47 sites, which Hydro calls “tops among extrusion companies worldwide.”
In addition, Hydro says, more than two-thirds of those sites have also achieved ASI Chain of Custody (CoC) certification.
Australia-based ASI says its Performance Standard “recognizes the responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminum.” The Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard sets out requirements for the creation of a chain of custody for CoC material, including ASI Aluminum.
It means not only sites and their practices are certified, but the physical metal these sites process also is certified, when obtained from ASI-certified sources.
“ASI certification strengthens our competitive position in a marketplace where the demand for greener aluminum is growing fast,” says Paul Warton, an executive vice president who heads Hydro Extrusions. “Developing state-of-the-art sustainable products is a key part of our positioning just as it is for the positioning of our customers.”
The 47 ASI-certified sites in Hydro Extrusions are located in Asia, Europe and South America. Next up is the business area’s manufacturing plant in Taicang, China, which has completed its certification audit.
Hydro Extrusions plants in Canada, Mexico and the United States are in the early stages of their preparation for ASI certification, according to Jean-Marc Moulin, who is leading the work for the business area as its director of sustainability. “Our ambition is to have all of our sites ASI-certified,” says Moulin.
Hydro Extrusions has some 100 production sites in 40 countries and employs 21,000 people globally.
In addition to the extrusion sites, some Hydro operations in its Aluminum Metal and Bauxite & Alumina business areas also are certified according to ASI’s two standards.
The Aluminium Metal certifications cover smelting, casthouse activities and recycling at Hydro’s fully owned sites and the joint venture Albras plant in Brazil.
Hydro’s Paragominas bauxite mine and Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil also are ASI-certified. Alunorte is the world’s largest alumina refinery outside of China, according to Hydro.
Russia-based steel producer is accepting offers for its facilities in North America.
The London-based Evraz plc subsidiary of Moscow-based Evraz has announced it is in the process of soliciting proposals for the acquisition of its Evraz North American subsidiaries.
The company says the sale will allow it to “unlock the stand-alone value of the North America business,” acknowledging global sanctions on Russian companies by saying the sale “will require approval from relevant sanctions authorities,” including the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).
Evraz says the solicitation process is currently being conducted under an OFSI general license, “and we are in contact with OFSI as part of this process.” Beyond that, the steel producer adds, “Evraz does not intend to provide any additional information on this process unless or until the process is finalized.”
The steelmaker describes Evraz North America as a vertically integrated producer of engineered steel products for the North American rail, energy, industrial and construction markets. It has annual crude steelmaking capacity of 2.3 million tons and finished steel (such as rail or tubular products) capacity of 3.5 million tons.
The company operates two electric arc furnace (EAF) mills, one in Pueblo, Colorado, and the other in Regina, Saskatchewan. Just last year, Evraz announced a significant investment project for the Regina rail mill. It also idled a melt shop in Portland, Oregon, several years ago.
Evraz also operates four downstream rolling mills, eight downstream tube mills and 17 scrap recycling facilities in North America, with its website indicating the scrap yards are in Colorado and North Dakota in the United States and in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada.