ACBs can ventilate, pressurize and clean particles from dusty air without using any filter elements, according to the manufacturer.

Highland, New York-based Air Cleaning Blowers LLC says it has developed and patented a series of technologies that enable a blower to clean the air without using a filter element that clogs and constantly needs replacing.

Edward Roston, also the owner of Aero Conditioner Co. LLC, founded Air Cleaning Blowers in 2017 to manufacture a self-cleaning air filtering blower that could be used even in the harshest of industrial and military environments, according to the company.

ACBs ventilate, pressurize and clean particles from even exceedingly dusty air without using any filter elements, the company says, helping reduce the costs and complications of providing ventilation in industrial, commercial and residential buildings. Air Cleaning Blowers says the devices are simpler to size and use than systems that use ordinary air filters and air purifiers because they have no filter elements to clog, providing constant and predictable airflow, air pressure, air quality and energy consumption.

ACBs originally were developed for dusty, corrosive and other harsh industrial and military conditions and are used in applications as diverse and challenging as an African diamond mine, electrical controls in steel plants, dust control in a food manufacturing plant and at U.S. military satellite-tracking trailers in the Middle East.  

As ACBs pull ambient air through their housings, they use the particles' own momentum to separate them from the clean air, the company says. They can remove sand, dust and other particles, as well as mist and rain. 

ACB founder and CEO Roston says, "What we have developed here at Air Cleaning Blowers is a real innovative technology that can seriously help slow down the spread of pathogens and protect the health of many people."

ACBs can fit applications with airflows from 50 to 3,500 cubic feet per minute. They also can serve as prefilters for specialized downstream filters, such as HEPA, activated carbon and the media in swamp coolers, to increase their lives and to decrease their costs of operation.

The company adds that it has been working with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to develop canopies to protect people in close contact with the public or their fellow workers, such as store cashiers, meat packers and others on production lines, from the coronavirus.

The study focuses on state “Move Over” laws, which generally require motorists to either move over or slow down to an appropriate speed when approaching certain vehicles.

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) has collaborated with the General Accounting Office (GAO) on a study of state “Move Over” laws.

Move Over laws vary by state but generally require motorists, when approaching certain vehicles stopped on the roadside to either move over, or if unsafe to do so, slow down to an appropriate speed.

“We were honored to work with the GAO on this important project for our industry. While every state and the District of Columbia have ‘Move Over’ laws, only 31 states have laws that include waste and recycling collection vehicles,” said NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith. “Safety is the most important thing to us and that includes roadside safety. We hope this study will bring heightened awareness to this issue as we continue to advocate on behalf of our industry to enact these laws in the remaining 19 states and strengthen them in the states where they are already on the books.”

Among the findings in the report, the GAO found that despite education and targeted enforcement by states, public awareness of these laws remains low. The U.S. Department of Transportation, primarily through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, continues to help improve the safety of roadside workers, including providing support in the areas of public awareness, training, funding, coordination and research.

The NWRA says it will continue to work with federal and state officials to raise awareness and educate the motoring public on the need to move over for waste and recycling collection vehicles as well as emergency and other covered vehicles.

The company says the new name better reflects its extended benefits program.

The Chesapeake, Virginia-based recycling rewards program, Recycling Perks, has rebranded to EnviroPerks. The company says the new name better reflects its new, extended benefits program. With the addition of its Loyalty+ platform, EnviroPerks says its program has increased its savings potential for customers of waste haulers across the country.

EnviroPerks is a customer loyalty program that rewards its members for being loyal waste hauler customers. By providing added value in the form of discounts and rewards, customers of participating haulers can save more than they spend on their monthly hauling service, according to the company. Using an online interface, members use earned loyalty points to choose from hundreds of EnviroPerks rewards and thousands of no-points-needed Loyalty+ discounts.

EnviroPerks says rewards encourage good behavior and create customer loyalty. By applying this strategy to the waste industry, the company’s loyalty program gives users the benefits of savings on household expenses to encourage customer loyalty.

The program gives haulers an opportunity to differentiate themselves while encouraging customer loyalty, according to the company. EnviroPerks is working with haulers in a number of Virginia communities as well as in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and with Waste Connections in Nebraska and North Carolina, according to the company’s web site.

“We’re really excited about the relaunch,” EnviroPerks President Bill Dempsey says. “It’s a similar structure from the resident user side that we’ve had success with in the past, but by expanding the benefits, we’re making it that much more rewarding for users and effective for haulers.”

Users of EnviroPerks earn points that can be redeemed for rewards on the EnviroPerks website. Additionally, customers now have access to more deals on household expenses and items using EnviroPerks’ exclusive, points-free Loyalty+ platform. Savings on everything from essentials such as energy, food and insurance to extras like hotels and electronics are available, and members will find that their total savings using points on the EnviroPerks website and the Loyalty+ platform can easily surpass their yearly hauling expenses, according to the company.

“We think we have something really special on our hands,” Dempsey says. “We’re encouraging people to recycle more and enabling them to save huge amounts of money in the process. Loyalty programs are popular, but they’ve never developed for the waste industry.”

Global materials and additives producer will work with Clariter on polyethylene fiber chemical recycling technique.

Netherlands-based Royal DSM, a global provider of plastic resins, chemicals and additives, has announced what it calls a strategic partnership with Luxembourg-based Clariter “to pursue a next-generation chemical recycling solution for products based on DSM’s Dyneema, an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber.”

As a first step in the partnership, Royal DSM says a range of sample products – including ropes, nets, and ballistic materials made with Dyneema – have been successfully converted at Clariter’s pilot plant in Poland.

Clariter says its chemical recycling technology can transform some forms of plastic scrap it into “three industrial, ready-to-use product families: oils, waxes and solvents.”

Says Roeland Polet, president of DSM Protective Materials, “These results mark the next important step on the circularity journey of DSM Protective Materials. Recyclability is key to us, our customers, and society at large and achieving this requires cross-value chain efforts. To this end, we’re looking forward to continuing to build our partnership with Clariter, and to continue using our science-based capabilities to deliver on our purpose of creating brighter lives for all.”

According to Royal DSM’s website, its Protective Materials such as Dyneema are used “in everything from footwear and apparel to cut-resistant gloves to body armor.”

Remarks Petra Koselka, Clariter’s chief operations officer, “Looking at the logistics challenge to collect many tons of used marine ropes, nets and ballistic materials is daunting. However, when an economical route presents itself, suddenly the next horizon seems within reach. We are pleased to work with DSM to perform R&D on what we have dubbed ‘exciting exotics,’ and plan to use it as part of our raw materials in the full-scale plants we will build in Europe.”

Clariter says it has scheduled commercial-scale trials at its facility in South Africa for 2021, with the aim to use Dyneema-derived feedstock in its full-scale European plants planned to be built in the future.

European online platform seeks to provide marketplace for companies with recycled-content sustainability goals.

Netherlands-based Circular in Motion says it is starting with plastics as it introduces its online platform “to sell and buy sustainable materials” in an effort to “help operators, from municipalities to companies of all sizes, shift from linear to circular economy.”

“In Europe, we have a big gap between offer and demand of the secondary raw materials, and we need to bridge this,” says Leila Oksanen, chief commercial officer of Circular in Motion. “We want to help companies connect, generate business and create value chains around sustainability. We are certain the accessible e-marketplace can be a concrete boost to the European circular economy, and of course beyond EU borders too.”

Continues Oksanen, “We help match the supply and demand of the recycled and renewable content raw materials and make it possible for all kinds of operators, big and small, to be part of circular economy.”

Although starting with plastics and chemicals, Circular in Motion says it intends to diversity into other secondary raw materials, including metals and wood-based materials, to offer a “secured and standardized raw materials marketplace.”

All the materials sold and bought on the platform are traceable throughout the value chain, says the company. Buyers can see the material’s “history, specifications and the proof of origin” via transactions that are “certified and made secure with blockchain,” according to Circular in Motion.

The platform has been released as a beta version until March 1, 2021, allowing operators to join and operate free of charge, adds the company.