UK: Bunting Magnetics is celebrating the 40th anniversary in October 2018 of the Master Magnets brand. The Birmingham-based magnetic separator and metal detector manufacturer produces equipment for the recycling, mining and mineral processing industrial sectors. Bunting Magnetics purchased the brand in early 2017.

Master Magnets was founded in 1978 by Geoff Worley, a qualified engineer with 15 years’ experience in the magnetics industry. The company grew in the 1980s and 1990s with an emphasis on the UK coal industry and global mineral processing projects. Later it built a reputation for building permanent overband magnets that are used for the continuous removal of tramp ferrous material from a product stream such as in recycling. The company then worked with recycling companies to develop a compact overband magnet that was better suited to this sector.

In 2003, Master Magnets acquired Integrated Recycling Systems and relocated to Redditch. Further acquisition took place in 2005 with the purchase of the metal detection business. This further expanded their manufacturing portfolio as customers were now able to purchase their metal separation and detection solution from one supplier.

Geoff Worley took partial retirement from the company and Adrian Coleman became general manager in 2008. Following the sale to Bunting Magnetics in 2017 Coleman stayed on as general manager.

US: The city of Fort Myers in Florida is planning to send 30,000t of ‘toxic’ sludge for disposal at LafargeHolcim’s Theodore cement plant in Alabama. The waste will be transported by truck to LafargeHolcim quarry north of Crystal River for pre-treatment and then onto the Theodore plant, according to the Citrus Country Chronicle newspaper. The company hopes to start the removal process in October 2018 and complete it by the end of the year. Permit application for the removal process are still on-going. The ‘toxic’ sludge came from the city’s water plant. It was dumped in fields in Fort Myers from the 1960s to the 1990s.

China: Anhui Conch’s Xing'an cement plant in Guangxi region has commissioned a municipal sold waste (MSW) project. The project was started in late 2017 and it has had investment of US$19m. It is intended to process 100,000t/yr of MSW and 49,500t/yr of sewage.

UK: Andusia Recovered Fuels has appointed Mark Terrell as its director. He joined Andusia in October 2017 as general manager with responsibility for the day to day running of the business and leading the management team. He has worked previously for Thames Water, Veolia, Lafarge, the Environment Agency, Suez UK (formerly Sita) and most recently Ricardo.