Equipment company deploys several machines to prepare lined landfill site.

Several different types of machinery made by the Windhagen, Germany-based Wirtgen Group are helping to prepare a landfill in Germany that will hold contaminated soils and construction and demolition waste.

Wirtgen says its machinery has processed nearly 53,000 tons of a clay-sand mixture soil as part of the process to build a new 25,000-square meter (270,000-square-foot) extension to an existing landfill.

At the site in the German state of Hesse, a “train” of Wirtgen Group machines, comprising tractor-towed stabilizers, soil compactors, asphalt pavers and John Deere motor graders, are taking part in the project.

The site was split up into 13 separate strips for the construction of the 360 yards by 87 yards landfill liner. A layer of crushed limestone hardcore followed by four layers of clay had to be placed on each of the strips and successively checked for impermeability. Following this, the liner was finished by paving two layers of a specially formulated landfill asphalt mix, according to Wirtgen.

“The core element of the landfill liner is the four layers of clay,” says the company. The material, a mixture of clay and sand, was trucked to the landfill project from an extraction site about 30 miles away. Adds the company, “As the scheduled placement of 1,200 tons of clay-sand mixture per day could only take place in dry weather, the reliability, readiness, quality and performance of the equipment deployed all played a decisive role.”

Comments Michael Huthwelker from Wachenfeld, lead contractor on the project, “We’ve had nothing but positive experience with Wirtgen Group machines for many years. On challenging jobs like this, it’s also a great advantage that we get the machines and the service from the same people,”

After the material was unloaded on the site, it was spread by a dozer and a John Deere 622GP motor grader, which were then followed by a Wirtgen WS 250 tractor-towed stabilizer. Because of the aeration of the clay by the milling and mixing rotor of the WS 250, the ground needed no further improvement by pre-spreading with lime or cement, says Wirtgen Group.

After that step, a Hamm 3414 HT P (padfoot) soil compactor compacted the freshly homogenized clay layer. It enlarged the surface area with its padfoot drum to accelerate the evaporation of the moisture contained in the clay.

The John Deere motor grader then took over and leveled the strip. After an appropriate pause for drying, a Hamm H 13i compactor with a smooth drum compacted the layers. The machine train repeated that sequence of earthworks for each of the four clay layers. In all, the train processed 52,800 tons of the clay-sand mixture.

Another aspect of landfill building projects is the construction of leachate drainage systems to minimize threats to the environment. At the landfill site in Hesse, the leachate drainage system consists of a massive asphalt block. A Vögele SUPER 1800-2 paver with a fixed width Vögele screed placed an asphalt package in six layers with an overall thickness of 14 inches at the center of the extension area. The run-off channel for the leachate was then milled into the asphalt block.

A Vögele SUPER 1800-3i paver with an AB 500 extending screed was also in use on the site for the subsequent paving of several layers of a formulated landfill asphalt mix placed over the clay package.

Thanks to the impermeable liner, says Wirtgen, the landfill is now “ideally equipped for an environmentally friendly future with no leakage of harmful leachate.”

Esken Renewables is new name for scrap wood-to-fuel supplier formerly known as Stobart Energy.

United Kingdom-based Stobart Energy, which converts scrap wood and byproducts to biomass fuel, has changed its name Esken Renewables.

The newly named company says it has long-term contracts in place to supply 1.7 million metric tons of fuel to biomass plants, “generating renewable energy equivalent to the annual domestic electricity needs of 2 percent of the U.K. population.”

“We are delighted to announce that we have changed our company name from Stobart Energy to Esken Renewables,” states the firm in a late April press release. “That new name reflects both our importance to our parent company, Esken, and our focus on supporting the U.K. circular economy by supplying renewable fuel across the country.”

The company says it is taking delivery of its rebranded trucks and trailers. The change of name follows parent company Esken’s decision to sell the Eddie Stobart and Stobart trademarks to Eddie Stobart Logistics for $12.7 million in 2020, according to Esken Renewables.

Comments Richard Jenkins, CEO of Widnes, U.K.-based Esken Renewables, “We will now share the name Esken with our parent company, reflecting our importance to the wider group. The name Esken is taken from an ancient British word that means ‘to ascend, climb and rise.’”

He continues, “We chose ‘Renewables’ because both our present and our future is focused on this important work; supplying renewable fuel to the U.K. Right now, we are the U.K.’s largest supplier of a critical renewable fuel – biomass. In the future, we aim to establish further opportunities to use our expertise and infrastructure to supply other types of renewable fuel.”

Global waste and recycling association will convene in Singapore Sept. 21-23.

The Vienna-based International Solid Waste Association will be holding its 2022 World Congress at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore Sept. 21-23.

ISWA describes the World Congress as “a global meeting [that] includes high-level plenaries, innovative solutions, technical site visits and business to business programs where waste management professionals, government officials, industry leaders, policy makers, scientists and young professionals meet to exchange views and opinions to advance scientific and technical knowledge for sustainable solid waste management.”

The global association’s regional host for the event is the Waste Management & Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS).

Fang Wei Goh, business development and training manager of the WMRAS, says “Don’t Waste Our Future” is the theme of the Singapore event, which she says “is scoped to highlight the importance of human impact to the environment, with targets to promote economic growth, increase efficiency in production and consumption, sustainably managing waste and resources and taking action to support climate change.”

Continues Goh, “In line with ISWA’s mission of promoting sustainable waste management worldwide and transitioning to a circular economy, the congress [serves] to bring together Individuals, organizations and governments worldwide that work toward a sustainable future.”

That, she adds, is “in line with ISWA’s vision where no waste exists and waste should be reused and reduced to a minimum, then collected, recycled, and treated properly.”

More information about the ISWA World Congress in Singapore can be found on this website.

Florida-based firm ranks fourth in a publication’s list of largest family-owned companies in central Florida.

Longwood, Florida-based Waste Pro has been named the fourth largest family-owned company in Central Florida, according to rankings compiled by regional publication the Orlando Business Journal.

John Jennings, board chair of Waste Pro, founded the company in 2001. The company describes him as “the son of an Irish immigrant who worked as a garbage man on Long Island, New York.”

Under John’s leadership, Waste Pro became a growing company, with its revenue expected to reach $900 million in 2022. Waste Pro currently operates in 11 Southeastern states and says it serves more than 2 million customers in that region while employing more than 4,000 people with a fleet of more than 3,000 trucks operating from 80 locations.

John Jennings’ son Sean Jennings followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps. “He grew up in the garbage business and, upon graduating from the University of Alabama, began his career working in collection and landfill disposal in Costa Rica for a year before returning to the United States,” says the company.

Sean continued to work in operations and landfill construction in Georgia and Mississippi before officially joining Waste Pro in 2014 as a division manager in the Tampa/Clearwater, Florida region, and later in Sarasota, Florida. He now serves as president and CEO.

In 2018, the Orlando Business Journal recognized Sean Jennings in its annual “40 Under 40” list.

“I’m proud to be recognized as a strong, family-owned company,” comments Sean Jennings. “We want our team to feel like they are more than just a cog in a machine. We want to recognize and reward our employees who get involved in their communities or practice safe habits – support them in a way that family does.”

The Orlando Business Journal also recognized Waste Pro as the third-largest privately owned company in Central Florida in 2021. That same year, Waste Today listed Waste Pro as the nation’s 12th largest waste hauler.

California sorting technology provider’s system at Des Moines, Iowa, facility includes screens, optical sorters and air drum separator.

CP Group, based in San Diego, has helped equip a new material recovery facility (MRF) commissioned by the Des Moines, Iowa-based Metro Waste Authority (MWA).

The California-based equipment and technology provider says MWA was challenged by an uncertain future after China adopted its National Sword policy banning the import of some scrap materials. The agency chose to develop a new MRF “to provide a sustainable solution” for the Des Moines metro area in response to the challenge.

MWA, which was established in 1969, offers solid waste and recycling services to more than 30 communities and two counties in the Des Moines region consisting of nearly 100,000 households. Its staff began discussions with its board of directors about a new, agency-owned recycling facility in 2018, as the disruptive aspects of National Sword were becoming clear.

“Metro Waste Authority has a strong history of solving industry problems with innovative solutions and, when it became difficult for our third-party processor to recycle the materials our Curb It! recycling program brought in, we dug deeper to create market partnerships and find a way to keep those materials out of the landfill,” says Michael McCoy, MWA executive director. “We knew that if we wanted to provide a sustainable future for recycling in the metro going forward, it would require a change in course for the processing and sale of material.”

After a feasibility study supported a new, technologically updated facility for the region, MWA’s board of directors decided to move forward with building a MRF owned and operated by the agency.

To create a successful program, MWA strived to emphasize advanced technology, strong partnerships and outstanding education as it developed the new facility.

The agency sought a partner to engineer, manufacture and install processing equipment in the new facility. After requesting proposed solutions from sorting system technology firms, MWA’s board selected CP Group. “CP Group understood our vision for an enhanced sorting system—one that would capture more material, reduce contamination and provide safe, pleasant working conditions for staff,” McCoy says. 

CP Group developed a system designed to improve purity on recovered commodities, be low maintenance and protect workers.

At the front end of the system, a Primary Auger Screen and OCC Auger Screen work together after the infeed conveyor to fractionate material prior to being handled by manual sorters, “eliminating the presort and creating a safer environment,” CP Group says.

The Primary Auger Screen creates a 6-inch-minus fraction that sends overs to the patented OCC Auger Screen and unders to the CP Glass Breaker (which removes glass and fines) and then to the CPScreen that has new anti-wrapping discs to separate two-dimensional from three-dimensional material. MWA is the first in the world to incorporate the OCC Auger Screen into a single-stream sorting application, according to CP Group.

The patented OCC Auger Screen has steel cantilevered augers generating high agitation to create an OCC-rich stream while fractionating out smaller materials. “This machine does not wrap or jam and requires very little maintenance,” CP Group says.

The 8-inch cut sends unders, instead of going to instead of a traditional paper screen, to a Fibermax optical sorter made by CP subsidiary company MSS. The MSS Fibermax sorts out contaminants, while overs go to the OCC quality control area, where large rigids, metals and residue are pulled out.

Additionally, a CP LightsOut Air Drum Separator cleans the glass, and two MSS Plasticmax units sort containers.

Also installed in Des Moines are CP’s new auger silos, designed to maximize silo storage volumes. The augers act as a material metering system that eliminates half- and quarter-sized bales by emptying the correct amount of material to be baled.

“This advanced equipment package from CP Group reduces contamination early in the sorting process, allowing us to produce the best output for material sales and supporting the strong partnerships we’ve cultivated with brokers and end-market users,” McCoy says.

In addition to establishing a state-of-the-art recycling operation, the new recycling facility also builds upon MWA’s commitment to education by including space dedicated to learning. The space features a permanent exhibit that includes educational kiosks, interactive infographics and a hands-on sorting station for visitors of all ages to learn about accepted recyclables and the recycling process. The center also boasts an observation deck above the sorting floor, a mural designed by a local artist and multipurpose space intended for community talks, presentations and other meetings.

“The facility is the result of collaboration and a shared philosophy by the cities and county, and it will improve recycling and benefit communities throughout the state for years to come,” McCoy says. “Just like when our agency was formed to create a regional approach with one landfill, we are excited to have this same opportunity with recycling.”

MWA officially began operations at the MRF in late 2021. The new 101,100-square-foot single-stream facility processes material at 25 tons per hour and has room to grow as the region’s needs for enhanced recycling processing evolve.

“Metro Waste Authority has a MRF to be proud of, and we are happy to be their partner in bringing the latest innovations in recycling technology to the region,” says Terry Schneider, president and CEO of CP Group. “This facility will serve the greater Des Moines metro area with sustainable solutions for many years to come.”