Germany | Worldwide specialist in metal recycling equipment Metso has concluded negotiations with the company's workers council about lay-offs in Metso's metal recycling business. All personnel categories in Metso's unit in D?sseldorf, Germany are affected by the reductions, altogether 115 people.

United Kingdom | Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)processor Environcom has unveiled the 'UK's largest' facility able to process and recycle hundreds of different household appliances an hour.

Product news | Herbold Meckesheim of Germany has introduced a new machine to its HB series which combines a shredder with a granulator. According to the company, the advantages of a single-shaft shredder are well known: it is possible to fill a feed hopper which is then gradually emptied by means of a hydraulically-operated ram without the assistance of operators. But Herbold adds that it has not been possible until now to obtain small granule sizes with such shredders: often a 15 or 20 mm screen has been the lower limit, making necessary the introduction of intermediate conveying and a secondary granulator in order to achieve 4 to 8 mm granule sizes and a satisfactory throughput.

United States | US corporations Nucor and Mitsui have setup a joint venture wherein each would indirectly own a 50% interest in a newly created company named NuMit LLC. NuMit will invest in various steel and steel related activities, both in North America and globally. Coinciding with the formation of NuMit will be its first investment, Steel Technologies LLC, which will own all of the assets, operations and business currently held by US-Japanese Mitsui in Steel Technologies, Inc.

Product news | US-based Harris Waste Management Group has launched a new, more powerful version of its well-proven Piranha closed-end baler. This semi-automatic machine converts a wide variety of recyclable materials into export-size bales and is said to be ideal for use in material recycling facilities (MRFs), distribution centres and smaller processing operations.

BIR | The following article is based on the latest Non-Ferrous World Mirror produced by the BIR world recycling body for the benefit of its members.

Porduct news | Recycling machinery manufacturer Weima Maschinenbau of Germany has launched a worldwide-patented CrossCut blade for all sizes of its single-shaft shredder. The square rotor blades have a saw-tooth-shaped grooved profile around the edges to yield an enhanced ground material quality along with significantly reduced energy consumption and long blade life. The blades can also be used in single-shaft shredders from other manufacturers.

Product news | Felemamg of Spain has extended its range of eddy-current separators with the addition of SFME models with 10, 18 or 32 poles whose eccentric magnetic rotor technology enables aluminium, copper and lead to be removed from a variety of waste streams, such as those in car shredding and electronic scrap operations. The SFME eddy-current separator combines the power and efficiency of Felemamg's 290 mm-diameter SFM-29 concentric rotor with a long service life due to its eccentric rather than concentric shell, explains the Gij?n-based manufacturer.

Product news | SiCon GmbH of Germany has introduced the EcoShred range of shredders for the e-waste recycling market. Designed specifically for small and medium-sized recycling companies, these machines guarantee high efficiency on a very low investment, according to the manufacturer.

United States | US plastic recycler Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, confirms that after two weeks of checks and calibrations, the final approval for startup of AERT's new recycling facility in Watts, Oklahoma was granted by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality on Thursday, February 25, 2010 with the initial run taking place Thursday afternoon.

United Kingdom | Research agency Axion Consulting has recently completed a series of trials of the most promising techniques for difficult WEEE separations and the full report is now available to download from Axion Consulting has completed a series of trials of the most promising techniques for difficult WEEE separations.

United States | Which airlines are taking steps to reduce the vast amount of waste generated each year by the industry? Delta, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest are doing the best job, according to a new report which focuses on US-based airlines.

China / Australia | Chinese plastics recycling company Novarise Renewable Resources International Ltd is seeking to raise up to $ 32 million through a listing on the Australian stock exchange. The company hopes to raise between $ 25 million and $ 32 million from an initial public offer (IPO) of 128 million new shares at 25 cents each. Novarise says in a statement it would use most of the IPO funds to expand its production facilities in Fujian Province, China.

Global | Waste from dilapidated electronics grows globally by about 40 million tons a year with computer waste in India expected to jump by 500% from 2007 levels by 2020, according to a UN Environment Program report released Monday. The report, issued during a meeting on Bali of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions dealing with hazardous electronic waste, saw a sharp increase of the sales of electronic products in developing countries in the next 10 years.

Germany / United Kingdom | The UK subsidiary of German paper producer Papierfabrik Palm, partially takes over the United Kingdom activities of Canadian paper conglomerate Abitibi Bowater. The Cheshire Recycling plant is the recycling business of AbitibiBowater's subsidiary Bridgewater Paper, which had filed for administration February 2. Cheshire Recycling, (formerly named AbitiBowater Recycling Europe) will now continue under the umbrella of Palm Paper Limited, a producer of newsprint paper and corrugated board.

United Kingdom / Italy | Two major recycling equipment manufacturers have joined forces to promote their equipment. Italian manufacturer Ecotecnica S.R.L is now the official agent for the sale of the JMC Recycling Systems Ltd range of shears and balers into the Italian market, and JMC will in turn continue to market Ecotecnica car balers and shear balers in the UK. The companies, based in Nottingham, UK and Monterotondo Scalo, Italy, will also pool their resources to bring new and innovative machinery into the industry.

Italy / Vietnam | Metals production specialist Tenova has been contracted by Pomina and Thep Viet Steel Group to supply a new melt shop unit with a Consteel - EAF. According to the Vietnam steel group this unit, having 120 tonnes tapping size and capable to produce over 1,000,000 tonnes per year of liquid steel, will be the largest steel melt shop in Vietnam for long products. The meltshop will be put in operation at the end of 2011 in Phu My Industrial Zone, 60 Km away from Ho Chi Minh City.

United States | Newly established Green EnviroTech Corp. is planning a business that would serve scrap metal companies involved in processing vehicles. The business would convert auto shredder residue into new auto parts and synthetic fuel. The facility will handle 100,000 tonnes of fluff a year, the company says. The US$26 million plant would be more than 120,000 square feet and could create 90 to 100 jobs, says Jeff Chartier, president of Green EnviroTech.

Europe | Generation of used plastics in Europe amounted to almost 25 million tonnes in 2008, of which 51% was recovered. Against this backdrop, the European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR) trade association has devised a strategy paper entitled 'How to increase plastics recycling'.

United Kingdom / Singapore | The London Metal Exchange confirms it will create LME Asia, opening its first overseas office in Singapore in April this year. The LME has 26 category 1 and 2 members with offices in Singapore and is looking to more closely engage with these members and other market participants to support the use of the Exchange's existing contracts in a range of base metals, steel and plastics, and also to develop new futures contracts and partnerships.