The addition of Amlon Port Allen will enable the company to expand its catalyst recycling reach and add oil-bearing processing as an offering.

The Amlon Group, formerly known as the Amlon Resources Group LLC and Alpha Omega Recycling Inc., has announced significant growth through the acquisition of Amlon Port Allen, a spent catalyst recycling and material handling facility situated on a 28-acre site in Port Allen, Louisiana. 

The Amlon Group, New York City, has grown from a metal and concentrates trading company to a leader in turnkey environmental recycling and waste management solutions since its 1979 founding.

“We are excited to introduce oil and oil-bearing material processing to the management services we can offer our customers,” The Amlon Group President Mark Wayne says. “Our customers stand to benefit tremendously from the growth and expansion of our facilities and to continue to work with The Amlon Group across a broader range of sectors. The addition of Amlon Port Allen represents the continuation of our growth strategy as we seek to enhance our capabilities and deliver our full suite of services into new industries and geographies.”

The company also has announced that it received a significant investment from Heartwood Partners LLC, which has helped it expand its outreach and impact in the recycling and waste management industry. With this investment, The Amlon Group continues to execute its growth strategy through a combination of organic growth initiatives and expansions.

In 2017, The Amlon Group acquired a fully licensed Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) facility in Longview, Texas, to process and recycle spent catalysts and metals. The recent addition of Amlon Port Allen supports the company’s drive to expand capacity and seek out innovative solutions for managing waste. The addition of this market-leading catalyst reclamation and oil-bearing material recycling facility will allow The Amlon Group to service expanded sectors and continue to manage challenging industrial waste and by-products environmentally. 

“With this new expansion and acquisition, we can continue our mission to help companies reduce costs and increase recycle values,” The Amlon Group CEO Lee Lasher says. “We are especially thrilled to be offering our customers the ability to streamline their waste management and recycling programs, achieve zero waste goals, and offer a broader set of high-quality waste and recycling solutions.”

USAID initiative helps devise method to assist governments in developing nations combat ocean-bound plastics.

North America may not be a major source of discarded plastic flowing into oceans, but that has not stopped Virginia-based Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO), which is a program of the federal government’s USAID agency, from seeking solutions to the global problem.

At the 2022 International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) convention in Singapore in September, United States-based industry veteran Lori Scozzafava, who currently serves as director of capacity development and governance of CCBO, provided an overview of the organization’s methodology to upgrade waste diversion techniques around the world.

Scozzafava says CCBO has cooperated with 17 local governments in six different nations, including the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Vietnam, to develop a 180-question survey devised to pinpoint how the jurisdictions can bolster recycling efforts and prevent ocean-bound littering.

She said that while plastic is targeted in the efforts because it is “floating and visible” when it arrives in the ocean, the problem of pollution in regions where the collection and recycling infrastructure is lacking involves more than just plastic.

The CCBO survey breaks down local government challenges and tactics into six categories. Scozzafava says the “service delivery” category gets the most attention because it is “the component everyone’s mind goes to.” However, the other five categories, including planning, financial management and community engagement, also are vital.

The industry veteran, who has been a staff member at the Solid Waste Association of North American (SWANA) and Virginia-based consultancy Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), said the process of completing the survey and following up on it has led to significant recycling progress in places like Da Nang, Vietnam.

Whether there or in other jurisdictions that have worked with CCBO, she said the effort identifies and brings together local leaders—some of whom had not previously met—who can carry forward a collection and recycling effort.

The survey results are “able to show where this local community is in terms of its ability” to divert waste from the ocean, Scozzafava said. While the initial survey scores have ranged from 32 to 80, she said the follow-up actions involve the vital question of “how do they turn that ‘no’ answer into a ‘yes.’”

Post-survey follow-up can lead to waste characterization studies, research into funding options, and perhaps most importantly, wider staff and community involvement, Scozzafava said.

CCBO is in the process of preparing a “tool kit” for local governments, followed by a training course it intends to distribute in ways that will make it easily accessible. More information on the effort can be found here.

The 2022 ISWA convention took place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore on Sept. 21-23.

Technology provider Tomra says a combination of policies and techniques can lead to more plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling.

Europe-based recycling technology provider Tomra says it has had a front-row seat to view what works when it comes to turning plastic packaging into a circular material, and the company has increasingly been willing to share what it says it has learned.

At the 2022 International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) convention, held in Singapore in September, Jakob Rognhaug of Tomra presented an overview of the technology vendor’s findings, telling convention attendees, “We can make a serious contribution” when it comes to establishing a pollution-free, low-carbon packaging sector.

Rognhaug cited deposit-return schemes or systems (DRS) as a vital first step toward diverting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and other bottles into a high-grade recycling loop. Currently, he said, only about 2 percent of PET bottles globally head into such bottle-to-bottle close loops. Tomra has as its goal, said Rognhaug, a 30 percent rate by 2030.

Attempts to boost PET bottle recycling without DRS have “proven to be a failure,” said Rognhaug. Systems that require a deposit payment that is returned when recycling collection occurs “incentivizes the [household] consumer” he added.

Rognhaug said Tomra has found that source-separated collection of materials helps provide the cleaner material streams demanded by paper mills and metals melt shops, but it may not be as necessary in the plastics sector. Recycling program operators have found that asking people to place their plastic into too many separate bins may result in less overall plastic collection.

Thus, Tomra has been advocating setting up dry municipal solid waste (MSW) mixed materials sorting plants, and the company says it has helped devise such facilities, including two in Norway where Tomra is based.

In the Norwegian waste districts with these plants, said Rognhaug, some 70 to 90 percent of all plastic is being recovered for recycling. Additionally, the facilities are recovering paper, board and metal that was not initially properly placed into source-separated bins. “Mixed waste sorting is proven,” stated Rognhaug.

Although advocates of chemical or pyrolysis recycling processes have adopted the term “advanced recycling,” Rognhaug proposed that the type of systems that included DRS, mixed waste sorting and eventual bottle-to-bottle closed loop recycling can be referred to as “advanced mechanical recycling.”

Such methods, said Rognhaug, can create closed loops for PET bottles, polypropylene (PP) packaging and plastic films, with the capability of producing “virgin-like quality” materials from plastic scrap.

The 2022 ISWA convention took place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore Sept. 21-23.

Italy’s Altereko says technology—combined with understanding human nature—can lead to greater discarded organics diversion.

“Don’t forget, you have to interact with people,” advised Marco Ricci of Verona, Italy-based consultancy Altereko, in a presentation to attendees of the 2022 International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) convention in Singapore.

Ricci and his company have been heavily involved in setting up and upgrading programs in that nation to collect food scraps and other organic materials so they can be diverted from landfills and incinerators.

In the course of that work, Ricci says Altereko has found that using the kind of technology offered by his company can help boost organics diversion, but watching how people react to technology is of great importance.

Ricci provided examples in Italy of jurisdictions that greatly improved their landfill diversion rates when they added separate organics collection to their waste and recycling programs.

Technology can play a role, he added, pointing to a European city that boosted its separate (non-MSW) collection rate from 77 percent to 84 percent after installing radio frequency identification (RFID) chips into food its food scrap collection carts.

Whether introducing new programs, new containers or changes in collection frequency, Ricci said, “It means asking customers to change their habits.”

Ricci said he and Altereko have learned that governments and service providers need to bear in mind that communication “is not a one-shot initiative; it must be ongoing.”

While technology often is presented as a solution, Ricci also offered a cautionary tale of technology deployment that proved less than idea. In one Italian city, he said, organics and recyclable drop-off that required device-specific (smartphone) identification resulted in some frustrated citizens and visitors merely dropping off materials on the ground outside of the intended collection bins.

Such cases caused Ricci to advise ISWA attendees to be open-minded about technology, but also to remember that when seeking diversion improvements, “You have to involve people.”

The 2022 ISWA convention took place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore Sept. 21-23.

The Consumer Brands Association and Ameripen have sent letters to lawmakers urging them to pass the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act.

In June, House Reps. David McKinley and Mikie Sherrill introduced the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act (H.R. 8183) and House Reps. Joe Neguse, Tim Burchett and Bill Foster introduced the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (H.R. 8059).

The Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act would establish a pilot rural recycling program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would award competitive grants to eligible entities that improve recycling accessibility in underserved communities, and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act would improve data collection by requiring the EPA to collect and make publicly available data on recycling and composting rates across the country.

Senate lawmakers passed both of these bills in late July, and now these bills just await a decision by House lawmakers.

This week, the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), Washington, has reached out to House Energy & Commerce Committee members urging them to pass both H.R. 8183 and H.R. 8059.

“A core focus of our organization is promoting thoughtful federal solutions that will reduce waste and fix the broken recycling system,” the letter from the CBA states. “Both H.R. 8183 and H.R. 8059 are solid examples of such policies and reflect a bipartisan, bicameral commitment to addressing our nation’s recycling challenges. … Consumer Brands believes these two proposals will advance the committee’s efforts to bolster U.S. recycling rates and help Americans achieve waste-free living.”

According to CBA, the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act will provide investments to enable underserved communities to realize economic and environmental benefits of recycling. CBA says it also could help bolster the nation’s overall recycling rate.

CBA adds that the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act will help to fill “information gaps” elated to recycling and composting, helping businesses spur recycling and composting innovation.

“We need to advance solutions that address the fundamental failures of America’s fragmented recycling systems,” says John Hewitt, vice president of packaging and sustainability at CBA. “Right now, recycling is far too complicated and impractical for many consumers, and the national recycling rate is less than 35 percent. With nearly 10,000 local systems across the country, 71 percent of Americans say having various systems creates confusion and 65 percent of Americans believe recycling rules should be standardized on a national level.

“The Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act are critical steps toward bolstering recycling rates and addressing consumer confusion across the country. Consumer Brands supports congressional consideration of these bills as diligent steps to improve our nation’s recycling infrastructure.”

The American Institute for Packaging and the Environment (Ameripen), St. Paul, Minnesota, also has sent a letter to legislators encouraging them to pass both the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act.

Ameripen says it plans to meet with lawmakers related to these bills before the congressional session ends.

“Ameripen supports HR 8183, which would provide grants for projects to make recycling programs more accessible to rural and disadvantaged communities,” the institute says in a statement on these two bills. “Packaging can be a lifeline to underserved communities for food and other critical products, and this bill will help those communities put in place the infrastructure, education, accessibility and markets for recovering and recycling the packaging materials of today and the future.

“Ameripen also supports HR 8059 that, among other things, would require the EPA to collect, maintain and publish data on recycling and composting rates across the country. This will provide an accurate reflection of recycling and composting performance nationally and at the state level—information that will be critical to improving existing recycling and composting programs and evaluating future recycling policies. Solutions require data, partnerships and communication to build a packaging design, delivery, collection, recycling, reuse system based on what we know works and what does not.

“In July 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed two companion bills, the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act (S 3742) and the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act (S 3743). With passage of the House bills in upcoming legislative work days, the legislation can then be sent to President Biden for signature into law,” Ameripen concludes.