Company’s containerboard capacity to get boost with Virginia mill project.
A three-year strategic update unveiled by Kingsey Falls, Quebec-based Cascades Inc. points to projected growth in the tissue sector from 2022 to 2024 and increased containerboard capacity thanks to its project at the Bear Island mill in Virginia.
The company and its CEO say the update “commits to leveraging the company’s strong asset base and product portfolio to accelerate value creation and improve profitability. The strategy also introduces new financial targets focusing on free cash flow generation and a plan to improve profitability of its tissue group.”
Cascades President and CEO Mario Plourde says, “Our plan aims to generate value for shareholders, accelerate profitability improvement and strengthen our tissue business, all while continuing to prioritize sustainability, which has been at the core of our strategy since we started business."
He continues, “Cascades is an integrated company with strong assets to fuel future profitable growth, and I am confident we have the right team and the right experience to execute on our plan that aims to generate $5 billion of revenue in 2024.”
In packaging, Cascades refers to itself as the sixth-largest containerboard producer in North America, adding that one of its top priorities in that sector involves completing the start-up of the Bear Island mill in the fourth quarter of 2022. The Virginia mill has been planned to have annual production capacity of about 465,000 tons of recycled-content linerboard and corrugated medium.
The ramp-up of that mill, along with “increasing integration with new converting capacity in the United States” and “accelerating the pace of new sustainable product development and commercial launches” has Cascades shooting for combined revenue in its packaging businesses of more than $3.5 billion in 2024.
Cascades says its tissue business “has been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” but that “the tissue market will provide opportunities for growth as the effects of the pandemic subside, and Cascades’ tissue assets are well-positioned to benefit from this recovery.”
The company says it has made significant investments in its tissue operations from 2017 to 2020 and will now be “focusing on production execution and efficiency, particularly in our U.S. operations.” The target, Cascades, says is to achieve revenue of $1.7 billion in 2024.
“Over the last 10 years we have taken a number of important strategic steps to reposition our business and adapt to evolving market dynamics and customer needs,” says Plourde. “I’m proud of the work we have accomplished, and I think that with this renewed vision, we are better equipped than ever to deliver for customers and shareholders.”
California-based Granite Data says its work with Prism Electronics yielded 350,000 pounds of ITAD work last year.
McClellan Park, California-based Granite Data Solutions says its collaboration with another electronics recycling firm allowed the two companies to handle some 350,000 pounds of information technology asset disposition (ITAD) work in 2021.
Granite Data, which refers to itself as a California-certified disabled veteran-owned business, says the two companies have been able to “leverage each other’s core competency to create an efficient green solution for the retirement of their clients’ electronic assets.”
Morgan Hill, California-based Prism Electronics is an R2 (Responsible Recycling), ISO14001 and ISO45001 certified electronics recycling company. Granite Data says throughout 2021, it specialized in client ITAD and life cycle management services for state, local, county and educational clients and worked in collaboration with Prism.
The two companies, by collaborating, “have achieved a secure and environmentally friendly solution for their clients’ retired electronic assets,” Granite Data says in a February news release.
Granite Data says this involved “leveraging an optimized green logistics approach,” with new equipment delivered coordinated with retired equipment loaded for direct delivery to a processing facility or to consolidation at a Granite Data hub for large-volume delivery to Prism.
The Recycling Industry Operating Standard was designed for the recycling industry.
The e-Stewards certification program will now accept the RIOS (Recycling Industry Operating Standard) as an alternative environmental management system (EMS) to the ISO 14001 Standard. RIOS was designed by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Washington, specifically for the recycling industry and more than 150 electronics recyclers worldwide are certified to the standard.
The change has been reflected in the newly published version 4.1 of the “e-Stewards Standard for Ethical and Responsible Reuse, Recycling and Disposition of Electronic Equipment and Information Technology.”
"We are very happy to give our e-Stewards certified electronics recyclers and refurbishers greater flexibility by adding RIOS as a management system option," says Prema George, e-Stewards certification director. "For many, it’s a familiar standard and thus provides a welcome mat for companies looking to add e-Stewards certification."
RIOS will grant e-Stewards certified processors a 50 percent discount off RIOS fees to encourage adoption, according to a news release from e-Stewards.
The weekly service will provide benchmarkable pricing and intelligence on PET bales, rPET flakes and rPET pellets.
London-based Independent Commodity and Intelligence Services (ICIS) has announced an expanded market analysis for the growing recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) market in the United States.
The organization says the new weekly US rPET service will provide benchmarkable pricing and intelligence on PET bales, recycled PET (rPET) flakes and rPET pellets to help buyers and sellers transact with confidence and bring transparency into contract negotiations.
ICIS says demand for recycled plastics is growing, but there is not enough material to supply the market. It says there is no U.S.-wide regulation that mandates the use of recycled content, however, several states, such as California, have mandates in place, further driving demand and the need for information.
The company says this rising demand has intensified price risk and the need for indexation in contracts to a reliable index. Even without indexation, the need for reliable pricing is required for negotiation and planning as the U.S. recycled plastics market has limited transparency and is often not well-understood.
"There is a huge requirement for data in the recycling industry to help companies make effective buying and selling decisions, as well as to bring more transparency to the market," says Helen McGeough, senior analyst and global analyst team lead for plastic recycling at ICIS. "This will allow customers to understand the pricing dynamics for rPET in the US and enable them to make more effective buying and selling decisions. It will also bring more transparency to a very opaque, growing market and one which many players are unaccustomed to navigating."
ICIS says the availability of reliable, up-to-date pricing will benefit the entire plastics value chain. Many fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) organizations have global sustainability targets linked to using recycled plastic. Understanding the pricing dynamics for this market is critical as it will help participants understand how much they should be paying for the material and how changing to recycled plastics may impact their overall costs.
"The pricing service will provide transparency and insight on prices for rPET in the US for those who are already using or maybe exploring increasing their usage of rPET in their portfolio to achieve their sustainability targets around recycled content," McGeough says. "This latest pricing tool complements current tools providing intelligence on rPET in the US, rPET pricing in other regions and our recycling supply trackers."
The company will showcase the DX22MH-5 and the DL320-7 and a new wheel loader guarding package.
Doosan Infracore North America, Suwanee, Georgia, says it will showcase its DL320-7 wheel loader and a DX225MH-5 material handler at the 2022 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Convention & Exposition. The equipment will be displayed in booth A7 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from March 21 to 24.
The company says the Doosan DL320-7 wheel loader is part of the redesigned -7 Series wheel loaders that were first launched in 2021. The DL320-7 has an operating weight of 43,506 pounds and a 7 percent larger capacity bucket than its predecessor. These updates allow an operator to move more material every hour.
Doosan also will display a new wheel loader guarding package, available as a factory-installed option for select wheel loader models. The package is intended to provide additional uptime protection for Doosan wheel loader owners.
“We are excited to be back in person at ISRI 2022 in Las Vegas,” says Aaron Kleingartner, product and dealer marketing manager for Doosan Infracore North America. “This is an important event for the recycling industry, and we are proud to be exhibiting one of our new -7 Series wheel loaders.”
Doosan also will showcase its 162-horsepower DX225MH-5 material handler. The company says the machine is built for rugged work with additional guarding and a straight boom and droop-nose arm specifically designed for material-handling tasks. It has a reach of 35 feet, 5 inches and a loading height of 40 feet. A raised and fixed cab provides operators a better line of sight when loading and unloading material.
“Our customers can activate the material handler’s Smart Power Control feature to enhance machine efficiency while maintaining productivity,” Kleingartner says. “This is achieved through variable speed control and pump torque control, automatically adjusting RPMs to match the operator’s lifting needs.”
Doosan DX225MH-5 material handler customers can pair the machine with a grapple attachment or a magnet and generator set. The latter is an ideal solution for customers who regularly handle ferrous metal. Two-way and rotating auxiliary hydraulics come standard on the machine for optimal use of rotating grapples.