U.K. produce grower says equipment from Germany-based Börger has upgraded its homemade anaerobic digestion system.
Guy & Wright, a United Kingdom-based tomato producer established in 1928, says it has twice built its own anaerobic digestion (AD) plants to handle its agricultural discards, and it credits Germany-based Börger GmbH for supplying vital equipment.
Guy & Wright built its first digester 15 years ago on its 100-acre site in Hertfordshire, England. Börger says John Jones, great grandson of one of the founders, “could be forgiven for wondering what on Earth he’d taken on.” In addition to producing hundreds of tons of tomatoes each year, he was now “getting to grips with that very steep biogas learning curve of feedstocks, temperatures and digestates.”
Currently, Guy & Wright operates its second, upgraded AD plant, which can handle 7,000 cubic meters (9,155 cubic yards) of material and can create “enough excess power to sell [to] the equivalent of 1,500 homes,” according to Börger.
In 2008, the U.K. company acquired a Börger Multi-crusher to reduce feedstock particles down to 8 millimeters (0.3 inches) in size to enhance the AD process.
John Jones’ son, Rob, who now runs the biogas operation, also saw around that time that tomato leaves were not only extremely difficult to break down, but also low in calorific value.
Thus, the firm now acquires from local sources materials such as citrus fruits, potatoes, grain and cocoa powder—plus processed dissolved air flotation (DAF) sludge from an ice cream manufacturer. That last material provides liquid to help create a “milkshake’ consistency to assist digester performance.
“The Börger Multi-crusher certainly proves itself as a very durable and effective piece of kit for the demands of an AD plant,” Rob Jones says. “We keep one Multi-crusher as a spare so that in any eventuality, we can keep operating – with two always on the go, plus an additional unit now on order. They work very well for us.”
The Multi-crusher chops coarse material to help ensure downstream machines and pumps operate smoothly. The Multi-crusher homogenizes materials at throughput volumes of up to 320 cubic meters per hour (1,400 gallons per hour). In addition to food waste, it can handle fiber materials, pieces of wood, plastics, membranes and textiles in other applications, according to Börger.
A covered lagoon at Guy & Wright produces enough gas to run two of three combined heat and power (CHP) engines and provides retention times of up to six months. This compares with other biogas plants that may only have 30 days of retention, says Guy & Wright.
Guy & Wright bought its second Börger Multi-crusher when it began taking in liquid animal byproducts, for which they also needed a Börger pump. Using the byproduct (via a new pasteurizer) has enhanced biogas yields by having a feedstock with a high calorific value and also less digestate to deal with, says the tomato grower.
Two biomass boilers are also now in the fleet of machinery, providing additional heat to a plant nursery during winter. Guy & Wright says it has become one of the first companies in the biogas industry to take exhaust gas from a CHP and convert it into CO2 for its greenhouses.
Guy & Wright turned to Börger again to address the dwindling capacity of the plant’s open lagoon, purchasing a Börger Bioselect Separator.
In that device, which uses “a purely mechanical process,” according to Börger, liquid is separated from solids in the medium, so nutrient-rich organic matter can go back to the land as fertilizer.
“We no longer lose capacity in our lagoon,” the Johnson family says. “This is due totally to the Börger Separator, which protects it; [it] works an absolute treat.”
The company will convert plastic medical waste, including Jamar’s Patran slide sheets, into circular and sustainable products.
Brightmark, a global waste solutions provider based in San Fransisco, and Jamar Health Products, a Wisconsin-based health care product manufacturer, have announced a strategic partnership to recycle plastic medical waste.
Brightmark says it provides a sustainable and circular solution for chemically recycling and converting Jamar’s proprietary Patran slide sheets, made of low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene, into low-carbon fuels and the building blocks for circular plastics.
Brightmark's process uses a form of pyrolysis. Incoming plastics are shredded, dried and pelletized. The resulting pellets are placed in heated stainless steel vessels, known as plastic conversion units (PCUs). The vapor produced in the heating process is captured and cooled, creating fuels and the building blocks for future plastic products.
Jamar says it created Patran slide sheets for lateral transfer 40 years ago. Starting with the original disposable slide sheet, the company sells a variety of sizes and styles of single-patient, multiple-use slide sheets for safe patient-handling and mobility (SPHM) tasks, including boosting patients in bed when they start to slump down. As health care facilities nationwide started using Patran slide sheets, caregivers, including nurses, physical and occupational therapists and SPHM coordinators, started getting creative and found more than 25 ways to use Patran slide sheets for SPHM tasks by hospitals, surgery centers, long-term care facilities, EMS and other health care operations, the company says.
“The global health care plastic market produces over 14.5 billion pounds of plastics a year,” says Bob Powell, CEO of Brightmark. “Health care is a market that will likely continue to grow over 5 percent per year. We’re with Jamar to help reuse and solve the plastics that come out of their slide sheets.”
Lee's Trash brings to LRS more than 25,000 subscription and municipal residential customers, large commercial and construction roll-off lines of business to LRS.
LRS, an independent waste diversion, recycling and portable services providers based in Rosemont, Illinois, has announced an expansion of its LRS South territory with the acquisition of Lee's Trash Service, Atkins, Arkansas. The Arkansas River Valley business provides residential and commercial waste disposal and roll-off container services.
According to a news release from LRS, advisory and legal services were provided by Capstone Partners and Much Shelist, respectively. The acquisition is effective immediately.
LRS says the acquisition adds density to its Arkansas River Valley footprint, including more than 25,000 subscription and municipal residential customers and commercial disposal customers. It also offers a roll-off presence in commercial and construction markets and a transfer station to support continued regional expansion.
According to a news release from LRS, Lee's Trash Service was founded in 1993 and transformed from one collection route to one of the premier waste service providers in the Arkansas River Valley. LRS says for more than 30 years, founder Tony Lee has scaled his business with an entrepreneurial spirit rooted in family values and customer service excellence. Lee will remain with LRS in a senior operations role as the company grows its regional presence.
LRS entered Arkansas with the Nov. 2021 acquisitions of Orion Waste Solutions territories in Bethel Heights and Harrison in northwest Arkansas, and Waste Recycling Solutions' RAMCO vertically integrated waste and recycling business in Little Rock, Arkansas, which included a construction and demolition landfill located in Mayflower, Arkansas.
"We are thrilled to see our presence across the south-central states take shape and densifying in Arkansas, where the demand for responsible waste diversion and recycling remains strong," says Rusty Janssen, who joined LRS as part of the Ramco acquisition and now serves as senior vice president for LRS South. "As we grow and expand, LRS will be working to invest in recycling and waste diversion infrastructure to fulfill residential and commercial demand, and we remain on track to change the face of trash in Arkansas."
The acquisition of Lee's Trash Service is LRS' 10th to date in 2022. In 2021, the company amassed 22 acquisitions to complement its organic revenue growth across the nation's midsection.
Sharps is a provider of medical waste solutions, including both mail-back and route-based collection services.
Aurora Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm based in Los Angelos, announced it has completed its acquisition of Sharps Compliance Corp., a full-service national provider of waste management solutions including medical, pharmaceutical and hazardous waste based in Houston.
"We are excited to add Sharps' industry-leading solutions to our medical waste platform," says Andrew Wilson, a partner at Aurora. "In addition to creating the industry's leading mail-back solution and growing route-based service, the company's management team was early to identify the need for reliable, controlled disposal of unused medication, establishing Sharps as a pioneer in the sector. We look forward to partnering with the team to capitalize on our platform and selectively pursue add-on acquisitions."
Founded in 1992, Sharps is a provider of medical waste solutions, including both mail-back and route-based collection services. Aurora says the company's management team has overseen consistent growth over multiple decades, driven by repeat business and a long-term focus on exceptional customer service. Additionally, Sharps developed and manages a proprietary nationwide solution for handling unused medication, which has significantly expanded its customer base and reach in the past several years.
"Aurora has a proven history of partnering with industry leaders to accelerate growth across business lines and we are honored to work with them moving forward," says Pat Mulloy, CEO of Sharps. "I am confident that their understanding of the medical waste services market, combined with their alignment with our customer-first approach, will allow us to build on our recent growth, expand our customer base and further enhance our innovative solutions offerings."
As previously announced on Aug. 22, 16,830,657 shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn from Aurora's tender offer, representing about 82 percent of the number of shares that were issued and outstanding as of the expiration date on a fully diluted basis. As a result of the completion of the merger, Sharps has stopped trading on the NASDAQ, effective Aug. 22, and has become a privately held company.
The transaction marks the fifth Aurora investment specifically within the medical waste management space and follows several recent Aurora investments within the broader business services sector.
Stifel served as exclusive financial adviser and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal advisor to Aurora. Raymond James & Associates Inc. acted as financial adviser and Norton Rose Fulbright U.S. LLP acted as legal advisor to Sharps. Antares arranged the debt financing for the transaction.
Casella and Recology are among the MRF operators the company will supply with new systems.
Plessisville, Quebec-based Machinex says it has completed a record-setting second quarter that involved contracting with a number of companies to deliver turnkey systems in 2023 for their material recovery facilities (MRFs) that integrate high-technology equipment.
Machinex says the projects share an emphasis on innovation and technology, prioritizing interconnectivity, artificial intelligence and high-tech equipment to optimize MRF operations.
The company says it will provide at least seven Mach Hyspec optical sorters to the 50-ton-per-hour Recology MRF in Santa Rosa, California, to help meet the MRF operator’s objectives for significant additional capacity and increased automation within the footprint of its existing facility.
“This project provides a lot of opportunity for us to increase the capacity and efficiency of our facility while simultaneously improving the quality of our products and increasing the diversion of the recyclable material we receive at the Recology Sonoma Marin MRF,” says Sal Coniglio, CEO of Recology. “It also allows us to further reduce our emissions—a huge focus and point of pride for our company.
“By partnering with the trusted experts at Machinex and investing in this cutting-edge technology, we’re taking a giant step towards achieving our resource recovery goals and delivering on our vision of a world without waste,” he adds.
Machinex says its longtime partner Casella Waste Systems, headquartered in Rutland, Vermont, selected the company for projects in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and Willimantic, Connecticut, that involve new MRFs.
“Working with Casella over the years has always been a pleasure,” Chris Haws, CEO of Machinex Technologies Inc., the company’s U.S. subsidiary, says. “The system components have been proven within past retrofits, and the collaborative knowledge of both the Casella and Machinex teams will bring to life systems that we are both proud to say we designed. With experienced operators, we pride ourselves in designing the system with the customer as opposed to for the customer,” he adds.
Machinex says it also will deliver a new single-stream MRF to another longtime client in western Canada. This project has a processing capacity of 27 metric tons per hour and integrates five Mach Hyspec optical sorters and a SamurAI sorting robot. The company says this MRF operator continually has invested in its MRFs to ensure highly automated, flexible systems.
“We strive to provide industry-leading customer experience from the start of the sales process through project management, installation, startup and, last but certainly not least, our after-sales support,” Hawn says. “I feel it is a testament not only to our equipment but more importantly to our entire project team that we have such great customer retainment.”
Machinex also was selected by another repeat customer, Rumpke Waste & Recycling, headquartered in Cincinnati, to deliver a new 56-ton-per-hour residential single-stream in Columbus, Ohio. The new MRF, one of the largest dedicated residential single-stream systems in the country, will feature a high degree of automation.