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November 25, 2012With hands raised and closed eyes, Luigi Boria, a Venezuelan millionaire entrepreneur, joins more than a thousand other faithful in prayer and song every Sunday at the Alpha and Omega Christian church in southwest Miami-Dade.
Boria, who faces Frank Bolaños in Tuesday’s run-off election for Doral mayor, could be the first ordained minister of a Hispanic church to become mayor in South Florida.
“There is no faith in doubt,” said Boria, 54, a former councilman who says he has visited close to 5,000 homes in his quest to become only the second mayor to lead the young northwest Miami-Dade city. “I expect to win because I have worked hard.”
Yet Bolaños says that Boria’s candidacy is far from saintly.
He has criticized Boria as an ambitious entrepreneur who seeks to take advantage of the mayor’s office in order to benefit lucrative construction projects spearheaded by his children, a charge Boria has denied.
“Mixing politics and religion is dangerous, especially when an economic interest is involved,” Bolaños says. “He presents himself as a modest pastor, but what he is doing is financing a dirty war against his political opponents in order to win the election.”
Daniel Alvarez, professor of religious studies at Florida International University, said that Boria’s candidacy is exceptional because religious Latinos in the United States have historically observed a strict separation between church and state.
“It’s a very interesting case,” Alvarez said. “Normally religious Latinos do not feel they should get involved in politics.”
Boria’s case could open the door for other religious in the Hispanic community interested in occupying government positions, said Alberto Delgado, pastor of the Alpha and Omega church.
“At this time, God is opening doors for Christians to lead their community following Biblical principles,” Delgado said.
Boria was a Catholic until 1996, when he converted to the evangelical faith after recovering from hepatitis.
“I prayed a lot and one morning at dawn I felt bathed with energy,” said Boria. “My wife thought I was delirious. The fact is that I was later healed. It was hard for me to imagine that my children would lose their father at a young age, as it happened to me when I was 15.”
In 1973, Gaetano Boria, an immigrant from Sicily, was shot dead during a burglary at his store in Caracas.
After losing his father, Boria, the second of four siblings, started working as an orderly at the city’s military hospital, where his job was to transport corpses from the fourth floor to the basement.
Afterward, while working at a day job at the inventory department of General Motors in Caracas, he registered at the Central University of Venezuela to study biology. He later transferred to the School of Accounting at the Andrés Bello Catholic University, where he met his wife Graciela.
After he married in 1982, Boria worked selling books and later opened a sales outlet of computer equipment. Seven years later, he traveled to Miami to explore the possibility of becoming a computer distributor nd he founded his company, The Wise Computer, in Doral.
More than two decades later, the Borias are worth nearly $24 million, according to an August report by a Miami accounting firm. The couple’s yearly income last year was $1.8 million. His assets include a $700,000 house in Doral, a $1.9 million apartment in Miami Beach, as well as $450,000 worth of vehicles, among them the Maserati he drives.
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south florida business tips for waste companies
November 25, 201213 small business marketing trends for 2013
By Tasha Cunningham
With just 44 days left until the end of 2012, now is the time to take a look at what your small business should focus on in 2013 to market more effectively online. BizBytes has prepared a list of 13 trends to watch.
1. Consumers will become marketers. With online product reviews, social media and viral video, consumers are more empowered than ever to share their opinions — good or bad — about the products and services they use. 2013 is being hailed in the world of branding and advertising as the year of the consumer. Big brands and small businesses alike will have to stay on their toes to make sure that the products and services they’re offering are quality. If not, online consumer backlash will have a detrimental effect on the bottom line.
2. Manage your reputation online. You should be spending significant amounts of time controlling your online reputation. You can either pay a company to do it or do it yourself. Either way, protecting your rep is going to be essential in 2013.
3. Discounts will drive social sharing. Take some time before the end of the year to plan discounts and sale promotions. In 2013, discounts are going to drive social sharing across the board. If you want
consumers to share information about your small business, put the power in their hands with incentives.
4. Mobile wallets will drive online purchases. Moreconsumers than ever will use their smartphones to pay for purchases. According to Sony Ericsson, smartphones account for more than 50 percent of new mobile devices purchased worldwide. That growth is expected to skyrocket in 2013. Mobile wallet platforms like Passbook, Square and Google Wallet are predicted to become the top mobile payment platforms. Think about offering a mobile payment solution to your customers. Design special online offers and highlight the convenience your company offers by giving customers the option to pay for purchases online.
5. Content sharing as advertisements. Many small business ownerswould love to advertise their company everywhere. But for most, it’s cost prohibitive. In 2013, content sharing is predicted to become the low-cost advertising alternative for small businesses. Instead of spending money to place ads on search engines and other websites, small businesses will turn to content sharing to advertise their products and services. If you go that route, remember to always tag your content with information about your business, including your website and links to your company’s social media platforms.
6. Sponsored content versus display ads. It’s predicted that the new year will bring a shift from display advertising to sponsored content. You’ve probably seen sponsored content on many websites already. It is also available on social media platforms like Facebook, where you can pay to sponsor a post you create. If you’re planning your ad budget, take a look at the cost of sponsored content versus display advertising.
7. Mobile marketing will be a must. Did you know that 84 percent of small businesses that use mobile marketing strategies report an increase in new business for their efforts? That’s according to a survey conducted by Web.com and Lab42 earlier this year. That means you need to invest some time and effort into creating an engaging mobile presence for your business. Start small and use tools like Groupon, Foursquare and Facebook to get people to check in.
8. Geo-target locally. To increase new business in 2013, think local. If you’re a Miami business, target customers in the South Florida area, especially if you have a traditional brick and mortar location. Also, most platforms like Facebook have geo-location tools to help you zero in on perfect potential customers.
9. Photo sharing will become cost-effective. Platforms like Instagram and Flickr provide a great way to share photos of your products, charity work, or anything else you feel is relevant to what you do.
10. Social gamefication will become the new way to engage customers. Adding fun gaming elements like badges and points in online marketing is expected to be the new way to draw customers in 2013.
11. Turn your website into a destination. Transform your website into a place that people want to visit. Make sure you’ve got videos, games, interesting articles and product reviews. Consumers will spend more time on your site, which will increase their chances of buying.
12. Making your website mobile-friendly. Responsive Web design, which makes your website easier to manage and gives mobile users a better experience, will be talked about more. You create one design that fits almost all screen and device types. When your customers access your site, the website will sense the device being used and respond accordingly.
13. Connect online strategies to offline promotions. Start by including your website URL, QR codes and other information on your brochures and other materials you use offline.
For more tips for 2013, visit www.BizBytes101.com
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November 23, 2012It’s a little tough to feel jolly this holiday season, if you’re a small-business owner. Bruised by the recession and uneasy about the post-election economy, America’s small businesses face yet another big unknown: whether consumers are feeling festive or frugal.
This weekend, they’ve got a great chance to find out: Small Business Saturday, the annual “shop local” day designed to pump up mom-and-pop businesses.
Squeezed between the Black Friday mall frenzy and Cyber Monday’s online shopping kickoff, it’s a chance for the small retailer to shine.
“In addition to holiday music wafting through the air, we’re hearing the ringing of uncertainty in Sacramento and California. … Whether it’s a bookstore, auto shop or restaurant, they’re still very uncertain about how many customers will come through the door,” said John Kabateck, California’s director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
That’s because retailers are getting mixed messages about consumer spending, coupled with uncertainty about new taxes, health care mandates and other economic realities that’s made them skittish about 2013.
” ‘Tentative’ is a good word,” said Brian Lawrence, store manager of Emigh Outdoor Living, describing what he sees as shoppers’ attitudes so far. “We’re hoping for a 10 percent increase in holiday sales over last year. But it’s challenging.”
At his El Camino Avenue outdoor furnishings store, those holiday hopes are hanging from the branches of about 25 elaborately decorated Christmas trees, part of the store’s annual changeover into a home decorating marketplace of trees, wreaths, candles and table decor.
Some projections say this Black Friday weekend will be a good one for the nation’s malls and chains, launching a November-December season where sales are expected to reach $586.1 billion, up 4.1 percent from last year.
But small-business owners like Lawrence are hoping that shoppers seeking personal service will look beyond the big-box retailers.
Retirees Jeannette and Richard Nardinelli, who stopped at Emigh’s recently to look for St. Nicholas Day ornaments for their grandchildren, don’t need convincing.
“We try to do everything local and patronize local businesses,” said Jeannette, a River Park resident. “It’s important to support the neighborhood you live in.”
This year, the average holiday shopper will spend an estimated $751 on gifts, decorations and other holiday purchases, according to the National Retail Federation. How much of that winds up in the pockets of small-business owners is hard to estimate.
The NRF doesn’t track sales specifically to small retailers, but notes that 95 percent of the nation’s retailers are independent companies with one location.
Started in 2010 during the recent recession, Small Business Saturday is a collaboration between American Express and the NFIB.
“It started from a small idea to become a growing fixture across California – and the nation – to address small businesses’ No. 1 need: more customers,” said Kabateck, NFIB’s director in Sacramento.
In California, the average NFIB member has five to seven employees and gross annual sales of $350,000 to $450,000. For many, holiday sales can represent nearly 20 percent of annual sales, according to industry estimates.
“Coming out of the election, the volume was turned up on how important small businesses are to the economy. There was a lot of dialogue and rhetoric,” said Kabateck. We hope that translates to patronizing their corner store instead of their big box.”
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good article about real wealth
November 21, 2012http://moneyning.com/life-style/7-reasons-your-neighbors-have-more-money-than-you/
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November 21, 2012
What the Banks and the S.B.A. Could Learn From Silicon Valley
By AMI KASSAR
SEARCHING FOR CAPITAL
A broker assesses the small-business lending market.
Last weekend, my family and I packed our car full of supplies and drove to a fire station in New Jersey to deliver goods to an area that had been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Like tens of millions of other Americans, we tried to make our small contribution. The experience was eye-opening for my children. They saw the devastation firsthand. And they got to see the volunteers organizing supplies and the Red Cross van delivering food to whomever needed it.
Somehow, when there is a natural disaster, Americans rally together to help one another. We don’t rely on politicians in Washington to create policy and hope for change. We’re willing to open our wallets and our hearts. We all know, it just as easily could have been us. This is true for corporations and individuals alike.
And yet, it occurred to me that one can draw some interesting comparisons between hurricanes like Sandy or Katrina and the financial crisis that hit our country four years ago. The financial crisis may not have ripped down houses, but it did rip a lot of people out of them. Small-business owners may not have had to tape their windows, but many had to shut their doors. But the response to this crisis has been very different.
For many small-business owners, the financial crisis started with their banks. Burt Helms of Inc. magazine has written a thoughtful piece that explains how banks responded to the crisis and the impact that response has had on millions of small-business owners. The article explains how banks abandoned even successful businesses. “By June 2012,” Mr. Helms reports, “small-business loans were down $56 billion from their June 2008 peak of $336.4 billion.”
So what has America done to help? The primary outgrowth of the small-business banking crisis has been the explosive growth of the alternative-lending market for small businesses. Last week, Paul Davidson describedmany of the new programs — like merchant cash advances — that have become the norm for so many owners across the country. The article reported, chillingly, that “small businesses are paying up to 60 percent interest for loans, and they’re gritting their teeth but they’re happy to get them.”
Private industry has rallied around the banking crisis to create new business models and new opportunities. Some of the best technologists and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are behind these alternative lenders. And prominent banks provide the capital that these companies turn around and lend to small businesses.
What’s wrong with this picture? Can you imagine the outrage if well-established corporations were capitalizing on the devastation created by Hurricane Sandy? What would the scenes look like on television if Americans were driving to New Jersey to sell their supplies at a handsome profit instead of giving them away?
Let’s set aside the emotional and human toll a small-business owner endures when confronted with choosing between paying 60 percent interest rates or shutting down the business. Let’s focus on the economics.
In the wake of the great recession, with the economy still sluggish at best, many of us are living in an incredibly low-interest-rate environment. Banks can borrow money for pretty much nothing. But small businesses cannot. Clearly, something has gone wrong in the delivery of capital. There has to be a more efficient way to get reasonably priced money into the hands of small-business owners.
On one extreme, banks fight to lend to small-business owners with strong collateral, cash flow and credit at rates as low as 4 percent. On the other extreme, millions of small-business owners are being forced to turn to the alternative lending markets. Wedged in the middle are a smaller percentage of small-business owners who manage to weave through the Small Business Administration process to get a loan.
How can we make access to capital for small-business owners more rational? How can we ensure that more small businesses get to take advantage of the low interest rates?
Here is one suggestion: I think we need to ask what the S.B.A. can learn from the private lenders. These companies – many of them backed by hedge funds and venture capitalists — have come up with an excellent formula to underwrite loans based on bank statements and automatic daily withdrawals from bank accounts. The process is far less arduous than applying for an S.B.A. loan, and it works. It works so well that small businesses can get a cash advance in as few as two days. The only problem is the expense. So here’s my question: Is there a way for the S.B.A. and the banks to learn from the alternative lenders and use the same process — preferably with a smaller margin?
What do you think? Can you share other ideas that you think would make access to capital for small-business owners more productive?
Ami Kassar founded MultiFunding, which is based near Philadelphia and helps small businesses find the right sources of financing for their companies.
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November 21, 2012Swisher Hygiene took a major business step by selling its Choice Environmental Services sanitation business for $123.3 million in cash, the company announced Friday morning.
After the news, Swisher stock (NASDAQ: SWSH) rose in early morning trading by nearly 39 percent to $1.59. This compares to a 12-month high of $1.75 and a low of $1.40.
The move allows the company to pay off its $17.2 million credit line with Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), which has granted a series of waivers to Swisher as it struggles to restate financial statements from 2011 and issue quarterly reports for 2012.
Swisher also will pay off $13.2 million in equipment leasing associated with Pompano Beach-based Choice Environmental plus a $2 million note. Swisher will have remaining debt of about $13 million.
The move indicates Swisher will have a $90 million cash injection as it seeks to move ahead with its business plan.
Choice Environmental was purchased by Waste Services of Florida, a subsidiary of Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. Choice has more than 150,000 residential and 7,500 commercial customers and a fleet of 150 sanitation trucks.
Swisher provides an array of hygienic sanitation services and supplies to business customers.
Swisher is based in Charlotte, N.C., but has many South Florida shareholders because Chairman H. Wayne Huizenga and former CEO Steve Berrard previously teamed up at Blockbuster and AutoNation.
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November 20, 2012Posted on November 19, 2012By Mark Young
(MIAMI) – Customers of the Miami-Dade County Public Works and Waste Management Department are reminded that garbage and recyclingcollection services will be provided as normal on Thanksgiving Day as well as the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.
Curbside Garbage and Trash Collection Service; Curbside Recycling
All service WILL take place as normally scheduled on both days. Customers are advised to place their carts at the curb by 7 a.m. on their respective collection day, or the evening before their collection day.
Disposal Facilities
The Department’s disposal facilities will observe normal hours of operation on both Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23, 2012.
Administrative Offices
The Department’s administrative offices will be closed on both Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23, 2012.
For more information on the Department’s Thanksgiving Day holiday service schedule, call
3-1-1 or visit www.miamidade.gov/publicworks.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentmiami political system full of garbage
November 19, 2012Long lines aren’t a race issue: I’m still having trouble understanding Luke’s column comparing Gov. Rick Scott to Hugo Chávez and likening County Mayor Carlos Gimenez toFidel Castro (“Gimenez Like Fidel?” Luther Campbell, November 8). The voting hours are the same for Democrats and Republicans, so his argument makes no sense. I am not saying that Democrats are too lazy to stand in line, but Luke is implying that point with his racist ranting. He’s right: No one, Democrat or Republican, should have to stand in line for seven hours to vote, but that’s not a racial issue. It applies equally to all parties. I’m sick of Luke whipping out the race card on everything. With his hatred of whites, he’s no better than any other racist. As long as there are people like him, or like quite a few other blacks and whites, we will never get along. To everyone who waited through the lines, thanks for taking the time. I voted on Election Day, and there was no line; I was in and out in ten minutes. I live in a predominantly black neighborhood, and I didn’t see a problem. How is this an attempt to discourage Obama supporters from voting? Do they not have the same chance to vote as Romney supporters? Is Luke saying that Obama supporters are too lazy to stand in line, whereas Romney supporters are not? What is he trying to say about his own people in this respect? I would really like to see his answer to this question. Oh, and by the way, Chávez is a publicly avowed supporter of Obama.
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November 19, 2012MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – Starting December 1st, visitors on Miami Beach should be on the lookout for a pricier pick-up if they park their cars in the wrong spot.
On Wednesday Miami Beach commissioners voted and issued new three-year contracts to Beach Towing and Tremont Towing, two companies that dominate Miami Beach’s towing industry, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald. In return, both companies have agreed to new oversight measures.
Visitors whose cars are towed and released by the next day will pay an average of $241. Miami Beach residents won’t be affected by the increase though, being charged a towing fee of only $205.
The new contract was a close call by a vote of 4-3.
Both towing companieshave agreed to start using GPS systems in their trucks by the end of next year so that public tows can be tracked. Employees will also have to undergo a drug test as well as wear uniforms.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentmiami dade transfer station
November 18, 2012Transfer stations, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, have traditionally served as consolidation points. They accept waste from collection vehicles, and workers then stuff the waste into trailers for transfer to landfills. Lately, some transfer stations have begun to operate more like their grownup cousins, MRFs, using a variety of picking and sorting equipment to pluck out recyclables from the wastestream.
In many transfer stations, stationary cranes are standard equipment, as they make quick work of moving waste from the dumping floor to the outbound trailers. For heavier C&D waste, especially steel that might be destined for a railroad car, cranes are indispensable.
“We had used compactors for years,” says Dick Malone, of Ocean City, MD’s solid waste authority. “But we made a change; we covered the compactors, made a push wall, and put in a 2100 self-contained Builtrite crane. We had the crane customized, so it wouldn’t hit our roof while in use.”
The model 2100-SE, manufactured by Two Harbors, MN’s Northshore Manufacturing Inc.(www.builtritehandlers.com) is designed for heavy-duty, day-to-day operations. Available in a multitude of configurations, it’s suited for a wide variety of applications and building layout specifications. Custom-designed configurations for this stationary electric crane include a remote operator station, a mobile operator station, a variety of cab heights for superior visibility, and a variety of attachments to suit various applications. One huge benefit of a stationary crane is that it allows operators to reach below grade for better trailer topping and tamping, whereas wheel loaders only push and lift material.
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| Photo: Superior Tire The Cushotrac Clamp-On requires no special fitting and is engineered to tighten directly to the steel double or triple-bar grouser shoe. |
“We fill the outgoing trailers with the crane, and we usually have clean solid waste,” Malone explains. “This is a resort area, with no industry. The crane packs the waste very nicely in trucks, making it easy to get the complete 80,000-pound fill weight of the trailers.”
A crane run by electricity has definite advantages. “The Builtrite crane has given us very little trouble; it’s easy to work on—and with—this machine,” he says. “Plus, since it’s electric, there’s no diesel pollution inside the building. As we only have the one crane, it’s good that it doesn’t break down; it works all the time. In the five years we’ve owned it, we’ve maybe lost a half-day—and that was probably our fault; we didn’t think far enough ahead in our maintenance. But Northshore overnighted the part to us, and when we call them for help, we get the man who built the machine on the phone. He talks us through any repairs if we have problems.
“Oh, one problem we had to fix,” Malone chuckles. “Although the crane was customized, within the first week we had to modify our sprinkler systems. We’d taken into account the roof support clearance, but forgot to account for the sprinklers!”
There isn’t much that’s pulled from the wastestream. “We concentrate on pulling out tires, and big metal pieces,” Malone says. “If we get a piece of wood longer than 8 feet, we’ll break it up, or maybe reuse it. We send the rest to Covanta energy generation plants in northern Virginia and western Pennsylvania.
“I spent 23 years building this recycling facility—I owned it, then sold it to the city, and I ran it—but unfortunately, we just can’t justify spending more of the public’s money,” he explains. “It’s two-and-a-half times more expensive to recycle, so now we use our trash for energy generation.”
A Point of Diversion
“San Francisco diverts over 70% of its waste from the landfill,” says Bennie Anselmo, Recology Inc.’s vice president of equipment procurement and maintenance. “Recology provides 18 separate and distinct reuse and recycling programs in San Francisco, more than any other city in the US. We don’t go through trash to look for recyclable items; residents sort their trash at home. For residential collection, we use split trucks, which collect both trash and recyclables, in one pass. Greenwaste is collected with another truck.”
C&D waste gets sorted at the transfer station, he says: “We have sorting lines, where we pull off cardboard, metal, plasterboard, hard plastics—all that’s pulled off to be recycled. We’ve had to add more square footage to our building for the C&D processing. Residential/commercial trash goes to another transfer station. We’ll run magnets through that, to catch any stray steel cans for recycling.”
Recology uses Caterpillar vehicles in its transfer station (www.cat.com). “We operate two D8 Cat dozers inside the transfer station pit,” Anselmo says. “For the C&D sorter, we use 938 Cat loaders to load onto the sort line. These machines feature a four-in-one bucket arm, and are equipped with magnets to get small metals. Any really big stuff is pulled out by hand.”
Why did Recology choose Cat? “Cat has been the primary provider for earthmoving and transfer stations because of its reliability,” Anselmo explains.
“We bought machines specifically built for our industry with air filtration, guarding systems, and radiator systems adapted for solid waste use. Since there are many sharp and broken objects in trash, we’ve been using solid rubber tires for 10 years.”
Although its products are quite familiar in earth-moving projects, Peoria, IL’s Caterpillar has also committed itself to MSW machines. “Due to the breadth of our product line, we can serve any size operation,” says Bill DeBord, Caterpillar market professional. “We produce medium and large wheel loaders and skid-steer machines, which are frequently used to pull out paper, cardboard, et cetera, as well as for compacting waste for hauling vehicles and railroad cars. All equipment is diesel powered, but they have low emissions, which is especially important for inside work. Electric-drive and hybrid models will become more common in coming years. Track- and wheel-excavators and backhoe loaders are also frequently used in MSW applications.
All of these are available in special “waste arrangement” packages, according to DeBord. “You have to protect the operator as well as the machine,” he says. “Cabs have special guardings, such as shatterproof glass. Waste machines also have heat-exchange packages, wider spacing in the radiator, so debris blows through, to keep radiators clear. Trash is considerably worse for overheating problems than is moving dirt, because the work usually happens indoors, in a confined environment. Waste operations may have also misting systems, to keep dust down; of course, then, dust particles will cling to things that are slightly wet. But on radiator, that moist dust dries, and you’ll get a ‘crust.’ A reversing fan mounted near the radiator blows that stuff off before it can dry. This works for the heat-exchange radiator cores and air-conditioning unit, as well. We made it easy to access; operators can just open it and blow it out. We discourage high-pressure water for this, however, as dust will start clinging again. Maybe one could water clean the unit at the end of the work day, so it has time to dry overnight.”
DeBord theorizes that many customers are doing more with their transfer stations. “In the past, transfer stations were built because it was more economical to have transfer stations, and 18-wheelers taking trash to the landfill, than having garbage trucks shuttling back and forth to the site. Now, perhaps 50% are doing something else than just transfer. Maybe they’re pulling out yardwaste, recycling items that may have gone into regular trash.”
For customers to get the best use from their machines, Cat sponsors training. “A fair amount of machine applications training goes with this, through our dealers,” he says. “Customers are taught how the machines work in particular waste applications, what you’d have to equip the machine with, et cetera. We make a complete line of work tools to go with the machines, such as grapples and specialty buckets. These tools are added via a fusion coupler, which makes it easy to switch out from one tool to another.”
Cat is now selling solid rubber tires. “We’re always looking to see what the customers need,” DeBord says. “At first we used mining rock tires on our waste-hauling machines. Over time, the tire choices evolved, as even those didn’t have a long life in a transfer station. For one thing, transfer stations are wet, from dust misting and foodstuffs, and then you can have abrasive material. Add to that the typical ramps, inclines or declines, and spinning tires—that wears tires down.”
Other manufacturers offer a “middle ground:” foam-filled tires. “That’s a variation of a solid rubber tire. Yes, it costs less, but when it does wear, a chunk of it can come off, and perhaps fly off and injure someone,” DeBord says. “Solid rubber tires mean no punctures. The life of these tires varies; some transfer stations go through them in six months. As these tires give machines and drivers a rough ride, we have ‘Flexport’ tires, which are solid rubber containing elliptical holes that ‘squish out’ and become round, acting like shock absorbers.”
With so many machines out there, how can one choose? “We publish a machine selection guide, which helps people select the right one,” DeBord says. “As customers read through it, they can match what tasks they have to perform, at what kind of facility, to which machine to buy.
“A lot of features on waste-handling machines, can’t be seen with the naked eye—they’re internal ‘tweaks’ that protect the machine from its environment. People might look at machines and wonder why to buy one over the other, when the waste one is more expensive—well, pay us now or pay us later—the unmodified machines will have more problems and need repairs,” he concludes.
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| Photo: Volvo A transfer station places heavy demands on equipment. |
Making Sure the Job Doesn’t Stink
From the bag or cart you lug to the curb, all the way to the landfill—waste often has a bad odor. The closer a transfer station is to populated areas, the more odor becomes a concern.
“It’s important to control odors, to keep neighbors and everyone happy,” says Rick Johns, district manager of Elgin, IL’s Bluff City Transfer, which is owned by Waste Management Inc. The facility, which accepts refuse from a 20-mile radius, opened in 2007 and is located in a former gravel pit that is being reclaimed as an industrial park.
Some recycling is done there. “Recycling is dumped in a designated area from residential collection, put in larger trucks, and taken to a sorting facility,” Johns says. “We use four-wheeled endloaders to work the pit, and load the larger trucks with excavators. As for odor control, we use OMI model 450 CFM vapor units for the tipping area. The scent smells good; you can’t really smell it on the tipping floor, but you can when you put the scent into the vapor machine. The OMI piping is secured to the ceiling, and the apparatus creates a very fine mist on the tipping floor. The transfer station is a covered facility, confined—but we don’t get a lot of dust, since we have exhaust fans.
“We’ve used OMI’s odor control from day one, so I don’t know that we’ve had any complaints. The system is on a timer that runs during our business hours. At the end of the day, the tipping floor is totally clean, so there’s nothing there to produce odors overnight.”
Odor is just one facet of its operation that Bluff City Transfer keeps under strict control. “Waste Management, which owns the facility, is an industry leader in waste collection and environmental cleanup,” Johns says. “We’re disciplined on how we run our operations; we consistently look at loads, keep our facilities clean, try to be a good neighbor. We always put safety first and strive to be a trusted community partner, giving back to the areas we serve. We’re also a model facility—LEED gold-certified—with a green roof. We recover rainwater from our vegetated roof and channel that rainwater to a cistern, which we use to flush toilets.”
Tom Minett, national sales director of Barrington, IL’s OMI Industries, offers a bit more background on the company’s products. “Ecosorb odor eliminator doesn’t mask smells, it neutralizes them, by breaking down and removing a broad spectrum of organic and inorganic odors,” he says. “Our product has been specced into a few transfer stations in this area. Ecosorb is liquid-based; when used in the 450 CFM Vapor Phase equipment, it’s made into submicron-size droplets without using any water. This is how we get into new buildings/operations, because many firms want LEED certification—and ‘not using a lot of water’ is a LEED principle. The product is only for odor control, not dust control. If dust control is also needed, facilities have to use water. In those cases, a high-pressure atomization system is used, and we inject our concentrated Ecosorb product into that water. As the Ecosorb is neutralizing odors, our product helps the air quality for people working there, which is also a LEED principle.”
OMI has been serving industries for two decades, Minett says, and now the company is branching out: “We’ve taken what we have learned from our industrial customers, and applied them to a new line of products named Fresh Wave, for retail sales. The product has all the active ingredients as the industrial formulation, a proprietary mix of plant oils, which makes odors ‘disappear,’ with no replacement odors. We have also taken our formulation and make it into an oil-based additive that can even make asphalt plants ‘disappear,’ so there shouldn’t be anything in an average American home that would defeat it.”
One Person’s Trash Is Another’s Energy Treasure
Although Miami, FL’s Covanta Dade Renewable Energy doesn’t operate transfer stations per se, it does do a certain amount of sorting on its tipping floor.
“We don’t control any transfer stations,” reports Business Manager Bill Meredith. “Miami-Dade County operates three transfer stations and two landfills, which are also used to transfer waste to our facility. WSI and Waste Management also operate transfer stations in Miami-Dade County, so we don’t have to do much sorting when residential waste comes in. Trash comes to us in curbside trucks, or 18-wheelers. We have two tipping floors—one for MSW, and one for greenwaste. Our preshredder sorting, which is mostly minimal, entails magnets pulling any ferrous materials out.”
Moving refuse to various areas of the site’s tipping floor is done with Volvo loaders. “When trucks do their tipping, if they miss the pit, the loaders will move the material to where it belongs. If there are any contaminants in the greenwaste, the operators will pull that out. Once a year, Miami-Dade County has single-source recycling, and it does a good job of sorting, but when the area has bulky-waste collection—furniture, et cetera—people can bring anything to us. That’s when we can get some odd stuff that needs to be pulled out. We take out non-process materials that won’t go in shredders, and put them onto a conveyor, for some manual sorting and separate them before they get to the shredder.”
This waste-to-energy plant and a biomass facility, owned by Miami-Dade County, is operated under a long-term agreement by Covanta. “A small portion, 10% to 13%, of yardwaste is burned,” Meredith says. “The rest becomes biomass, and is exported to other facilities to make energy.
“We make RDF—refuse-derived fuel. We put trash in shredders to make smaller, more consistent, easier-to-burn particles. First, bag rippers open the residential bags; if some recyclables have made it to our plant, we take them out and recycle the items. Ferrous is removed prior to incineration. Barring that, whatever’s thrown in gets burned, and everything burns—at least, about 80% of the MSW. No matter what’s being burned, scrubbers and baghouses ensure that we are below our EPA-mandated emission levels. What’s left over might be small pieces of glass, rock, and sand, which the county takes back, to use for daily cover on its landfill. The rest is ash, which goes to an ash monofill landfill. Magnets are used at the end of the process also, just in case we missed ferrous material. We also use eddy-current separators to remove aluminum or nonferrous materials.”
“We’re reducing the volume of the waste by 90%,” Meredith goes on. “Plus, we’re creating electricity for about 50,000 homes. Florida Power & Light transmits the electricity to Progress Energy, which buys our plant’s electricity. The revenue is split 50-50 with the county.”
“Our wheel loaders and excavators are used in the waste industry,” says Blaine Pressley, segment director for Asheville, NC’s Volvo Construction Equipment. “We help customers decide what size they need by looking at their peak loads, their building’s ceiling height, their workload, and total production.”
Pressley explains a transfer station’s usual tasks and traffic. “Maybe you need to stockpile waste, because a lot comes in at one time,” he says. “You also need to pack it in, so it doesn’t escape. When 18-wheelers drive into the pit and are filled, it’s the wheel loaders that push trash into the trailer. Recycling facilities might only need to use compact wheel loaders.
“A waste-moving wheel loader is a totally different animal from one, say, in a quarry operation,” he goes on. “Our ‘transfer station package’ machines have belly guards underneath, where in a ‘normal’ application, that area would be open. Waste wheel loaders’ hydraulic hoses are spiral-wrapped in steel, with extra protection for the cab, the engine, the radiator. The radiator, for example, has reversing fan; it will run in the regular direction for 30 minutes, then for three minutes run backwards to clear debris. Many damaging items can be on the floor of a waste facility—cables, rock, glass—and the vehicle’s axles have seal guards, which ensure that wire doesn’t get in and wrap around, ruining the axles. Any ‘basic’ wheel loader will break down in short amount of time if it doesn’t have this package on it.”
Where the rubber hits the road, it’s solid. “The package includes solid rubber tires, meaning no punctures—and although they might experience cuts, they keep running. The operator seats all have suspension systems, because you do get a rougher ride in solid rubber tires.”
Volvo, a famously Swedish company, also builds its heavy machines in Brazil. “We’re a preferred product in the waste industry,” Pressley concludes. “Some sites also like using excavators, because they can turn 360 degrees, but more people are just using the wheel loader, because it can do so much, and that means having less equipment on site. However, some transfer stations have walls, and step patterns—meaning lifting over obstacles—and those would need a excavator.” MSW
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