The Edge TRM831 is designed to offer high production rates in various applications, including compost, household waste and C&D waste.

North Ireland-based Edge Innovate has introduced its Edge TRM831 mobile trommel screen, which is designed to offer high production rates with extensive stockpiling capacities. With an end conveyor design and remote 180-degree radial fines conveyor, the TRM831 is ideal for the high-capacity screening of various applications including topsoil, compost, sand, household waste and construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

The trommel incorporates a host of design features, including an eco-power-saving functionality that reduces unnecessary running costs and an HMI control panel for the adjustment of machine parameters. With a screening area of 613 square yards, the TRM831 is fitted with a variable speed screening drum powered via an efficient hydrostatic drive system.

Screening efficiency is ensured through a 31-foot-long drum with hydraulically adjustable drum cleaning brushes. High production rates are maintained by an Edge intelligent load management system, which the company says can prevent drum overload and ensure the trommel screen is always operating at optimum performance with minimal supervision.

Offering a large hopper capacity, the TRM831 “encompasses a 60-inch wide, variable speed feed conveyor complete with load sensing and automatic feeder shut down to ensure maximum uptime,” says Edge Innovate. Additional hopper options include a reject grid and a two-deck vibrating screen for the pre-treatment of the feed material.

Edge’s HMI control panel allows for sequential start-up and the customization of operating parameters. According to Edge Innovate, this ensures the TRM831 runs at optimum capacity across all applications.

The program is in response to the state’s Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law that went into effect Jan. 1.

Orangetown, New York, has launched a pilot program to collect food waste in hopes its residents, as well as the rest of Rockland County, will take part.

The town is working with the Rockland Green Solid Waste Authority on the initiative, which advocates say will help the environment by reducing waste and greenhouse gases while also saving money. As reported by the Rockland Journal News, an estimated 920 pounds of food scraps were collected last month for the program at the town’s Highway Department facility.

The program—inspired by a similar effort in Westchester County, New York—comes as a state law went into effect this year encouraging the recycling of food waste.

Known as the New York Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, the legislation requires businesses and institutions that generate an annual average of two tons of wasted food per week to either donate excess edible food or recycle remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organics recycler.

Supervisors from other Rockland towns envision growing Orangetown’s program to the rest of the county in the future, with the possibility of someday adding regular residential collections.

However, officials say they need residents to buy into the pilot program.

While the town and Rockland Green will provide the disposable, biodegradable bags required in the process for free, it will be the residents’ responsibility to separate the food waste from their other garbage and recyclables and drive the bagged waste to the Highway Department facility off Route 303 in Orangeburg.

The program has placed 15 green bins at the Highway Department facility to hold food waste brought by residents in the biodegradable bags, the Journal News reports. The waste is then transferred to the Rockland Co-Composting Facility, operated by Rockland Green. There, it is mixed with water sludge and other bio-solids. The process produces nutrient-rich compost for use on golf courses, flower gardens and landscaping projects.

Chris St. Peters has served in several leadership positions, including chief operating officer for NuCycle Energy.

Star BioEnergy Holdings has selected Chris St. Peters as the next president of Star BioEnergy and Stella Energia, the Indiana-based anaerobic digester technology holding companies within the Star umbrella, which produces renewable natural gas (RNG), nutrients and byproducts. Effective immediately, St. Peters will oversee the construction of anaerobic digesters throughout the United States. 

Previously, he was chief operating officer of NuCycle Energy, an alternative fuel company based in Plant City, Florida. There, he oversaw the start-up of the Plant City location, working with the market development, funding, site selection, permitting and construction oversight. He previously led material acquisition efforts along with overseeing operations. He also helped in successful test burns at two cement plants. 

He began his career as an engineer for Magnetek Electric Motor Co., Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where he designed electric motors, generators and drives. He transferred to the sales department after two years to help increase market share on the West Coast in the pool and spa markets.  

Later, he transitioned into the waste and recycling industry in 1993, working for Browning Ferris Industries, Houston. St. Peter also joined Aspen Waste Systems Inc., Minneapolis, working directly for the president and CEO. He was responsible for start-up, sales, business development and operations at the St. Louis, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa locations.

The spread of the coronavirus variant has exacerbated staffing concerns as the industry grapples with an ongoing hiring crisis.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus has continued to take its toll on the solid waste industry by keeping people home and causing worker shortages.

As reported by Martketplace, public works departments and private waste disposal companies across the country are short-staffed. And, in some cities, that means waste and recycling bins are sitting at the curb long after their usual pickup times.

In Tempe, Arizona, for example, the solid waste department has been short-staffed for months. According to Fox 10 Phoenix, the city cites difficulty hiring and retaining employees as major causes for the delays, but the spread of COVID-19 has been compounding the issue.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus started sending workers home, which meant some trash and recycling weren't getting picked up, Nikki Ripley, Tempe’s media relations manager, told Marketplace. Now, workers are returning from quarantine, and the city has approved a salary boost to attract new garbage truck drivers.

“It’s been an intensive, challenging time,” Ripley said.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Edward Grayson told PIX11 Morning News that sick calls fluctuated between 20 percent to 25 percent of workers the week of Jan. 3, but the department was working through it by expanding hours and canceling days off.

However, with a snow response plan in place amid frigid temperatures and preparations for icy conditions, staffing levels will be “robust” for the possible snow event, Grayson guaranteed.

Similar collection delays have been seen in Detroit, Philadelphia and throughout Texas, as well.

David Biderman, executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, told Marketplace he saw the situation coming.

“The combination of increased residential waste during the holidays and the omicron variant is a perfect storm for solid waste collection,” he said.

Sanitation is having a hard time hiring. Plus, there’s been a sharp increase in household trash “because people stopped going to stores and started buying everything on e-commerce.”

While people have come to expect staff shortages at retail stores and restaurants, Biderman said delayed trash collection gets our attention.

Michael T. Vinciguerra, a member of BGL’s Environmental & Industrial Services team, is one of the company’s new managing directors.

Brown Gibbons Lang & Co. (BGL), an independent investment bank and financial advisory firm based in Cleveland, has promoted Michael T. Vinciguerra to serve as a managing director for the company.

Vinciguerra, a member of BGL’s Environmental & Industrial Services team, has experience in advising facility and field services companies that provide maintenance, inspection, specialty construction and environmental services to the industrial; infrastructure; energy, power and utility; and commercial services sectors. According to BGL, his transaction expertise as an advisor to private, public and private equity-backed companies encompasses mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, strategic alternatives, valuations and other financial advisory assignments.

Prior to joining BGL, he interned with the strategic finance group of a Fortune 500 company.

BGL says it also has promoted J. Kyle Brown and Kevin H. Sargent to serve as managing directors for the company.

“BGL’s strong sector focus is driven by our bankers’ commitment to their industries,” BGL’s executive committee states on these three promotions. “Kyle, Kevin and Mike each have been with the firm for more than a decade, during which time they have demonstrated dedication to BGL and our valued clients. Their creative and respected transaction leadership, along with BGL’s coverage capabilities, are strong examples of the opportunity for advancement the firm presents for driven and thoughtful bankers.”