Global recycling firm grows earnings per share by more than 100 percent, says new fiscal year has started with “soft economic conditions.”
Australia-based Sims Ltd. says in its 2022 fiscal year, which ended June 30, the company saw its sales revenue rise by more than 56 percent compared with the previous year while its underlying earnings per share (EPS) rose by 104.5 percent.
“Fiscal year 2022 was a very strong year,” CEO and Managing Director Alistair Field says. “I am proud that we delivered the strongest underlying EBIT [earnings before interest and taxes] result on record and significant trading margin and volume increases and significant trading margin and volume increases.”
He continues, “We made significant progress on our business strategy: successfully completed several strategic acquisitions, continued to deploy enhancement technologies in ferrous and nonferrous and opened new feeder yards in the metal business. In Sims Lifecycle Services (SLS), we launched new service offerings and invested in engineering and technology to continue driving innovation and build capacity to scale up operations quickly when the supply chain challenges ease.”
In a news release announcing its earnings, Sims executives point to what they call “improved safety metrics” and “strong progress” toward sustainability goals in the recently completed fiscal year.
On the operations side, the company points to its acquisitions of Pennsylvania-based Alumisource and Maryland-based Atlantic Recycling Group as new volume contributors going forward. In Australia, Sims is undertaking a deep-water port facility project in Brisbane it says will include “best-in-class design for shredder processing.”
In the U.S., Sims also points to its partnership with California-based SA Recycling as contributing to “record EBIT growth with significant trading margin expansion and sales volume growth.” Referring to shredded metal markets, the company adds, “Margins were further enhanced by higher zorba selling prices.” It also points to SA Recycling’s acquisition activity, saying it has “continued to create value through successful M&A integration.”
In its SLS business unit, the company says a recent global market share study showed SLS is now at 3.2 percent market share, more than doubling from its 1.5 percent status in 2019.
Looking at fiscal year 2023, now underway, Sims Ltd. says in its presentation, “Softer economic conditions have impacted our markets in the short term.” The company adds, “We remain very confident in the medium and long-term fundamentals of the business.”
In the ferrous market, Sims writes, “Ferrous prices peaked at around US$700 per metric ton in March 2022, but have subsequently fallen to trade between US$320 to US$400 per metric ton at the start of fiscal year 2023.”
Regarding the next 12 months, the company's executives conclude, “Fiscal year 2023 results will depend on how quickly and to what magnitude, global markets recover from the interest rate hike-induced slowdown.”
Rajan Kish, the company's chief administrative officer since 2019, will succeed Ronald J. Proto as CEO at the end of 2022.
The Board of Directors of Mt. Diablo Resource Recovery, a Garaventa family company, has announced that Kish Rajan will succeed Ronald J. Proto as CEO at the end of 2022.
Kish has served as the Concord, California-based company’s chief administrative officer since 2019. Prior to that, his career spanned several roles in business and government, including service as director of Gov. Jerry Brown’s office of Business and Economic Development, a term on the Walnut Creek City Council and over a decade in mobile technology business development.
“Ron has been a terrific CEO,” says Silvio Garaventa Jr., vice chairman of Mt. Diablo Resource Recovery’s board of directors. “We appreciate his commitment to our company and our family. He will continue as a consultant after his CEO term ends on December 31, 2022 … Kish’s proven success in business, technology and state policy makes him an excellent choice to continue MDRR’s leadership in our industry. We are very excited about the future. Kish’s term as CEO will begin January 1, 2023.”
With a focus on forward-thinking and innovation, Mt. Diablo Resource Recovery has been among the companies leading the march toward meeting California’s waste reduction, sustainability and climate goals.
“I am proud to lead MDRR and all that it stands for,” Proto says. “We continue to build upon our very strong foundation, and I look forward to continuing to work with Kish as the company strives for even greater success ahead.”
Mt. Diablo Resource Recovery has been a family-owned and operated company since the 1930s. Deeply rooted in the community, the Garaventa family understands the importance of thought leadership and forward-thinking.
Louisa Garaventa Binswanger, a board of directors member, says both Proto and Rajan share the board’s values.
“The Garaventa family first and foremost cares about the communities and people we serve,” she says. “Ron continued this tradition as our CEO during the past four years. I would personally wish to recognize his exemplary leadership. We are prepared for an orderly transition as Kish has demonstrated his commitment to the communities we serve and his ability to lead our family business in the future years.”
July report indicates inventory levels up 2 percent compared with last month.
The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Washington, has released its July 2022 printing-writing paper monthly report which reveals total printing-writing paper shipments decreased 1 percent in July compared with the same month last year.
However, both U.S. purchases of total printing-writing papers and total printing-writing paper inventory levels increased. U.S. purchases are up 3 percent compared with July 2021 while total inventory levels are up 2 percent compared with last month. According to the June 2022 printing-writing paper report, both U.S. purchases and total inventory levels had decreased when compared with June 2021 and May 2022 numbers, respectively.
The label manufacturer says its technology enables rigid plastic recycling across its film portfolio.
Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials, headquartered in Mentor, Ohio, says it has removed a key obstacle to plastic recycling with the introduction of next-generation AD CleanFlake technology, extending the benefits of its CleanFlake technology to high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles. With the AD CleanFlake Portfolio, Avery Dennison says it is enabling rigid plastic recycling across its film portfolio, providing brands and converters solutions that support recycling processes without compromising performance to meet sustainability goals.
AD CleanFlake technology is recognized by the Association of Plastic Recyclers, European PET Bottle Platform and Recyclass for enabling recycling by working with the rigid plastic recycling processes to either remove cleanly in the case of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, or to stay with the package in the case of high-density polyethylene, or HDPE. The AD CleanFlake Portfolio creates the potential to divert more than 200 billion rigid plastic bottles and containers from landfills.
“This is an important step forward in using innovation to advance the circular packaging economy without compromising performance,” says Pascale Wautelet, vice president of Global R&D, Avery Dennison Label and Graphic Materials. “Brands are actively seeking solutions to help them advance their sustainability initiatives, and our AD CleanFlake Portfolio significantly expands the applications for this groundbreaking technology.”
The AD CleanFlake technology also delivers adhesion, clarity and conversion performance, according to the company. For converters, the adhesive features water whitening and bleeding resistance. Brands benefit from print quality that supports bold designs and contributes to shelf appeal.
AD CleanFlake will be available in Europe in September and North America by the end of the year.
VTT research center says its Olefy technology converts mixed plastics into “usable virgin-grade materials an infinite number of times.”
The Espoo, Finland-based VTT Technical Research Centre says, after four decades of thermal conversion technology development, it is ready to commercialize a process it says “can affordably convert most of the world’s waste plastics back to usable virgin grade materials an infinite number of times.”
VTT says it will begin introducing its Olefy technology in October and that it has submitted eight patent applications for the process.
Its plans include the creation of a new company called Olefy Technologies that will put into place the new technology VTT says “can extract over 70 percent virgin grade plastics and chemical raw materials components from plastic waste.”
VTT says, “The new process can be done in a single step, majorly reducing the cost of plastic recycling and making recycling a preferred option for massive amounts of landfill-bound plastic waste that current methods are unable to process.”
The research center cites limitations of mechanical recycling, including that some recycled plastic “cannot be used in food packaging and pharma applications.”
VTT continues, “The opportunity to get virgin quality plastic from previously unusable plastic waste means that with Olefy it is economically viable to recycle most of the world’s plastics with minimal sorting by consumers and businesses.”
VTT CEO Antti Vasara says,“Olefy is a quantum leap in recycling that will change the way the world views plastic by making it truly circular and guiding us towards carbon neutrality even faster.”
A VTT researcher says an advantage of the Olefy process is that it enables plastic to be recycled an infinite number of times.
“One of the problems with current recycling methods is that the quality degrades every time plastic is recycled,” says Matti Nieminen, head of technology at Olefy. “After several rounds of mechanical recycling, the quality becomes too poor, and the plastic is no longer usable and goes to a landfill. With the Olefy recycling process, the quality of the plastic is equal to virgin grade, so it can be recycled indefinitely, and materials no longer need to end up in landfills. In essence, Olefy will make it possible for plastic to be a true part of the circular economy.”
Olefy’s new technology also reduces the need for naphtha feedstock and can produce its own energy to carry out the recycling process.
“The economic benefits of having virgin grade components from recycled materials can completely change the dynamic of global oil consumption,” Nieminen says. “Olefy will significantly reduce the need to use new oil for making plastic and maybe even create a new economic incentive to clean up plastic from land and water as it becomes a valued commodity.”
Noting that “demand for sustainable and recycled plastics is higher than ever,” VTT says that “essentially, with the Olefy process, it takes the same amount of ethylene or propylene-based waste plastic as higher-cost naphtha feedstock to produce a ton of virgin grade plastic material.”
At the same time, the process itself lowers the cost of production of recycled plastic so significantly that it can lower the bar for global companies to use it as a higher percentage of recycled material in their products and packaging, contend the researchers.
“Demand for recycled plastics is growing much faster than the supply,” says Timo Sokka, head of business at Olefy. “All major brand owners are committed to fighting climate change, and they are responding to consumers’ growing concerns on waste accumulation by utilizing recycled materials in their products. Olefy responds perfectly to these challenges by making plastics recycling truly feasible on an industrial scale.”
About 500 industrial steam cracker operations are located around the world. A steam cracker is a petrochemical plant that breaks down light hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane, and light naphtha, to produce ethylene. Olefy’s new technologies economically open up a new world and value for plastic scrap for these facilities, say the researchers.
“This technology enables direct parallel integration of the Olefy modules into existing steam cracker sites around the world to effectively produce virgin grade olefins, which are converted back to virgin grade plastics, significantly lower capital expenditure requirements, accelerating market demand, and price premiums make these investments also very attractive for the steam cracker operators,” Sokka says.
A working Olefy pilot is running at the VTT Bioruukki Pilot Centre in Espoo, Finland. The newly established Olefy Technologies company is currently discussing partnerships and negotiating with investors for scaling, business development and licensing of the technology. The first industrial demonstration operation is expected to be operational by 2026, VTT says.
The Olefy process is based on gasification, and the process is tolerant to contaminants in the feed. “This means easier pretreatment of the feed before the Olefy processing,” according to VTT.