Denmark: Metso plans to relocate its waste recycling business to a newly built factory and office. Part of the relocation costs will be funded by selling the current property and estate in Horsens and the company has already received an offer from a local developer for its current site. The transaction is subject to final approval of the area's development plan by the Horsens city council. The new facility is estimated to be ready in 2020.

Metso's recycling business provides equipment and services for mechanical treatment of metal scrap and solid waste. The waste recycling business has about 100 employees in addition to an extensive distributor and agent network. In total, over 800 Metso waste shredders are currently in operation globally, most of them in China, the UK, Germany, France and Italy.

UAE: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has signed an agreement to supply 27,000t of spent pot lining (SPL) by 2020 to Gulf Cement. Although EGA has supplied SPL to the cement industry since 2010, the deal is the first directly between EGA and a cement company rather than via specialist third party pre-processors. EGA is building facilities at its Al Taweelah site to process SPL so it is delivered ready to be used by cement companies as an alternative fuel and raw material.

“This direct agreement with Gulf Cement Company is a milestone in our drive to turn our by-products into value by using them as feedstock for other industries. Finding economic uses for waste contributes to the achievement of ‘UAE Vision 2021’ environmental and economic goals and will benefit both our companies. We are glad to be working with Gulf Cement Company on this important project for the industrial sector in the UAE,” said Abdulla Kalban, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of EGA.

In 2017 EGA supplied more SPL to the UAE’s cement industry than it produced. EGA has been supplying Gulf Cement Company with SPL via third parties for testing since 2015. Under the new agreement, EGA will deliver 2000t of SPL to Gulf Cement Company in 2018. In 2019, the volumes will increase to 10,000t followed by 15,000t in 2020.

India: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar says the state has approved US$12m to nearly double the production capacity of a solid waste management plant at Saligao. The production capacity of the unit will be increased to 250t/day, according to the Times of India newspaper. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the unit has previously been sent to cement plants in Karnataka. Other solid waste processing plants have also been announced in Cacora, Bainguinim and Verna. Work on the plant in Cacora is scheduled to start by October 2018.

US: RePower South (RPS) has reached an agreement with Montgomery, Alabama to operate the city’s materials recovery facility (MRF). RPS will invest US$12m in the City of Montgomery Recycling and Recovery Facility. RePower South has partnered with Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) and Loesche Energy Systems to upgrade the existing recycling system to also produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to be sold to cement, power stations and other industrial customers.

The system will process 45t/hr of mixed waste to capture cardboard, metals, paper, plastics and produce fuel. New equipment joining the existing BHS screen, Nihot air and NRT optical sorting technologies include a primary reducer, two NRT optical sorters for fuel cleanup, a Loesche fuel system reducer and PAAL Dokon baler. In total, the system features 10 optical sorters, ensuring the positive recovery of fibre and containers and removal of contamination from fuel.

Repower South holds an exclusive regional license from Accordant Energy for the development, manufacture and sale of ReEngineered Feedstock fuel.