News Briefs 6312

WASTE AGE STAFF

ACQUISITIONS American Baler Co., Bellevue, Ohio, has acquired the baler business of Svedala-Lindemann Ltd., Telford, England, and Lindemann Recycling Equipment, Charlotte, N.C.

* USA Biomass Corp., Bell Gardens, Calif., has signed a letter of intent to acquire Recycling Unlimited Inc., Fresno, Calif., a greenwaste processor. USA Biomass also has acquired American Waste Transport Inc., San Diego.

* Schaefer Systems International Inc., Charlotte, N.C., has acquired Arkay Plastics CA LLC, Lodi, Calif.

* Alamo Group Inc., Seguin, Texas, has acquired Schwarze Industries Inc., Huntsville, Ala.

AGREEMENTS * Scrap metal processors The David J. Joseph Co., Cincinnati, and Ferrous Processing and Trading Co., Detroit, have formed a joint venture, Gemini Recycling Group LLC, Detroit, which will provide scrap management services for targeted industrial companies.* Philippi-Hagenbuch Inc., Peoria, Ill., and Euclid-Hitachi Heavy Equipment, Cleveland, have entered into a license agreement for various vehicle management system patents.

* OmniSource Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind., has entered into a multi-year lease and maintenance agreement with Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., for the replacement of more than 100 material handlers and wheeled loaders over the next five years.

ANNOUNCEMENT * The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, D.C., announces an environmental insurance program designed for scrap recyclers by ECS Underwriting, Exton, Pa., available exclusively to ISRI members.

AWARDS * Komatsu America International Co., Vernon Hills, Ill., has honored nine of its distributors with Chairman and President awards. Chairman award winners were: Columbus Equipment Co., Columbus, Ohio; Tractor & Equipment Co., Birmingham, Ala.; Linder Industrial Machinery Co., Plant City, Fla.; Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc., Oklahoma City; and Rish Equipment Co., Bluefield, W.Va. President award winners were: Binder Machinery Co., South Plainfield, N.J.; Power Equipment Co., Knoxville, Tenn.; AIS Construction Equipment Corp., Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Waukesha-Pearce Industries Inc., Houston.

* The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety Administration (OSHA), Washington, D.C., has designated General Magnaplate Corp., Linden, N.J., a "Star Site" for exceeding OSHA standards.

* Detroit Diesel Corp., Detroit, has announced its top 1999 suppliers: Motorola's Automotive and Industrial Electronics Group, Seguin, Texas; General Fasteners Co., Livonia, Mich.; Mahle Inc., Morristown, Tenn.; Winsert, Marinette, Wis.; and Delphi Automotive Systems' Rio Bravo Electricos IV facility, Juarez, Mexico.

* The Tennessee Recycling Coalition, Memphis, Tenn., has awarded its 1999 Recycler of the Year Awards to Lincoln Elementary, Jackson, Tenn.; Greg Scott, Putnam County, Tenn. solid waste director; Putnam County, Tenn.; Pillsbury Co., Murfreesboro, Tenn.; and Federal Express, Memphis.

CERTIFICATION * Morgan Corp., Morgantown, Pa., has been awarded ISO 9001 certification for its headquarters and its truck body manufacturing facility.

CONTRACTS * EMCON/OWT Solid Waste Services, Mahwah, N.J., has been awarded a contract by Dane County, Wis., to use EMCON's Kleenwell process to clean landfill gas (LFG) wells at the county's landfill.

* Gershman, Brickner and Bratton Inc., Fairfax, Va., has been hired by the city of Plano, Texas, to consult on commercial waste services.

INTERNET * Environmental Support Solutions Inc., Mesa, Ariz., has announced that its Waste Manager Software can be downloaded free until June 30, in honor of Earth Day 2000: www.environ.com

* Arsenault Associates, Atco, N.J., developer of Dossier Fleet Maintenance Software: www.Truckfleet.com

* ChemicalDesk, Houston, has added an Internet exchange for pulp and paper chemicals to its platform: www.chemicaldesk.com

* The website for Trucks and Parts of Tampa /Ohio, Tampa, Fla., has been ranked one of the 200 best business-to-business websites by Advertising Age magazine: www.trucks.com

* Fibermarket, Atlanta, an Internet paper company, has joined with Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif., to create a forest product exchange, or fp-xchange, on the Internet: www. fibermarket.com

* Aluminum.com, New York City: www.aluminum.com

NEW LOCATION * LFG Specialties Inc., New Concord, Ohio, has moved to a larger facility, due to company growth. Its address is 16406 U.S. Route 224, East Findlay, Ohio 45840-9761. Phone: (419) 424-4999. Fax: (419) 424-4991.

* The KIC Group, Vancouver, Wash., the international sales company for Bulk Handling Systems Inc., Eugene, Ore., has opened a Southeastern office in Simpsonville, S.C. Phone toll-free: (888) 702-1207.

* Clayton Group Services, Novi, Mich., has opened an office in Raleigh, N.C.

Five Earth Day Websites Earth Day was April 22, but environmental websites are up and running all year. Here are five top Earth Day sites:

1) Recycle City (www.epa.gov/kids/recyclecity.htm): This site for kids is a product of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, D.C.

2) EnviroLink: Earth Day (http://earthday.envirolink.org): Discussion forums are the focus of this site.

3) Earth Day Network (www.earthday.net): The network is a non-profit coordinating body of Earth Day activities.

4) Earth Day Poster Show (http://home.dti.net/earthday/poster.html): Top graphic designers from around the world have created posters on preserving the environment.

5) Earth-Day 200 (www.earthday 2000.org) This site is sponsored by the Consumer Clearinghouse for the Environmental Decade.

Source: PlanetClick.com Denver

And They're Off! On your mark ... get set ... and race two 10-foot-long, battery-powered trucks up and down the aisles of WasteExpo 2000!

As bizarre as that sounds, that's what four waste management industry leaders will be doing on Wednesday, May 17 at the Georgia World Congress Center, site of this year's trade show. Larry Henk, COO of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Allied Waste Industries; Jim Cosman, president and COO of Republic Services Inc., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Ron Mittelstaedt, president of Waste Connections Inc., Folsum, Calif.; and Lonnie Poole, CEO of Waste Industries, Raleigh, N.C., will race two quarter-scale replicas of a container carrier and a hooklift/roll-off, to kick off the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Industry Association's (EIA) Research and Education Foundation's auction.

According to Don Rogers, national sales manager for K-PAC, Hutchinson, Kan., the show organizers wanted "to energize traffic and give [participants] something new. From an exhibitor's standpoint, we also wanted to get people from one end of the show floor to the other," adds Rogers, whose company manufactures the trucks.

Two racers will compete in each heat. The winners then will compete against each other. The final heat will end at the auction site, where one of the trucks will be raffled off.

The Great Race of WasteExpo 2000 will contribute to the "carnival atmosphere" of the show, Poole says. "In the garbage business, it takes some doing to bring a little excitement. Whatever we can do to liven it up and make it fun and festive is a good idea."

Although Poole says he is not doing anything to prepare, Mittelstaedt is in serious training.

"I'm trying to lose weight and gain a full 100-pound advantage over the others," Mittelstaedt says. "The lighter you are, the faster you can go."

Someone should tell that to Henk, who thinks the opposite. Through a spokeswoman, he says he is eating two Whoppers with cheese and an extra large fries every day to bulk up. "He heard weight adds traction," the spokeswoman says.

Growing up outside of Nashville, Tenn., Jim Cosman says he has a "distinct advantage" over the contestants from the north. "Northerners are city slickers," he jokes. "I learned how to race on two-lane highways many years ago, and I know I'm good at it."

Regardless of who wins and how, Rogers says the race will draw attention to his company's product and encourage friendly competition.

"There's always been a lot of activity and interest around the small trucks," he says. "It's a good gimmick for the show, and it will just be a hoot."