Kristi Hansen is a design engineer with 18 years’ experience in structural fiber and plastics.

The Amherst, New Hampshire-based recyclability testing and design firm, Plastics Forming Enterprises (PFE), has announced that Kristi Hansen has assumed the role of president.  PFE is working with some of the largest brands in the world to achieve packaging circularity goals.  

Established in 1984 by Louis Tacito, PFE has played an instrumental role in helping to develop quality standards for recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at the recycling industry’s earliest stages, as well as consulting on the construction of some of the first plastics recycling facilities.  PFE’s growth over the years has paralleled the maturation of the plastics recycling industry, increasing the range of material testing and consultation services to include the many resins used in rigid and flexible packaging.

Hansen brings the experience and vision that will enable PFE to continue to evolve with the rapidly changing packaging industry, the company says.  As a design engineer with a degree from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston and 18 years of engineering experience in the structural fiber and plastics industries, Hansen brings a great deal of technical knowledge to her new leadership role.  Her professional accomplishments include installing, starting up and training the commercial quality-control laboratories for three food-grade PET recycling facilities and also has assisted Tacito in the full facility design, development and qualification for several major, best-in-class Food and Drug Administration-grade PET plants throughout the world.

“Kristi brings unparalleled experience to the organization, which uniquely qualifies her to oversee and manage the many business functions at PFE,” Tacito, CEO of PFE, says.  “Her roles have allowed her to work closely with the clientele to better understand the recycling community and the challenges that material selection and product design have on the recycle stream quality.”

Among Hansen’s goals for the organization are for PFE to continue to lead in mechanical testing and design consultation but also to support the industry as it moves to address the emerging opportunities in chemical recycling, mitigating ocean plastics and improving the image of plastics. 

“This is an unprecedented and exciting time in the plastics industry,” Hansen says. “PFE has been a force in helping the recycling industry grow and become mainstream in manufacturing. I look forward to leading this organization as it meets the industry’s new challenges in achieving circularity goals.”

The University of Birmingham is starting a rare earth magnet recycling project to find a source of rare earth magnets for Bentley Motors’ electric and hybrid vehicles.

U.K.’s University of Birmingham has announced a three-year research project with London-based Bentley Motors to deliver a sustainable source of rare earth magnets for electric and hybrid vehicles for the luxury car brand. The 2.6 million pound (or about $3.6 million) rare earth recycling for electric machines (RaRE) project is funded by the U.K.’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, the nation’s innovation agency. According to a news release from the university, the project involves six partners who will work together to establish the first end-to-end supply chain of recycled rare earth magnets in the UK.

The university reports that rare earth magnets are found in almost every appliance that uses electricity to generate motion, and in the last 30 years, their use has increased. Although they are increasingly important in the transition to a low-carbon economy, the University of Birmingham reports that fewer than 1 percent of these magnets are recycled.

The project will build on a technology developed by University of Birmingham Professor Allan Walton and Professor Emeritus Rex Harris of the school’s Magnetic Materials Group, a research group focused on processing and recycling permanent rare earth magnetic materials. The technology, called Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS), extracts rare earth metals from scrap electronics by breaking them into a powder that is easily separated from remaining components.

The technology was patented by the University of Birmingham Enterprise and then licensed to HyProMag Ltd., a company that was set up by the school’s researchers. HyProMag has since received investment from Mkango Resources, which will be funding HyProMag’s contribution to the RaRE project, according to the University of Birmingham.

The project will develop a process to recycle magnets extracted from computer hard drives to make rare earth magnets for use in bespoke ancillary motors and will involve HyProMag scaling up the recycling techniques developed at the University of Birmingham. The university says it will also provide cast alloys, which HyProMag will blend with secondary materials in order to produce the “sintered” magnets, which are formed by press moulding the metal powders.

“RaRE is an exciting project and a fantastic opportunity,” says Nick Mann, operations general manager at HyProMag. “HyProMag’s recycling technologies allow us to produce [Neodymium or NdFeB] magnets with a much lower embedded carbon cost than using virgin supply and with independence from Chinese supply and we are working closely with our major shareholder Mkango Resources to further grow the business. We are proud to be working with established, innovative and renowned companies in the RaRE project with whom we can showcase the technologies of the RaRE project as a whole—recycled magnets being used for cutting edge products in a prestige application.”

In addition to the university, Bentley and HyProMag, other partners in the RaRE project include Unipart Powertrain Applications Ltd., which will lead the development of manufacturing scale-up routes to ensure facilities and processes defined are suitable for volume automotive manufacture; Advanced Electric Machines Research Ltd., which is leading on the design and development of the motors; and Intelligent Lifecycle Solutions Ltd., which will preprocess computer hard disk drives to remove rare earth magnet-containing components from the materials, which will be shipped to HyProMag for recycling.

Walker Magnetics has been providing custom and standard magnetic products for 125 years.

Boyne City, Michigan-based Industrial Magnetics Inc. has acquired substantially all of the assets of Walker Magnetics Group Inc., which was founded in 1896 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

According to a news release from Industrial Magnetics, Walker Magnetics is North America’s “oldest industrial magnet manufacturer.” The company was founded upon the invention of the electromagnetic chuck by Oakley S. Walker and has since grown into a provider of custom and standard magnetic products for work-holding, lifting, material handling, scrap magnets and separation applications. Over its 125-year history, Industrial Magnetics reports that a diverse range of industries have come to recognize Walker Magnetics products’ reliability across a broad spectrum of unique and general manufacturing applications.

“The acquisition of Walker Magnetics marks Industrial Magnetics’ next step in expanding our permanent, electromagnetic and electro-permanent magnetic technology and systems for industrial applications,” says Dennis O’Leary, Industrial Magnetics’ chief business development officer. “It also broadens our industry-best roster of lift magnets and establishes Industrial Magnetics as a leader in the work-holding segment with a complete lineup of permanent, electromagnetic and electro-permanent magnetic chucks.

He continues, “With strong brand recognition and highly complementary products, we are excited about the opportunities to grow both businesses while maintaining our industry-best lead time, reliability and quality. Industrial Magnetics intends to be a thoughtful steward to the Walker Magnetics legacy, history and brand with continued investment in its long-term growth.”

Industrial Magnetics was founded in 1961 and provides permanent and electromagnetic solutions.

CEO Jim Fish credits the company’s resiliency in 2020 to its focus on operational execution and efficiency.

Waste Management Inc., Houston, has announced financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020 as well as the full year. The company’s fourth-quarter results continued the positive momentum from the third quarter as organic revenue growth in the collection and disposal business was nearly flat year-over-year and improved 250 basis points sequentially and 890 basis points from the low in the second quarter.

Additionally, the company maintained its focus on cost and capital management. As a result, fourth-quarter adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)) increased 4.1 percent year over year when normalized to exclude the acquisition of Advanced Disposal as well as timing differences in the government approvals of alternative fuel tax credits. This growth was achieved despite macroeconomic challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am extremely proud of how our team worked through the challenges during 2020 to provide reliable, high-quality service and continued to do so as we welcomed new customers and team members following our acquisition of Advanced Disposal,” Waste Management President and CEO Jim Fish says. “Our focus on operational execution and efficiency allowed us to match the highest full-year adjusted operating EBITDA margin we have ever achieved at 28.4 percent. So, in a year where many companies suffered significant financial impacts from the pandemic and resulting economic crisis, Waste Management delivered full-year 2020 results within 1.5 percent of our record-high 2019 adjusted operating EBITDA.

“Complementing our strong financial performance is the recognition that we continue to receive for leading the way to a more sustainable future. Fortune magazine recently named Waste Management to its 2021 World’s Most Admired Companies List, and for the fifth consecutive year, CDP included Waste Management on its ‘A List’ for climate leadership. We remain committed not only to managing waste responsibly but also investing in recycling infrastructure and renewable energy projects and collaborating with our stakeholders to create new, sustainable environmental solutions.”

Free cash flow and capital allocation

Free cash flow and capital allocation

Fish concludes, “In 2020, we quickly and successfully learned to operate our business with a lower cost structure while maintaining our focus on exceptional customer service. We also completed the acquisition of Advanced Disposal and accelerated our customer service digitalization investments, all while matching our highest adjusted operating EBITDA margin and generating strong cash flow. In 2021, we will continue to make investments in technology that transform our business and integrate the Advanced Disposal business, and we are well-positioned to generate strong returns.”

Project Touchdown investigates options for “hard-to-recycle” flexible film packaging using Enval's technology.

Enval has partnered with Kraft Heinz Co. and Sonoco to launch Touchdown, a project that seeks to improve packaging sustainability by accelerating the deployment of new plastic recycling solutions in the United States.

U.K.-based Enval has developed technology to recycle aluminum from plastic-aluminum laminates.  The company recycles flexible packaging using a proprietary pyrolysis solution that produces feedstock that can be used in the production of new plastic.

Enval’s ultimate aim with the project is to establish its first recycling plants in the United States that use its proprietary technology.

According to the company, the first phase of the project will involve Enval assessing the current disposal solutions for materials used by Sonoco and Kraft Heinz during the production and use of flexible plastic packaging. At the end of the first phase, Enval will produce, with input from the other partners, a feasibility study that will include potential locations for future recycling plants that minimizes the financial and environmental costs associated with transporting the packaging for recycling. Enval’s technology is designed to be modular so that the economic viability of the process starts at a "small" scale and with low capex.

Enval says it will continue the project by building these plants, which could initially target the treatment of scrap generated by Sonoco and Kraft Heinz, but with the idea of incorporating postconsumer material in the future. 

Carlos Ludlow-Palafox, CEO of Enval, says, “We’re thrilled to be working with two groups as important in the consumer packaged goods and packaging communities as Kraft Heinz and Sonoco. We’re convinced that it is only via these types of collaborations, which involve players at different stages of the supply chain, that new technologies such as ours can be deployed quicker. We must quickly establish new and better infrastructure to succeed in reducing plastic pollution and decreasing carbon emissions.”

Linda Roman, head of packaging growth and technology at Kraft Heinz, adds, “We see a high-demand for recyclable packaging amongst our consumers, which matches our goal of offering more sustainable products. The company began a relationship with Enval in 2011 to help construct their first commercial-scale plant in the U.K., and we are excited to also explore opportunities to advance packaging recycling with Enval in the United States.”

“While flexible packaging has a low environmental footprint, we recognize that innovation is needed in recycling technologies to improve its end-of-life options,” says Jeff Schuetz, staff vice president – global technology, consumer packaging, at Sonoco. “ Sonoco believes the combination of product and recycling innovation will provide a compelling solution and we are happy to partner with Enval on this exciting project.”