Date: September 11, 2012
Source: Covanta Energy Corporation
Covanta Energy Corp. (Morristown, NJ), in its efforts to recover more metals from its waste streams, has recently formed a joint-venture with a German company to help recover metals from waste-to-energy ash monofills in North America. Covanta said its partnership with Berlin-based Tartech Eco Industries AG will be called Covanta Tartech LLC which will provide a proprietary technology that maximizes the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous material for recycling. The recent move to go after metal in ash monofills amplifies efforts begun in March when Covanta formed a strategic alliance with industrial recycling and product recovery company Steinert US Inc to deploy more sophisticated metals recovery systems at its plants. "Following an extensive review of our options to recover more metal for recycling from our operations, we are thrilled to be partnering with Tartech," said Seth Myones, Covanta Energy chief operating officer.
Driving this effort are record high metals prices which have quadrupled in the last decade. Recovering large metal items before the burn process had always been necessary and recovering it from the spent ash had been a nifty side business until more recently when it graduated into a full blown business itself. Covanta generated metal revenues of around $77 million in the year ended March 31, up from $59 million in the prior year. The company said that in 2011 its 41 waste-to-energy plants in North America recycled over 400,000 tons of ferrous and over 15,000 tons of non-ferrous metal, enough steel to build five Golden Gate Bridges and produce over one billion aluminum beverage cans.
See also: "Covanta Launches Advanced Metal Recovery System," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20120627E.htm), June 18, 2012.
See also: "Covanta Partners with Steinert US to Boost Metal Recovery," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20120322O.htm), March 8, 2012.
PRESS RELEASE
September 11, 2012
Covanta Energy and TARTECH eco industries AG Launch Joint Venture to Recover and Recycle Metals from Ash Monofills
Strong partnership offers many benefits to prospective customers who own ash monofills
Covanta Energy Corporation (NYSE: CVA) ("Covanta"), a world leader in sustainable waste management and renewable energy, today announced a new joint venture, Covanta TARTECH, LLC with Germany-based TARTECH eco industries AG ("TARTECH") for the recovery and recycling of metals from Energy-from-Waste ash monofills in North America.
Covanta TARTECH will utilize a proprietary and highly specialized technology provided by TARTECH for recovering metals remaining in Energy-from-Waste facility ash that has been deposited in monofills. The technology maximizes the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous material for recycling.
"Following an extensive review of our options to recover more metal for recycling from our operations, we are thrilled to be partnering with TARTECH. Their breakthrough technology, combined with Covanta's know-how will deliver a high quality metal product that can now be recycled instead of being lost in a monofill," said Seth Myones, chief operating officer of Covanta Energy.
The joint venture will develop projects at Covanta ash monofills and will look to partner with various municipal and commercial ash monofill owners. This new partnership will offer many benefits to ash monofill owners including Covanta's operational and environmental expertise plus the exclusive rights to TARTECH's proprietary technology.
"We are excited about this joint venture and confident that we will add significant value for any ash monofill owner that chooses to work with us," said Alexander Kalckreuth, chief executive officer of TARTECH. He continued, "The key to recovering metals from ash monofills will be to properly prepare the material using our highly specialized technology. With Covanta's market presence as a world leading Energy-from-Waste company and operational expertise, they are the perfect partner for us."
In 2011, Covanta's 41 EfW facilities in North America recovered over 400,000 tons of ferrous and over 15,000 tons of non-ferrous metal for recycling - the equivalent amount of steel and aluminum needed to build five Golden Gate Bridges and produce over one billion aluminum beverage cans. With this new partnership, Covanta will recover even more metal that was previously unrecoverable at Energy-from-Waste facilities and will avoid adding to the volume of material being deposited in ash monofills.
Sustainability Benefits
Recycling ferrous and non-ferrous metal prevents a tremendous amount of greenhouse gases. Mining and the production of raw metal material is a very carbon-intensive process. Consequently, Covanta's current recycling efforts prevent over 800,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions. For every truckload of metal recovered from the monofill metals recovery process, an additional 70 tons of CO2 will be avoided. This figure equates to pulling 12 cars off the road for a year. Furthermore, recovering these important metal resources will significantly extend the life of ash monofills.
Recovering energy from waste after efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle is a critical component of sustainably managing residual waste. For every ton of municipal solid waste processed at Energy-from-Waste facilities, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by the equivalent of approximately one ton of carbon dioxide emissions. This reduction is possible due to the avoidance of methane from landfills, the offset of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel electrical production and the recovery of metals for recycling.
About Covanta
Covanta Energy Corporation is an internationally recognized owner and operator of Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects and a recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Covanta's 44 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities with an environmentally sound solution to their solid waste disposal needs by using that municipal solid waste to generate clean, renewable energy. Annually, Covanta's modern Energy-from-Waste facilities safely and securely convert approximately 20 million tons of waste into 9 million megawatt hours of clean renewable electricity and approximately 9 billion pounds of steam that are sold to a variety of industries. For more information, visit www.covantaenergy.com.
About TARTECH
TARTECH eco industries AG is a German company based in Berlin and a global specialty provider of ecologically optimized Energy-from-Waste ash processing services. The letters T, A and R stand for the German words "Trennen", "Aufschließen" and "Rückgewinnen" which mean "Separation", "Mechanical Pulping" and "Recovery". After an extensive evaluation, TARTECH was recently selected by the German government as the industry partner to lead a research project titled, "Innovative Technologies for Resource Efficiency Strategic Metals and Minerals."
Contact
Covanta Energy
Media:
James Regan
862-345-5216
jregan@covantaenergy.com.
Investors:
Alan Katz
862-345-5456
IR@covantaenergy.com.
TARTECH
Media:
Pedro Casares
+49 30 20671590
pcasares@tartech.com.
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