Automated sorting and upgrading of materials have a decades-long heritage at Crystal Lake, Illinois-based General Kinematics (GK). Founded in the 1960s to provide automated ore and minerals sorting solutions to the mining industry, it didn’t take long before recyclers began turning to GK with their sorting challenges. By 1965, GK’s research and development (R&D) department was helping some of the earliest auto shredding plant operators devise equipment to control, separate and upgrade shredded metal. Today, recyclers worldwide have “access to the entire GK engineering team to develop solutions for specific processes,” says GK Director of Resource Recovery Dick Reeves. That team includes six technical directors with advanced engineering degrees, several dedicated R&D lab technicians and other experienced staff, as well as offices and representatives around the globe.
Its employees’ experience and institutional knowledge are valuable industry resources. GK designs, manufactures and helps install vibratory metering, feeding and automated separating solutions for scrap metal recyclers, construction and demolition (C&D) materials recyclers, material recovery facilities (MRFs) and consumers and recyclers of many other materials.
By focusing on major issues and listening to customers’ processing challenges, team GK applies its broad knowledge base and problem-solving abilities to help recyclers of all materials anywhere in the world.
Trailers equipped with WALKING FLOOR® technology from Keith Manufacturing Co. have helped a Florida hauling firm expand into new sectors.
Business owners and managers have no shortage of concerns when considering whether to pursue new opportunities. In the solid waste and recycling sector, those considerations almost always include the cost and safe utilization of labor.
At Winter Garden, Florida-based C&W Global, many of the labor-related concerns the company had about expanding its municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) materials business have been addressed by the purchase of trailers with WALKING FLOOR® technology from Keith Manufacturing Co.
In terms of many of the discarded materials it now handles, C&W Global Vice President Kevin Creeden says, “We simply didn’t haul it before we purchased the WALKING FLOOR® trailers.”
C&W’s fleet consists of 55 WALKING FLOOR® trailers that carry loads ranging from MSW and C&D materials to mulch, potting soil and wood products.” – Kevin Creeden, C&W Global Vice President
For C&W, owning the trailers—equipped with moving (reciprocating) floor slats that load and unload materials from truck trailers without the need for hands-on labor—means, “We are able to haul larger volumes and it gives us more choices for backhaul options,” says Creeden.
The Florida company’s commitment to trailers with Keith WALKING FLOOR® systems has been a major one. Creeden says as of early 2018, C&W’s fleet consists of 55 such trailers that carry loads ranging from MSW and C&D materials to mulch, potting soil and wood products.
Creeden is convinced the WALKING FLOOR® trailers are an upgrade in terms of safety compared to dump trailers, and he says working with the staff at Keith Manufacturing has been a positive experience. “Our Keith representative comes by at least once each quarter to check on things, and also is available by phone if needed,” he comments.
The safety and automation aspects of Keith WALKING FLOOR® systems will likely only grow in importance in the future, as hauling firms face increased regulatory scrutiny regarding safety and an increasingly tight labor market.
More information on made-in-the-U.S.A. Keith WALKING FLOOR® systems, including the many applications in which Keith’s 60,000 units can be found globally, can be obtained by visiting keithwalkingfloor.com or by calling (800) 547-6161.
Overall construction input prices declined 0.1 percent in December, yet despite the lack of inflation for the month, prices are up 5 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Washington. Nonresidential construction materials prices also declined 0.1 percent for the month and are up 4.8 percent from the same time one year ago.
Energy prices have been more volatile lately, ABC says. Natural gas prices increased 13.7 percent from November but are 6.3 percent lower on a year-over-year basis. Crude petroleum prices rose 16.4 percent between December 2016 and December 2017.
“Given stronger global and domestic economic growth, elevated liquidity in international financial markets, burgeoning trade disputes and efforts by certain energy producers to limit supply growth even as prices rise, one would have expected a sharper increase in construction materials prices in December,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu says. “The fact that inflation remains contained should be viewed by most contractors as very good news. Not only are many contractors vulnerable to sudden increases in certain materials prices, but faster inflation can trigger higher interest rates, which ultimately reduce the demand for construction services.
“Though the overall producer price index (PPI) indicates low December inflation, a number of materials prices increased, including iron and steel and the category that includes prepared asphalt,” he adds. “Softwood lumber prices, by contrast, fell. Despite December’s reprieve from rising inflationary pressures, many economists expect inflation to become more apparent as 2018 proceeds. Recently enacted federal tax cuts stand to supercharge the economy, which should translate into more construction starts later this year and into 2019.”
The Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA), Milwaukee, announced two new inductees to its C&D Hall of Fame in a Jan. 23 news release. The association also announced who would take home its C&D Recycler of the Year and CDRA Member of the Year awards for 2018, which were presented at C&D World 2018 Feb. 10-13 in Nashville.
C&D Hall of Fame
The C&D Hall of Fame honors prominent leaders and pioneers in the construction and demolition (C&D) recycling industry who have made an extraordinary contribution and have earned the respect of the industry, according to the CDRA.
The following are the two new inductees to the C&D Hall of Fame:
Leonard Cherry—Cherry is president of the Houston-based Cherry Cos., a recycling and demolition firm that has 13 concrete recycling and stabilized materials sites. The company also processes asphalt shingles and tires. Cherry served on the board of the CDRA and is active in his local community.
Ken Hoving—Hoving was president of K. Hoving Cos. in West Chicago, Illinois, until its purchase by Lakeshore Recycling Systems, Morton Grove, Illinois, where he stayed on as an executive until his recent retirement. A long-time member of the Chicago waste industry, Hoving built up the C&D recycling operation until it was the most modern one in the Chicago area, according to CDRA. He served on the CDRA board, including as member at large on the executive committee.
“Both of these gentlemen exemplify the best in the C&D recycling industry,” CDRA President Troy Lautenbach says. “Their service and innovation in the industry, as well as their work for the association and their communities, makes them deserving of this honor.”
C&D Recycler of the Year
The Operator of the Year award is meant to honor those recycling operations in the (C&D) recycling industry who have made what the CDRA considers an extraordinary contribution to the industry through one or more of the following criteria:
advancing business operations that result in increased recycling percentages;
developing novel methods of marketing and conducting business;
fostering innovative practices in employer-employee relations;
ensuring safer operations;
protecting the environment; and
developing industry standards.
Recon Services, a recycling company in Austin, Texas, won this award. The Recon Services facility provides concrete, mixed C&D, metals and shingle recycling, as well as roll-off service.
Austin is a progressive city expecting the best in all types of recycling, and Recon is the only true full-service recycler in town, the CDRA says. Owner Walter Biel is open to innovation and installed robotic sorting equipment on a C&D operation in North America.
CDRA Member of the Year
The Member of the Year award is selected based on what the CDRA considers extraordinary service to the mission of the organization and the C&D recycling industry during the previous 12-month period.
John Schumacher, senior vice president at the Schaumburg, Illinois-based Assurance Agency, was recognized for the work he did in creating the Safety Awards program for the CDRA, which were handed out at C&D World 2018.
The Ohio Controlling Board approved an additional $3.25 million to help clean up a former East Cleveland, Ohio, construction and demolition (C&D) recycling site turned illegal dumping ground, Cleveland.com reports.
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The 6-acre dump site was purchased by Arco recycling in 2015 from the city of East Cleveland. The site was to be used to recycle C&D debris, such as concrete, wood and metal. However, residents began to issue complaints starting in 2016, claiming that illegal debris in the dump was causing health issues for neighboring citizens.
Subsequent inspections of the site found debris piled four stories high and little of the on-site materials showed signs of being recycled. Later tests showed the presence of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas.
In January 2017, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered the facility to be closed because toxic contamination was present. In October 2017, the site caught fire, possibly from material decomposition resulting in a hot spot.
The Ohio EPA has already issued $6 million to clean up the contamination. Cleanup began in July 2017 and is expected to finish in the next couple of months. The cleanup project is being expedited to help prevent another fire, the report says.
A lien has been placed on the site.
Contractors urge Trump administration to eliminate government-mandated PLAs
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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Washington, and a coalition of construction and business associations sent President Trump a letter urging him to eliminate government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal and federally assisted projects. The letter was an effort to allow all qualified contractors and Americans to fairly compete to build and work on these taxpayer-funded projects, ABC says.
In the letter, the coalition calls for “regulatory reform to create a level playing field in the procurement of government construction contracts, increase competition, help small businesses grow, curb construction costs and spread the job-creating benefits of federally funded contracts throughout the entire construction industry.”
The letter also states the construction industry is facing a skilled labor shortage of almost 500,000 people.
According to Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, eliminating government-mandated PLAs would help companies, U.S. citizens and the economy at large.
“If the Trump administration creates an inclusive policy so all Americans and all qualified companies can make America’s infrastructure great again, it would be a win-win for taxpayers and the U.S. economy,” Brubeck says.
ABC and the coalition have repeatedly petitioned President Trump to rescind President Obama’s Executive Order 13502, which encourages federal agencies to require PLAs on federal contracts to build projects of $25 million or more on a case-by-case basis and replace it with Executive Orders 13202 and 13208, which prohibit PLAs from being required on federal and federally assisted construction projects.
In 2017, ABC members won $3.6 billion of federal contracts worth more than $25 million.
Twenty-four states passed measures restricting government-mandated PLAs, which are designed to ensure fair and open competition on public works projects.
