The rewards can be spectacular, especially when the world is craving the resources you are extracting.

Taking a look at a list of some of the world’s countries with the largest amounts of national resources – the United States, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Canada – the potential economic value of resources totals about $210.6 trillion.

However, the risks of extracting these resources are unique and often much bigger compared to other jobs. Falls, electrical accidents, cave-ins, explosions, falling trees, vehicular accidents, and cold and heat exposure are some of the biggest categories of risk that workers face under the umbrella of extraction industries. That includes mining and oil and gas production as well as dredging and quarry work.

To further complicate things, the work means you have to go to where the resources are. So consider the logistical challenges of remote locations that do not have quick and easy access to comprehensive medical care if an accident does occur.

In 2021, a scoop bucket dislodged and a part fell down the shaft in the Totten Mine near Sudbury, Ontario in Canada, causing major damage and leaving 35 miners stuck at various levels all the way down to 960 meters, or more than half a mile, underground.

If this was a disaster movie, we would see a scene of miners huddled around flickering lanterns, but technology has changed the reality of mining work. The workers had access to Wi-Fi so they could communicate with the surface and even watch videos on their devices while the rescuers worked their way down to them.

As with most mining situations, the only way out was up and that meant miners having to climb and climb the many series of ladders to get clear of the mine. This was possible for those who were relatively close to the top, but the stress was just too much for those deep in the mine. The team from Ontario Mine Rescue had to use a number of different options to pull up those miners from the depths.

Rescue worker Jason Tailefer shared his experience with the Canadian Press, saying, “They had been down there for 40 hours at that point, they were all exhausted, and some of these guys just physically couldn’t climb a ladder due to old injuries or ailments.”

To get these miners out of the deepest parts of the mine, the team used an AZTEK rope system which can be attached to an anchor and used to pull people by significantly reducing the effort it takes to lift them. In the end, after two days of intense effort, all the miners were safely rescued and there were no injuries reported. While this was the best outcome for this kind of scenario, the rescue workers were at risk as they worked to help others.

What if, in situations as dangerous as a mine collapse or a toxic leak on a site, the first responders could be robots? It may not be that far from becoming a reality.

For instance, recently The New York Fire Department announced the purchase of Spot, a robot dog (yes, it really does look like a dog), who can go into situations that may be too risky for people and provide critical information for rescuers. Having the ability to crawl through debris or into toxic environments to measure levels of flammable chemicals or carbon monoxide will help rescuers make informed decisions about these highly dangerous situations.

And while robots currently are not as nimble as people and can’t crawl over unstable surfaces, they can be made much smaller to get into places where people just can’t go. Think about crawling through a collapsed mine tunnel and sending a robot the size of an insect in to crawl through the gaps to get to people trapped on the other side. Sound like a stretch? Maybe not. Right now Stanford University researchers are developing a robot that can essentially grow in the environment like a vine with a camera on one end to get through impossibly small gaps.

Help can also come from the air as well as the ground. Drones, which have become much more common and more capable, can fly over virtually all terrain to provide an aerial overview of a situation. They can also map out the scope of a situation, using cameras as well as thermal and infrared sensors. This eye in the sky can be invaluable, especially in remote areas where drones can dramatically reduce the time it takes to spot survivors in a vast area.

In addition to visuals and mapping an area, drones can also act as critical first responders by carrying essentials like medical supplies, first aid kits and pharmaceuticals to people, potentially spelling the difference between life and death.

Ultimately, the best way to get through accidents is to avoid them altogether. And there are few work areas where this is more important than offshore oil rigs. Surrounded by hundreds of miles of water, the margin for error is pretty much zero.

Oil rigs need to be well managed by necessity. Small problems can become big problems very quickly, but help is often a long way away. Technology in the form of AI can become a major part of catching a potential problem before it becomes an incident. AI has the capacity to collect vast amounts of data and look for patterns that help prevent accidents before they happen through predictive maintenance.

Take, for example, scrubbers, which are a series of pipes and tanks that are used scrub away hazardous and harmful materials like gases and particles. As a scrubber ages, there are certain signs that begin to appear before it fails. By analyzing the data that comes from the operating scrubber and applying a predictive algorithm, AI can determine when to replace a scrubber or components before a sudden failure occurs which can lead to damage and safety incidents.

Then there’s safety training to consider. When it comes to preventing incidents before they happen, additional training can help prepare inexperienced workers for potentially dangerous situations.

But how can you train new workers in what are by nature more hazardous environments? This is where virtual reality can make a big difference. Inexperienced workers can be exposed to potentially hazardous situations and learn from them without being exposed to actual risk. While virtual reality can’t perfectly capture a dangerous environment, it is a good way to help new workers think more about what to do when they are facing a dangerous situation in real life.

Although robot rescuers, drones and AI might not be ready yet for situations like that at the Totten Mine, today’s miners do have wearables that can make a big impact on safety. As the name implies, these are devices that miners wear during a shift which tap into RFID (Radio-frequency Identification) or the Internet of Things (IoT) to track a worker’s activity during their day while giving them the added safety of being able to press a button in case of an emergency. If there’s a cave-in, wearables can also be used to pinpoint a worker’s location.

It’s important to keep in mind that the need for innovation in places like mines in particular will not be going away even as more countries shift toward green infrastructure and supply chains. Take the rise of EVs (electric vehicles). While these vehicles may not need gasoline, they do need batteries, and many of the key components that go into them like cobalt, nickel and lithium will need to be extracted.

Countries like Canada have large deposits of all of these materials and the demand will only continue to increase. And even though the techniques to extract them will advance to reduce their environmental impact, there will still be risk involved in the extraction process.

That’s why even as we shift toward a greener infrastructure, these high-risk industries will rely on innovations to get to victims faster and to protect workers on the job.

The post High-Risk, High Rewards<p class="company">Keeping Workers Safe in High-Risk Environments</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

In November 2021, Resource in Focus profiled the association’s efforts to lead the industry through the global pandemic. Six months later, the organization continues to navigate the challenges COVID has brought while simultaneously dealing with ongoing, industry-specific issues.

The workforce shortage remains a major concern. “The solid waste industry is experiencing a significant worker shortage, due to the confluence of a number of factors,” says Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer David Biderman. “First, the pandemic has meant that during each of the surges, including the Omicron variant in December 2021 into February 2022, an elevated percentage of workers were either sick or quarantining because someone in their family or household has the coronavirus. Second, some industry workers, particularly drivers and helpers involved in collection, have moved to other industries that offer higher wages. Third, there was a driver shortage even before the pandemic,” he explains.

“The industry has had to make operational changes in some places in response to the worker shortage,” he continues. “Trash and recycling collection was delayed in January 2022 in many communities. Fortunately, as the Omicron surge has receded, those delays have largely ended.” However, collection is still not back to normal in all places. “Some communities have reduced the frequency of recycling collection from weekly to every other week,” he reports. “Some communities have suspended curbside collection of recyclables or yard waste, hopefully temporarily.”

The association is actively working to help overcome the challenge. “As the worker shortage has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, SWANA has shared best practices being used by waste companies and local governments to recruit and retain workers, including raising wages, paying recruitment and retention bonuses, targeting veterans, using social media to reach younger prospects, and highlighting the benefits of working in the solid waste industry,” Biderman says.

Most recently, SWANA’s March 2022 SOAR conference (named for sustainability, operation, action, resources) in Kansas City featured a session on recruitment and retention strategies for solid waste and recycling. In addition, the association has produced multiple reports on the worker shortage. In early 2020, SWANA’s Applied Research Foundation (ARF) issued a report highlighting innovative methods that communities are using to recruit and retain drivers, with a focus on the City of Phoenix’s efforts to attract female drivers.

In May 2021, SWANA published a report on the labor shortage, and then issued a warning in December 2021 regarding the delays caused by the Omicron surge combined with the increase in waste from the holiday season. This year, the association has been featured in several national-level media stories on the impact of the Omicron variant on the waste industry.

Another top SWANA priority is promoting safety throughout the industry. “One of the biggest challenges facing the waste industry is safety and, specifically, fatal incidents involving the industry’s workers,” Biderman says. “Collecting solid waste is currently considered the sixth-most-dangerous occupation in the U.S. by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Historically, nearly every week, a solid waste worker, often in collection, is killed on the job. Earlier this week (March 23), a private-sector collection employee in Florida died when the truck he was riding in overturned. Earlier this month (March 1), in a similar incident in Kansas City, the turning over of a truck caused a fire and two collection employees were killed.”

“SWANA has greatly expanded its safety program over the past five years, adding a variety of new resources and initiatives to provide training and information to workers in the industry,” he says. Perhaps most notably, the association boasts a chapter-based Safety Ambassadors program with a safety position in each of the organization’s forty-seven chapters, located throughout the United States and Canada. Some chapters even have multiple safety ambassadors.

“SWANA communicates frequently with its Safety Ambassadors who share information about chapter-led safety efforts, data, and upcoming events,” Biderman says. In addition, the association offers a new weekly safety newsletter, free safety posters, and ‘Slow Down to Get Around’ truck stickers.

A hauler outreach program provides safety information to waste collection crews when they arrive at landfills and other waste disposal facilities. This commitment to safety will continue long term; the issue is expected to be a core part of the strategic plan to be released in June 2022.

The safe disposal of PFAS chemicals is another key issue in which the association continues to be actively involved. It commented on a draft Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report a few years ago and, more recently, a SWANA committee led by Ivan Cooper guided the organization’s technical response to the National PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which the EPA announced in fall 2021.

“Although SWANA and its members agree that PFAS needs to be regulated and discharges reduced, there is widespread concern that EPA’s regulations may have unintended consequences for many communities’ solid waste programs,” Biderman summarizes.

“Landfills did not manufacture PFAS nor did they use them in consumer products such as clothing, cosmetics, or kitchenware [such as] Teflon. Landfills—and waste-to-energy facilities—are passive receivers of waste materials that contain PFAS. During the decomposition of waste at a landfill, leachate is generated, and it contains PFAS, which typically is sent to a local wastewater treatment facility (WWTF). Some of these facilities have begun to prohibit or restrict their intake of leachate due to public health concerns or impending regulations. This has the potential to increase operational costs for landfills as the number of outlets for leachate decreases and/or landfills are forced to install expensive PFAS treatment systems to handle the sixteen billion gallons of leachate they generate annually.”

The EPA is expected to issue a proposed regulation later this year as part of the agency’s Strategic Roadmap that will designate two PFAS compounds as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund program. “SWANA and other waste management stakeholders have met with the EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to express concerns about the application of these proposals to landfills,” Biderman says.

“Specifically, if leachate from landfills contains a listed hazardous substance which creates Superfund liability, WWTFs are very unlikely to accept it, and past discharges by WWTFs of treated wastewater could create costly Superfund liability for landfills. This liability would likely be passed along to customers in the form of higher disposal costs. SWANA is educating federal policymakers and others about the potential for communities throughout the United States being forced to pay substantially higher waste disposal costs if the soon-to-be proposed Superfund regulation includes landfills.”

The association is eager to keep guiding the industry through these challenges and more. “SWANA intends to continue to be an industry leader,” Biderman says. “As the only national association in the United States and Canada that is coast-to-coast and includes members from both the public sector—cities and counties—and the private sector—haulers, landfills, recycling—SWANA plays a critical role in shaping the industry’s future.”

He explains that, “SWANA will continue to educate the industry, advocate for it in the media and in Washington, D.C., and provide safety resources and information to help get the industry off the list of the ten most dangerous occupations in the United States. Data released by SWANA in March 2022 suggests that SWANA’s efforts in this area may be paying off, as there was a 45 percent decline in solid waste industry worker fatalities in 2021 compared to 2020. At the same time, more work needs to be done in this area to ensure this was not a one-year blip.”

In addition, the association plans to become a ‘climate change champion,’ incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into its operations and activities, and help make the waste industry a more attractive place to work.

“The solid waste industry is a terrific and important industry, and the pandemic has proven that it is essential as well,” Biderman summarizes. “Industry leaders need to continue to innovate, be responsive to customer needs and regulatory trends while providing cost-effective and environmentally protective services.”

This will not be easy, but the goal is within reach—especially with industry-wide support. “We have a lot on our plate and invite solid waste industry personnel throughout the United States and Canada to join SWANA and engage with our chapters and technical divisions,” Biderman says. “Together, we can shape the future of this great industry.”

The post Overcoming Challenges in the Solid Waste Industry<p class="company">Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Armed with little more than a cattle truck and the determination to provide for his wife and three children, Abe began going door to door, asking if he could empty people’s trash. At first he wasn’t even sure what to charge, offering to provide the service for whatever customers wanted to pay.

At that time, 95 percent of the local population burned their own trash, often producing heavy smoke that hung over Omaha neighborhoods. Abe hauled trash to his farm, where he burned it in a below-ground silo, sparing his customers the smoke. The difference in local air quality was immediately tangible and demand for his service grew quickly. Abe set up a fee schedule, charging just $1.00 for monthly service and $2.00 for weekly service and collected 50-gallon drums from local factories for his customers to use. To help get the company off the ground, Abe’s wife, Arlene, worked with him to unload trash. Their son, John, came home from college every weekend to drive routes, until he eventually decided to make trash collection his fulltime focus.

Fast-forward nearly seventy years and Abe’s humble startup has grown to become one of the biggest recyclers in Nebraska. Still family-owned and operated, the company will pass from John Christensen to his four children when he retires in the near future. “They all went to college and graduated and they all came back to work for me,” Christensen says. Now his children and their spouses all run the company together, successfully taking Abe’s Trash Service into the third generation. “They take perfect care of the business.”

Indeed, the close-knit family atmosphere is foundational to the company culture. “It’s absolutely perfect working with family members every day,” Christensen says. “I see my kids every day. I see my son-in-law and my daughters-in-law every day. My grandkids I see three or four times a week because it’s all family-owned. Being a family business [is] just absolutely positive.”

The family’s collective commitment has been key to the company’s long-term success. “I think the management team is very important,” Christensen says. “Me and my three sons—I have three sons and a daughter—we actually go out and work on the trucks and change tires and even me, at seventy years old, I still go out and drive a roll off truck quite often, at least three or four days a week. I’ll go do a stop here or a stop there.”

In addition to ensuring that the business is operating smoothly, this hands-on-approach is great for morale. “The people that work for you, they like being out with the boss and [that] the boss does the same thing they do.” In fact, the company culture is so positive and morale so high that the first employee Christensen ever hired stayed with the company all the way through to retirement—then returned after four months. “He’s back working full time for us.”

The commitment to day-to-day operations certainly makes the Christensen family stand out. “Most people in my position don’t drive a truck or go work in their shop,” Christensen points out. But the founder’s can-do attitude still runs strong all the way through to the third generation of Christensens. “My three boys, we all do everything—whatever needs to be done.”

Understandably, the company’s greatest challenge came with the pandemic. “Probably, in all these years I picked up trash, it was the worst time,” Christensen says. “Because all the smaller restaurants, all the small shops, all the small bars, all the commercial accounts, unless they were in a big shopping mall or something, they just discontinued service because they had to close their doors… People were calling up and just quitting. And then we told them, ‘don’t quit. We’ll put you on vacation, because I hope everybody gets opened up sometime soon and I’d like to be your trash service again.’ It’s pretty amazing how many people discontinued services.”

Residential demand picked up, but only in volume, not in profit. “The residential tonnage went up because everybody was staying home all day,” Christensen recalls. This increased demand created additional strain on the business, particularly when COVID infections swept through the company despite the team’s precautions. “We tried being really careful with our company,” Christensen says. “We didn’t let the drivers in the office [and we] kept everybody separated, but we still got it. There were a couple of times we had five or six people out at a time because of COVID.”

Employees and Christensen family members who stayed well rallied together to get the job done each day. “Everybody just put in a lot more hours. My kids went out and did routes. I can honestly tell you that not one time were we a day late. We just stayed out and made sure everything got done.”

Certainly, the industry has transformed since the 1950s, when Abe Christensen first peddled his trash hauling services door to door. “There have been a lot of changes in trash hauling from when I started,” Christensen remembers. “When I started, I picked up trash and I dumped it in a field and I burned it, which is highly illegal now, and that’s what my dad did too.” Now sustainability is at the forefront of the company, particularly a commitment to divert waste from landfill.

For instance, Abe’s Trash Service recently signed an account with a large, national company whose trash had been going straight to landfill. “They switched over to us and we spread it all out on farm ground—our farm ground and neighboring farm ground—it’s probably about 60 to 70 tons every day.” There are a number of trace chemicals in the waste including lime, phosphate, potash, potassium, and zinc. “It’s good for the farm ground,” Christensen explains.

The material comes from green waste construction, a concept that strives to reuse or recycle as much construction material as possible rather than sending it to landfill. “All that wood is usually thrown into a dumpster and drywall and concrete and things like that as well,” Christensen explains. “The wood and the drywall, we grind that with our residential yard waste and commercial yard waste and compost it. And then we spread it out on farm ground. It makes excellent compost.”

In order to remain at the leading edge of the industry, the family works hard to keep up with the latest developments on everything from sustainability to new technology. “We keep up to date on all the new activities going on in recycling and trash hauling,” Christensen says. The team is already planning their annual trip to this year’s Solid Waste Convention, where they stay abreast of current trends and changing regulations. “You learn all the new things that are happening and see the new equipment out there,” Christensen says.

This willingness to embrace change—while holding fast to the work ethic that built the company—is sure to keep Abe’s Trash Service running successfully into the third generation and beyond.

The post A Family Success Story<p class="company">Abe’s Trash Service</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Filco Carting collects solid waste for commercial, residential, industrial, and institutional clients in all five Big Apple boroughs. The company also serves Long Island and upstate New York through partner firms.

Having endured COVID—which saw a massive drop in office garbage pickup—Filco now wants to expand its reach and enhance existing operations. The company is also waiting to see how a new municipal commercial waste zones program plays out.

“We’re looking at it as an opportunity to grow. That’s why we ordered twenty-one new trucks, and we’re going to break ground on a new plant. We’re getting ready,” states President and Chief Executive Officer Domenic Monopoli, whose great-grandfather founded the firm.

Introduced in late 2019, the commercial waste zones program divides New York City into twenty territories, each to be served by a maximum of three private garbage carting companies. The city’s goal is to streamline trash pickup, reduce truck traffic from private waste firms, enhance safety through such measures as driver training requirements, and improve recycling efforts.

Filco, like its competitors, has put together bids for obtaining work within the demarcated commercial zones. It has also applied for a license to offer services in New Jersey, a move that would expand its business beyond New York State.

The company does more than just garbage pickup. It also rents debris containers to construction sites, hauls organic waste, and destroys documents. Filco’s organic services help New York City restaurants meet mandates to separate organic material from other waste as it uses specialized vehicles to pick up organic waste from eateries. Document destruction involves shredding or burning confidential papers from financial institutions. The company can also supply a shred truck or pack paper into a regular garbage collection vehicle and ship it to an incinerator.

Headquartered in Brooklyn, Filco has a storefront office and 100,000 square feet of space across the street for trucks and rental containers. This space also contains facilities for welding, repairs, and safety training. The storefront office is being expanded, and the company wants to open a 25,000-square-foot facility with a baling machine and sorting system.

Filco’s energetic promotional strategy reflects the company’s optimism for the future. The firm runs radio ads, has “seven salesmen on foot at all times, is heavily involved in social media platforms, and is considering a billboard,” notes Monopoli.

Prior to COVID, the commercial sector brought in the most revenue, he says. When the pandemic struck in force in March 2020, however, many downtown Manhattan office buildings cleared, as employees were told to work at home. With offices producing less waste, commercial business declined. This was a disaster for a firm that traditionally did much of its work on Manhattan Island.

“We lost eighty percent of our business,” he states. “Once the office buildings and restaurants closed, we were lucky enough to still service all the utilities in the City of New York and all the city buildings and fire department and police department and hospitals. That’s what kept us alive. If we didn’t have that it would have been very, very difficult to stay alive.”

Filco also hauls waste for state and federal government facilities based in New York City. “Manhattan Island is coming back, but it’s not where it was pre-pandemic. But the industrial marketplace is booming. So, I would say right now industrial is more of a revenue base,” he continues.

The decrease in office business, however, meant the company had to lay off staff. Personnel numbers decreased from 145 employees at the time we last spoke in 2020 to 105 today.

COVID also pushed Filco to beef up its already comprehensive health and safety procedures to prevent the virus from infecting staff. Garbage collection can be hazardous at the best of times, made worse by dense New York City traffic and pedestrians and drivers distracted by smartphones and other electronic devices.

Given this, the company is “always very keyed up on safety. Safety is our thing,” states Monopoli. “In normal times, we supply boots, gloves, goggles, and helmets. We started giving out masks and disinfected trucks between shifts. There was sanitizer in the trucks, by the time clock, and in the bathroom. I had to keep workers as safe as I could.”

The company also relies on technology and intensive training to keep its workers safe. Filco drivers go through the Smith System training program, a series of courses about defensive driving techniques for operators of work vehicles. Weekly toolbox meetings are held to discuss safety matters, and each spring, the company hosts a mandatory Saturday morning gathering for all staff. Accidents and incidents of the past year are discussed, with a view on how to avoid such events in future. Guest speakers offer additional insights about driver safety. Trucks are routinely inspected and well-maintained, and Filco has mechanics on staff.

To enhance safety and productivity, company trucks contain camera systems that improve visibility for drivers and GPS units. Drivers are given computer tablets that provide route information. “In New York, you never know where there’s going to be traffic or a fire,” Monopoli points out. Office staff can remotely monitor truck speed, stops, and other performance indicators.

While most of its work centers on commercial and industrial clients, the company does have a few residential customers. In New York City, the municipal Department of Sanitation picks up residential refuse and recycling while private firms handle the rest. The sanitation department does twice-weekly runs. Some wealthy denizens of Manhattan, however, want daily waste collection and hire Filco to fill the gap.

Clients who are both rich and famous have additional concerns. Obsessive fans have been known to pilfer garbage put out by New York City-based celebrities, in the hope of finding mementoes. To prevent such unseemly looting, celebs often put security guards around their trash bins and rely on private collection for expeditious service. “We time it perfectly. Security informs us when [the garbage is] out, and we come and pick it up,” states Monopoli.

This approach fits with Filco’s customer-first credo. Indeed, the company’s impressive longevity can be attributed to a combination of hard work, determination, and a service-oriented ethos, he says. “We always did everything right. We always had the right insurance. You never cut corners. Either you do it right, or you don’t do it at all.”

Family ownership is another strength, as far as Monopoli is concerned. From the earliest days, this has been a family-run business. “In our world, the oldest brother ran the show. You basically worked for him. Everyone seemed to get along and work.”

He is currently the sole owner, although he has sisters and other family members working alongside him. The plan is to keep Filco a family firm going forward, he says.

Taking an active interest in community affairs is also part of the company’s family focus. When COVID hit, the firm teamed up with a group called the Cypress Hills East New York Coalition to provide food for needy families. In addition, it hands out turkeys at Thanksgiving, free backpacks filled with school supplies for kids each fall, and gifts at Christmas. “We buy thousands of Christmas presents because no child should wake up without a present,” says Monopoli.

The company has earned kudos for its generosity. In late 2020, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams (now mayor of New York City), presented Filco with a citation for feeding families. In 2021, the company received several additional awards from city and state legislators for performing charitable work. These activities “are something we need to do. While we have the ability, we will continue to do it,” Monopoli states.

The company has a unionized workforce, using drivers from Laborers Local Union 108. Monopoli, who is an employer trustee for this local, wants to see Filco return to a pre-pandemic level of employment.

“If I’m successful winning the zones I’m bidding on and I purchased those twenty-one trucks, you’re definitely going to need another fifty to sixty, maybe seventy guys. Then, when we have the plant up, that’s another thirty guys. If everything goes well, over the next twenty-four months, we’ll have a minimum of fifty to sixty more employees,” he states.

In five years, he’d like to see the company “about fifty percent bigger than it is. I would also like to make sure it’s still family-run.”

“We are so fixated on service, service, service. We’ll continue to be that way. We’ve been successful for 111 years, so don’t mess with the recipe. It’s about being respectful; it’s about the best service in New York; it’s about the best equipment in New York; it’s about the best union men in New York. We’ll just continue with that recipe and hope for success.”

The post High-Tech Trucks and New Opportunities for this NYC Solid Waste Collection Company<p class="company">Filco Carting</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

As Vice President of Consolidated Waste Services (CWS) in Asheville, North Carolina, she herself spends a lot of time planning and thinking about the management of trash across industrial, residential, and commercial sectors, and how to improve it.

Founded by Alexander’s father – who had previously worked extensively within the trash industry – CWS started in 2003 with one truck he drove himself, answering phone calls by day and handling billing and administrative work in the evening. Nineteen years later, CWS has gone from a couple of employees to around 75.

“Since I was a little girl, I’ve always known about trash,” says Alexander. “I love the design concept and problem-solving side of the construction within the realm of trash.”

After graduating from Appalachian State University in 2009, Alexander worked for her father, running the front desk and learning the business, but left for a while to explore career paths, including medical sales.

During her five years away, she married, moved from Asheville and back again, and fell pregnant with her first son. Her job, however, required being away from home a lot, and she decided that working with her father offered a better work-life balance.

Since returning to CWS at the start of 2016, her dad has taken a step back, letting Alexander run the day-to-day operation, but he’s still there behind the curtain.

“Whenever I need to chat with him, he still makes his presence known, and we have a great partnership,” she says. “He stays in his lane, and I stay in mine when dealing with the business.”

Alexander’s proud that, since her return, CWS has grown over 40 percent in gross revenue. She believes that one of the main reasons the family duo has been so successful is that she and her father have very different management styles.

“He’s very old school, very strong work-ethic oriented, and everyone needs to report to work,” she says. “We’re here to do a job and to do the right thing. I completely agree with him, I just also bring a different approach in trying to find a balance with employees.”

Work-life balance is very important to Alexander, and as a mother of two, she understands the life situations employees can face. She and her dad work together to understand the different factors affecting different employees.

“It’s almost like a game of tennis,” says Alexander. “We’re just bouncing ideas back and forth, input, situations, among other things with one another that I think allow us to be successful and have such a good balance.”

It’s a balance that comes in handy. While CWS isn’t “the big-guy trash company,” they operate at that level, and while it’s the largest privately-owned waste hauler in Western North Carolina, Alexander plans to keep it low-key.

“I like to keep that mom-and-pop feel,” she says. “When I interview someone, I always start by saying this isn’t your typical interview. I want to know you as a person outside of work. I want to know what excites you, do you have kids, what do you like to do with your family, what makes you happy when you’re not at work.”

She says knowing those things allows her to get to know them not as an employee, but on a personal level because CWS is a family.

“I also want every employee to feel comfortable talking with me and my father because I feel that when they’re comfortable, I get more insight into what’s going on – into the things that I don’t see every day.”

During COVID, she says, the CWS office was a daycare – literally. One employee whose daycare closed due to the pandemic simply brought her toddler to work, where she was welcomed with open arms.

“I brought a playpen from home and the young child took naps in my office,” says Alexander. “Everyone here would help care, and now that little girl is going off to kindergarten next year. When she is off from school or sick she will come and sit in my office and watch Barbie movies.”

That sense of family extends to those employees who have worked for her father at other companies and have known Alexander since she was little, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s just very much that we know when you’re having a bad day, and we know if things aren’t going the way you want. We’re all here for each other.”

She adds that maintaining those relationships allows employees to be truthful, and they take more accountability when they mess up.

“One of my biggest pet peeves is micromanaging. If I must micromanage someone then it’s probably not going to be a good fit,” she says. “Each employee is different and what makes them do well and excel may be different than other employees.”

Alexander says you’re always trying to reinvent the wheel as an employer. That means you’re training and spending time – sometimes months – before drivers are fully equipped to go out on the road alone.

“There’s a lot of cost in training someone and making sure they’re safe when their trucks aren’t parked,” she says. “In interviews, I will ask if they are looking for a career or just a place to set your feet right now? Sometimes people looking for right now are still a good fit, but with keeping that in mind, I think it also helps to know where to invest your time and to keep your focus.”

All-around efficiency is vital when it comes to running a successful business, and it’s something she’s helped elevate by managing routes and drivers to make them more time- and fuel-economical.

“We’re going to work smarter not harder because time and resources are money,” Alexander says. “We have to be smart in how we’re doing things.”

Delegating one driver to one location has helped provide exceptional service to customers including Walmart, Sam’s Clubs, various construction companies, restaurants, and apartment complexes.

“Sometimes the needs of customers can be really demanding,” says Alexander. “Also, a lot of the time trash is the last thing that is thought of. One of my biggest goals is, how can I put trash into the forefront of what people think about when it comes to a construction site, a new apartment complex, or a subdivision they’re building? By helping customers understand the importance of planning for their waste needs instead of being an afterthought, we are able to make sure that a truck can fit into their location.”

The problem is more common than many think. Often, the wrong size corral is built for containers, resulting in money wasted and a prolonged project all for just trash, she says. Due to being unaware of how the waste disposal would need to flow, some architects will neglect to plan for a more efficient method of waste disposal, such as a compactor, which requires a certain depth of concrete to withstand the weight of the truck and the equipment. You must make sure that you also consider the type of truck that would be used for the container chosen for your waste needs.

“You must take measurements into consideration,” says Alexander. “Also, what are their recycling waste needs? Are they going to single-stream everything? What’s the flow, and operationally speaking, what’s going to be living there? It’s a lot to think about.”

Despite her deep experience and impressive expertise, Alexander still encounters some hostility in the industry, one where there are typically few women in evidence, especially at the upper levels. However, she’s made many connections and friendships through the years as the company’s forged ahead, in no small part due to her commitment.

“There’s nothing that’s ever beneath me,” she says, including getting her hands dirty. “I keep my work boots in my office. My mornings begin with me checking in with my operations manager to discuss our agenda for the day and if there are any issues that need to be addressed. There have been times when we have had a slinger out, and I’ll throw on my boots and help with slinging trash.”

While she doesn’t do that to get recognition from employees, she does want them to understand she’s there to help in any way she can: She not only feels responsible for those employees but their families as well.

“That’s why I have no intention of ever closing the doors of my father’s business. I have these men and women who have said to me, ‘I’m here with you for the long run, I’m here as long as you keep working,’ and I think that pushes me to do more,” she says. “CWS is my father’s baby, and I know that it makes him proud that I care for this business as much as him. I’m very proud of what he has accomplished, and I want to carry on his legacy with the business.”

And when she’s not busy slinging trash, Alexander can drive the trucks, too, surprising one customer in particular as she backed up an entire half-mile driveway to deliver a box.

“I put the box down and he came around from the other side of the job site as I’m getting the box off the back of the truck, and he looked at me and said, ‘Is that you, Morgan?’ And I said, ‘You needed a dumpster, right? You’re a great customer of ours and I’m here to take care of you.’ He called my father and said, ‘I didn’t know your daughter can drive a truck.’ Each and every customer for us is like another extension of family.”

Her dad, she adds, is a people-pleasing person who takes a lot of pride in customer service. Alexander tries to find the middle ground while keeping in mind her commitment to employee health and welfare – and that means sometimes taking a tough stance with the demands of customers.

“When CWS was smaller it was very easy to accommodate same-day service. Since the growth of the business, our schedule can become full quickly. We sometimes have to tell customers that we cannot fulfill their needs for same day and it will have to be the next. Due to the level of service my father provided when he started the business, they will call him hoping that he can make a spot for them that day,” she says. “It never fails, but I still make sure to make the customers a priority. It may not be exactly when they want it, but they understand.”

Bigger challenges lately have included ongoing supply chain issues, labor shortages, and rising fuel costs, but Alexander strives to always maintain a productive and positive employee environment despite adversities.

As the company continues to grow, she aims to reduce operating costs while eliminating duplication of effort. CWS has also reached a point where Alexander needs a new office to accommodate the swelling demands of her duties – despite the havoc of the pandemic, the company has grown and prospered.

“During COVID, we never shut down, not even for a day,” she says. “Construction was considered essential. The construction industry wasn’t stopping; the amount of trash at apartment complexes was exponentially greater because everyone was stuck at home. Grocery retailers were going crazy due to everyone stocking up.”

Alexander hopes that as time goes by, she can continue to not only have a hand in garbage disposal but help customers think about it sooner rather than later.

“Don’t forget about the trash! I want people to think of me when beginning a project,” she says. “I want people to ask, ‘what are your trash solutions for us? What are our options? What’s most cost-effective?’ It’s pretty cool when you look at it that way. I love this side of the business and looking and exploring for different ways to get rid of waste.”

The post Putting Waste in its Place<p class="company">Consolidated Waste Services</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Over 70 years later, the company has maintained an identity as Canada’s only independent battery manufacturer and a leader in lead-acid battery manufacturing. The company produces and exports flooded lead-acid and sealed VRLA (valve-regulated lead acid), AGM (absorbed glass mat) & GEL (gas cel) deep cycle batteries as well as LiFePO4 lithium batteries under the “Rolls” brand for the marine, motive power and renewable energy sectors as well as rail, with notable customers including General Motors, Canadian National Railway, General Electric, and more.

Marketing Manager Jeff Myles describes the use of the lead-acid battery, specifically the deep-cycle model which Rolls is known for, as being primarily for cycling and drawing energy over a longer period such as powering industrial equipment or in an off-grid home where the batteries are charged during the day with solar and then energy is drawn over an extended period until charging again the next day.

A flooded lead-acid or ‘wet’ battery gets its name from the fact that its cells are submerged in an electrolyte mix of sulphuric acid and water. Over time, as the battery is repeatedly charged, evaporation occurs, and each cell must be periodically topped up with distilled water to maintain the battery’s capacity and lifespan. Sealed versions, commonly known as AGM or GEL batteries, offer a low-maintenance alternative at a slightly higher manufacturing and consumer cost.

As a well-recognized premium brand, Rolls also touts an aggressive warranty program that rivals most others in its field, as well as offering a unique dual-container design on its premium line of flooded models which provides added safety against spills and uses a modular bolt-on cell construction, allowing easier replacement and transport when necessary.

To further the performance of its products, in recent years, the company has also added a proprietary blend of nanocarbon to all its flooded batteries which allows the battery to charge more efficiently and at lower temperatures, offering better performance and extending cycle life.

Myles explains that lead-acid technology has been around since the late-1800s, and traditional deep cycle batteries have been used in a wide range of applications and industries.

In North America, 99.3 percent of lead-acid batteries are recycled and they are the most recycled consumer product in the world. In Canada, lead-acid batteries are recycled at end of life in a closed-loop recycling program where spent batteries are processed and most recycled lead is then sold back to lead battery manufacturers. Lead from a lead-acid battery can be recycled infinitely; in fact, over 90 percent of the lead used in their manufacturing process comes from recycled lead-acid batteries.

In addition to making use of recycling as a renewable source of lead, Myles notes that the Springhill plant is registered with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), meaning that it is routinely audited and operating at peak efficiency regarding safety.

“We’ve set guidelines and protocols for safety in the workplace which far exceed what is necessary,” says Myles, and employee health is of top priority.

The battery market has seen a boom within the last decade in conjunction with the boom in renewable energy production. Initially, batteries like those produced by Rolls were manufactured for locomotives, marine applications, and industrial equipment. The energy industry eventually adopted deep-cycle batteries and used them further for residential and off-grid purposes.

As renewable energy applications grow, so too does the demand for storage, and so the products in the Rolls inventory have expanded to offer larger battery cells. Myles notes that the company has been selling its traditional flooded lead-acid batteries for use in renewable energy applications just as much as it did ten years ago, if not more so, thanks to the continued popularity of renewable energy solutions.

Myles has observed a large uptick in the use of lithium batteries in myriad large-scale storage applications, a solution that is very enticing due to their maintenance-free operation and lower weight, especially compared to lead-acid batteries.

With distributors and dealers looking to expand product offerings in the wake of this, the company hired an LFP (lithium iron phosphate) specialist to help with research and development of its own lithium battery offering.

Developing a line of drop-in replacement models with LFP cells, known to be the most stable, the company now offers a lighter-weight maintenance-free alternative to sealed lead-acid models. These batteries incorporate a built-in battery management system (BMS) – essentially, a computer that manages charging of individual cells and limits operation in conditions outside its safe operating range.

Lithium is not the magic solution for all that some may assume, Myles stresses, and its current rise is not at the expense of the reliable, traditional lead-acid battery. Lithium does hold the advantage over traditional lead-acid batteries with respect to comparable size and weight for equivalent storage capacity. However, lithium batteries do pose a potentially higher risk of failure due to the sheer number of components, leading to more frequent and costly whole battery replacements.

There is a perception in the industry that, because of the availability of the more modernized lithium options, lead-acid batteries will not be viable because of the weight. However, this comes at a premium price to the consumer and Myles stands firm that, although lithium is better suited in some applications where frequent and fast charging and discharging is required, lead-acid batteries will continue to offer a more affordable energy storage solution, especially for residential off-grid customers, and last as long, if not longer, than its lithium equivalent when properly sized and maintained.

Customers in developing countries are often deterred by lithium offerings both because of price and because they lack any incentives such as core credits offered when recycled which offset the cost of replacement at end of life. Many countries in Africa and Central America prefer to work with more familiar flooded and sealed lead-acid batteries as they offer a lower upfront cost, simplicity of use, and availability.

After the advent of COVID-19 in 2020, many deep cycle battery manufacturers were hit hard as the demand for traditional batteries for use in industrial equipment such as floor scrubbers, as well as residential energy storage, grew considerably. This is a positive step for companies like Surrette, but also comes with its own obstacles in that the logistics in obtaining supplies to build batteries are currently strained due to global supply chain challenges. The past few years have not been easy for the company between this market strain, employee shortages, and the rising cost of freight, but it has found its distributor and dealer networks to be very understanding and supportive as the industry continues to move forward.

Continuing to adapt to the demands of the energy storage market, the company is also developing a new enhanced lithium product line with improved connectivity and added features including self-heating, allowing the battery to operate seamlessly in colder climates, which should prove very popular for use in seasonal, off-grid residential applications across Canada. The company’s product offering is tried-and-true, and the Rolls brand has ably stayed on top of the battery game.

Between these innovations, its attention to market trends, and the savvy of its crew, the company aims to keep lead-acid batteries as relevant as they have always been while adapting to the ups and downs of the market with the intelligence and aplomb of their three generations and decades worth of experience.

The post Canada’s Premier Lead-Acid Battery Manufacturer<p class="company">Surrette Battery Company Ltd.</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

The national non-profit member association wants to pivot from GHG-emitting fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar. In an ideal scenario, CanREA would like to see solar and wind generating at least a third of Canada’s electricity by 2050. Such a move would dramatically reduce GHG emissions while creating jobs and economic opportunities, says the association.

Details of this ambitious plan are spelled out in the report, “Powering Canada’s Journey to Net-Zero: CanREA’s 2050 Vision.” The document suggests ways to ramp up electricity production while achieving national GHG benchmarks. The Government of Canada has committed to a 40 per cent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, and aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The 2050 Vision document “is grounded in the notion that the time for action is now. The sense of urgency is something we tried to stress throughout, and the scale and speed of the action we’re calling for is really unprecedented in Canada. We think it’s reasonable and doable, but only if we get started now,” states Brandy Giannetta, CanREA Vice-President of Policy, Regulatory and Government Affairs.

CanREA was founded in July 2020, through a merger of the Canadian Wind Energy Association and Canadian Solar Industries Association. The amalgamation also saw the fledgling organization expand its mandate to include energy storage. Based in Ottawa, CanREA has “a pretty diverse membership base” consisting of everybody from “rooftop solar panel installers, all the way up to large equipment manufacturers,” says Giannetta.

CanREA advocates for members and “works toward favourable policy and regulatory environments, so we can realize the benefits that wind, solar, and energy storage bring to Canada in a responsible and sustainable way,” she continues.

To this end, the association developed the 2050 vision report, released in November 2021. The document cites five priorities.

The first goal is decarbonizing electricity production in Canada by 2035. This entails adopting a clean electricity standard with clear GHG emission limits, and consultations on such a standard are now underway.

The second goal on the ‘to-do’ list is modernizing electricity markets and regulatory structures in Canada. The aim here is to lay the groundwork for expanding and decarbonizing the electricity grid in a cost-efficient manner. Among other measures, CanREA recommends removing barriers facing renewables within the electricity system and encouraging innovation to allow renewables and other new technologies to provide services to the grid.

Thirdly, the association endorses building new solar, wind, and energy storage in Canada through competitive procurement procedures to acquire cost-effective new, decarbonized electricity production.

Rethinking electricity infrastructure investments and minimizing the cost of developing new distribution and transmission infrastructure is fourth on the list. CanREA encourages regional energy collaboration and infrastructure investment as well as more efficient use of existing infrastructure.

Lastly, the report recommends reducing GHG emissions in Canadian buildings, industry, and transportation by using decarbonized electricity, as well as deploying strategies to produce low-carbon-intensity green hydrogen from renewable energy.

While the report is ambitious in tone, CanREA believes its goals are entirely achievable. For one thing, most electricity in Canada is already produced by non-GHG emitting means. Electricity accounts for about 16 per cent of total energy use in Canada, but this needs to increase to 50 per cent by 2050.

In 2018, some 61 per cent of Canada’s total electricity generation was produced by water power, using waves, tides, or currents to generate electricity. Of the remainder, 15 per cent was generated by nuclear power, nine per cent by natural gas, eight per cent by coal, five per cent by wind, and one per cent by biomass/geothermal. Solar accounted for less than one per cent of electricity production in 2018.

Canada’s current generation system has its limitations, however. Green as it may be, new hydroelectric power can be expensive, labour-intensive and can involve years of exploration, research, and construction work.

Other clean energy sources present different challenges. Hydrogen, for example, has been touted as a possible breakthrough green power solution. For all its potential, hydrogen currently remains untested a “wild card,” according to the Canadian Climate Institute.

“At a time when we’re talking about doubling electricity generation and need to get started now… we need to focus on accelerating deployment of [what the Climate Institute terms] ‘safe bets.’ Those wild cards will not help us today,” says Giannetta. Will there be a role for them? I think, yes. There is a role for many different technology solutions, but we have to double down on wind and solar now because it’s proven. It’s the lowest cost option, it’s flexible and ready to go today,” she explains.

Wind power, in fact, has become the lowest-cost energy source for generating electricity in Canada. Wind turbines can be installed on land or in water where breezes turn the turbine blades to generate electricity. In a solar setup, photovoltaic cells absorb sunshine that is converted to electricity. Neither wind nor solar systems produce any greenhouse gas emissions after they are manufactured.

In addition to being inexpensive compared to other green alternatives, wind and solar systems are highly scalable. A single wind turbine or solar panel can be installed on a home or property to generate a small quantity of electricity. Large numbers of wind turbines or solar panels, meanwhile, can be arrayed in ‘farms’ to power neighbourhoods, factories or communities. Storage systems, in the form of batteries or other solutions, store electricity generated by renewable sources for future use.

As of December 31, 2021, Canada boasted 14,304 megawatts (MW) of wind energy capacity, an increase from 13,627 MW in 2020. This puts Canada ninth globally in wind capacity. Last year, 677 MW of new wind power was commissioned, a growth rate of around five per cent. Most wind energy growth occurred in Alberta, with additional expansion in Ontario, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.

Solar energy capacity in Canada as of December 31 was 2,399 MW, an increase from 2020 when capacity was 2,111 MW. Some 288 MW worth of solar power was added in 2021, for a growth rate of 13.6 per cent. As with wind power, most solar energy expansions took place in Alberta, with some growth in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

CanREA predicts an additional 1,000 MW of solar and 2,000 MW of wind will be added in Canada this year. It views wind and solar as complementary and does not support one over the other.

Wind, solar, and energy storage “are very unique on their own accord, but have very unique synergies and are natural allies,” states Giannetta. “These technologies, when combined, provide a more comprehensive solution.

“Getting to net-zero is going to require an end to the development of new fossil fuel resources. It’s also going to require a dramatic reduction and virtual elimination of all greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production and use,” Giannetta says.

The economic benefits arising from greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuel production need to be balanced against the economic costs associated with climate change, Giannetta says. This includes the increased prevalence of floods, droughts, wildfires, and scorching temperatures. She points to research by the International Energy Agency, a French-based association devoted to energy solutions, to back up her point.

“The International Energy Agency has been really clear. Failure to move away, fulsomely, from fossil fuel production will have devastating economic consequences,” she notes.

On the other hand, a move toward clean electricity will not only forestall ecological calamities, it will be a boon for jobs and growth, she continues.

“If you go into the weeds in the [Powering Canada’s Journey to Net-Zero: CanREA’s 2050 Vision] document, there is an $8 billion investment opportunity for Canada if we pursue our Vision targets. We’ve got 28,000 direct and indirect person-years of employment that we can quantify, every year in Canada, if we rise to the challenge we’ve outlined in the Vision,” Giannetta says.

CanREA believes Canada will need to see 1,600 MW of new solar energy and 3,800 MW of wind energy installed annually, on average, from now until 2050. If these benchmarks are reached, Canada’s wind and solar capacity will grow nearly tenfold.

CanREA recognizes that Canada is still a long way off from achieving these targets, but Giannetta is heartened by the fact that the United States, under President Joe Biden, has also announced plans to decarbonize domestic electricity production. Current energy policy in the U.S. favours the expansion of renewable energy.

Closer to home, the 2050 vision report has received “a very positive reception from decision-makers within the electricity sector,” as well as federal and provincial officials, says Giannetta.

The association was delighted this March when Hydro-Quebec announced plans to add 100 terawatt-hours of renewable energy capacity by 2050. This move will increase electricity generation in Quebec by over 50 per cent and wind energy is expected to play a significant role.

While such developments are encouraging, she again emphasizes the need for speedy action when it comes to expanding and decarbonizing electricity generation.

“What we’re talking about is a massive undertaking, and the sense of urgency is something I can’t stress enough. Despite that massive undertaking, our members in Canada and the energy industry are ready to take on the challenge,” she states.

“We can’t wait. We don’t need to pause and study. We know what the solutions are, and we need to move forward.”

The post CanREA’s Ambitious Plan for Reaching Net-Zero<p class="company">Canadian Renewable Energy Association</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Aiming to provide clean energy via solar and geothermal technology as a viable alternative to fossil fuels, miEnergy’s solutions work for homeowners, businesses, and communities, cutting carbon emissions while also providing significant financial benefits, delivering a steady source of clean, renewable energy and ongoing savings.

Starting as a geothermal energy company in 2000, miEnergy now also participates in solar power, electrical, vehicle chargers, batteries, and a breadth of other renewable energy technologies.

Putting the Sun to work

“It’s an interesting time in history now, where business owners, as well as homeowners, have options they’ve never had before,” says President Kevin Bergeron. “These options include many different things, but specific to the products and services that we sell is generating your own heat and power through renewable sources. That hasn’t been an economical option until recent years.”

The company is seeing customers on the commercial and residential sides taking advantage of the opportunity to reduce their reliance on the power grids and utility companies, which in turn is leading to economical ways to be more energy-efficient.

“Along with energy independence, this also leads to other benefits such as increasing property value. We have a lot of people who are interested in the technology and track their own energy production and usage,” says Bergeron. “We’re also entering a time when not only is power generation an economical option, but on-site storage as well is becoming a technology driven by advancements in the electric vehicle industry.”

It’s becoming economical and an option for people to bolt that on to their generation as well, he says. “These are exciting times, not only for commercial and residential customers but everybody who pays a power bill.”

Opportunity time

Additionally, the Canadian government will spend $1.5 billion over the next five years to assist green and accessible retrofits, repairs, or renovations of existing public community facilities and new community buildings for underprivileged communities. Projects that would enhance energy efficiency by at least 25 percent over the baseline are more likely to get funded.

“We like to call it the electrification of society,” Bergeron says. “As we see electric vehicles, battery technology, and generation via solar and renewable energy, it’s not the way that things were done in the past, but as I said, it’s giving people options they’ve never had before. It’s super exciting.”

miEnergy is also pleased to have recently entered into a partnership with First Nations communities in Saskatchewan. miEnergy North America is a collaboration between 10 First Nations – nine of which are part of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC), plus Mistawasis Nêhiyawak – and miEnergy Inc., with the aim of being an energy leader while focusing on solar power development and related projects.

The new company will promote and develop sustainable, innovative renewable energy solutions for utilities, businesses, communities, and Indigenous peoples.

“This is focused on getting win-win scenarios that assist not only Indigenous communities but also other communities to adopt renewable-energy technologies,” Bergeron says. “When I talk win-win scenarios, we as a company are able to engage in those productive early conversations with communities that are eager to take the step toward renewable energy.”

To that end, for each First Nation involved, the business relationship will result in financial returns and job prospects, benefit everyone, and maximise their potential, which is consistent with the Nation’s desire to see the community thrive and grow.

“Also, along that journey, we like to use the analogy that we meet our customers at base camp and assist them to the top of the mountain,” Bergeron says. “We’ve done it before, and we have a lot of experience in this industry. We have the ability to create those kinds of win-win scenarios that help Indigenous and other communities to adopt renewable energy technologies.”

miEnergy North America will help pioneer the path for renewable energy and build a sustainable energy landscape not only for the region but also to partners in the United States and beyond to create further growth and development.

“We’re super excited to have this partnership with our partners and see lots of opportunities, not only regionally here in western Canada, but elsewhere across North America.”

These investments will provide considerable, long-term benefits to communities and the environment, assisting in the ongoing shift of perception regarding “going green,” something Bergeron has seen building continuously during his time in the clean energy industry.

Perception shift

“I would say it’s been massive over the last few years. miEnergy, as it is today, has been in business for over 20 years in renewable energy and has seen a huge shift in the last couple of years,” he says. “Not only with the education aspect of how renewable energy technology works, but also that it does work and that it is economical and applicable to people here in society, whether residential, commercial or on a larger, utility scale.”

The conversations being had these days are very much informed conversations with educated consumers who understand that this technology works and that it applies to them, he says.

“We’re excited to have been part of that journey over the past 20 years, but there’s still a lot more work left to get there.”

miEnergy – listed as one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada in 2020 and 2021 – has seen some healthy growth in the last couple of years due to its solar division and the demand for solar technology, especially in western Canada and Alberta, Bergeron says.

“We’re seeing pretty rapid growth in the company. It’s very exciting to not only be a part of a growing industry but to be growing very efficiently and be a customer-focused company as well.”

Remaining focused and growing in a healthy way is of utmost importance, he says. “We’re facing challenges just like any other organization coming out of COVID. Over the last decade in our industry, the political aspect and political whims have been a challenge in the different geographic areas where we’ve been operating, but we continue to grow year over year, and we don’t see that slowing down any time in the future.”

Pride in people

While steady growth is certainly an admirable accomplishment, together with the numerous noteworthy projects miEnergy has undertaken over the years, Bergeron stresses the company’s pride always starts with its people.

“I would say, as one of the leaders in the organization, that attracting and retaining the people we have on our team has to be our biggest accomplishment,” he says. “We have a fantastic team of people with a heck of a lot of experience in this industry. They’re very committed and have the vision of what we’re trying to accomplish. That’s our biggest accomplishment!”

In addition to its people, MiEnergy is also proud of its record of facilitating powerful partnerships. Those powerful partnerships extend beyond the recent miEnergy North America and Indigenous partnership – as the company deals in a similar way with all its respected clients and customers.

“It’s really a partnership and at the end of the day it’s a win-win scenario,” says Bergeron. “We’re super proud of those accomplishments over the last couple of years.”

A different way

Moving forward, miEnergy will continue to set itself apart by not only driving the electrification of society but by making a difference in the industry as it offers clients and customers a different way of doing things.

“We believe it’s an important part to play as an organization,” Bergeron says. “So, another thing that sets us apart is that, as a certified B-Corporation, we operate differently from a lot of other businesses. We put our people before profits, which is an important issue from a shareholder’s perspective of what’s the most important thing. And that’s the people and the stakeholders over profits.”

Those people include a skilled miEnergy team that covers many Provinces in Canada, bringing a cumulative renewable-energy experience to many decades: designing, installing, and standing by its work on more than 1,700 planned and completed projects.

“We’re very proud of our culture,” says Bergeron. “We’re very proud of the people we have and what they represent. We’re proud of the way we do business. And we’re proud of having a strong partnership approach to every engagement, whether with a vendor, a customer, or an integral team member on our team.”

The post Let the Sunshine In – Clean Energy for Everyone<p class="company">miEnergy</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Particularly active in demanding sectors like oil and gas, forestry, mining, agriculture, and renewable energy, Vertex has been described as an industry leader and is highly regarded by its clients.

Vertex started off in 1962 as a promising small oilfield services company, but a long way from today’s Vertex with its ability to meet an extraordinary number of the environmental needs of industry. Providing a select few services early on, such as industrial insulation, scaffolding, and the rental of light towers and generators, 1991 saw the company begin servicing oil companies, offering drilling waste and reclamation consulting, and vegetation management services in the years to follow.

A decade ago, all the operating companies came together and were branded Vertex Resource Group Ltd.

Full service – environmental & industrial

Actively acquiring other businesses including environmental consulting firms, energy services, oilfield solutions, and Hydro-Vac companies – to name a few – Vertex today provides an array of environmental, industrial, and consulting services.

Working with clients to provide valuable solutions at every stage of a project, Vertex’s offerings include advisory services, emission management, environment and land, and engagement services, along with fluid management and logistics, site services, waste and recycling, industrial cleaning and maintenance, pressure and vacuum, and much more.

Paul Blenkhorn, P.Eng., Vice President of Consulting Services, explains: “We have our environmental consulting arm, composed of engineers, scientists, and geologists, and we have a professional services arm providing consulting advice and manpower services around environmental projects. Then we have our environmental equipment arm, which is a variety of industrial cleaning, fluid management, logistical equipment, vac trucks and steam trucks, and industrial cleaning, where we can provide boots on the ground labour and equipment pieces to solve things out in the field,” he shares.

“When we put the two together it becomes a unique combination because we provide the science and advice along with the physical execution of a number of projects.”

Client-focused

Deeply committed to principles of integrity and safety, Vertex always aims for quality and the highest possible customer satisfaction, all while remaining cost-competitive. Continually developing over the past six decades, Vertex is dedicated to adapting to customer needs and respecting the environment. This has resulted in repeat business from clients and a number of awards.

Most recently, Vertex was recognized as a Gold Shovel Standard Certified contractor, a validation of companies with safety management systems that ensure “safe excavation practices for protecting buried assets and those working around them.” This designation fits into Vertex’s corporate culture of health and safety. And with dedicated safety professionals on staff, the recognition is a testament to the company’s ability to grow while keeping clients and the public safe at the same time.

Growing to about 700 full-time staff – including contractors, make that a thousand – Vertex can self-perform most of its work. Serving multinationals and large utilities like Suncor, Imperial Oil, Exxon, Addco, and Hydro One, Vertex also counts individual sole proprietorships among its client base and continues growing the government side of the company.

Active with clients in energy, utilities – including midstream pipelines and electrical on the distribution and transmission side – mining and industrial services, agriculture and forestry, and municipal environments, Vertex’s projects include hydrocarbon producers such as oil and gas, geothermal, wind energy, solar projects, storage initiatives (including battery and air injection), and facility work.

Taking on projects from Ontario to British Columbia, with some work in Atlantic Canada, Vertex has 20 offices to serve the needs of its customers. Additionally, about six years ago, Vertex entered the United States to support the operations of some Canadian clients involved with fluid logistics and environmental consulting. The company sees continued expansion into the U.S. as an important part of its growth strategy.

Inaugural ESG report

Last year, Vertex Resource Group published its Environmental Supply Chain Solutions 2020 ESG Report. For the company, the 36-page report introduces Vertex’s position on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) elements.

In the document, company President and Chief Executive Officer Terry Stephenson remarks that although the publication marks the formal beginning of Vertex’s ESG journey, the concept of sustainability is not a new one. Long before its rebranding a decade ago – and prior to the company’s entry into the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2017 – sustainability was long upheld as a value.

“As an environmental service business, we believe we are ideally positioned for strong ESG performance,” says Stephenson. “We understand that we have a responsibility to maximize our internal ESG performance and have made a corporate commitment to do so. More substantially, we understand that our supply chain opportunity to invoke change and support the ESG initiatives of our customers has a signi¬ficantly broader global impact,” he says.

“As such, our ESG design includes both an internal and supply chain focus. As our ESG journey evolves, so too will our measurement and reporting, holding ourselves accountable to internal and supply chain metrics.”

Ultimately, says Stephenson, Vertex’s intent is “to create business resiliency by becoming a primary source of executable ESG supply-chain solutions for our customers.” This includes developing the company’s ESG Design to align with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Vertex’s own ESG-specifi¬c mission and core values.

Internally, the company will reduce carbon emissions in its own fleet and enhance its environmental business to better serve the needs of customers.

Another key factor for Vertex is the company’s relationship with CanREA – the Canadian Renewable Energy Association – which is integral to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Attending several solar and wind conferences and trade shows prior to CanREA’s creation in 2020, it made sense for Vertex to be a part of the 320 member-plus Association.

“As the organization (CanREA) transitioned away from, say, a single solution to what we saw as a broader offering towards renewable energy, it made more sense for us corporately to be a bigger member,” says Blenkhorn, adding that Vertex’s technical team is also investigating other ways to get involved, supporting the energy transition in wind, solar, and energy storage solutions.

With client projects spread across Canada in all regions, Vertex is also active in Indigenous engagement, including managing Indigenous joint ventures across the organization. This includes involving Indigenous communities in projects as they emerge, sharing scientific knowledge with these communities, discussing and generating career opportunities, and fostering an environment of mentorship. Vertex’s intentions here include creating a better understanding of how Western science fits into the world.

Last year, about 10 percent of the company’s revenue went through Indigenous joint ventures.

Vision for the future
To date, Vertex’s growth has been about 60 percent organic, and 40 percent through key strategic acquisitions. Some benefits of acquisition include “adding bandwidth to what’s being done,” says Blenkhorn. “We have a ‘one plus one equals three’ model, where you can bolt on some of these acquisitions, and use our internal systems and processes to really grow them.”

With its dedication to creating a better planet, Vertex also doesn’t turn up its nose at worthy smaller jobs of a few thousand dollars’ worth, although it regularly takes on projects valued at upwards of $5 million.

Keeping its finger on the pulse of many industries, Vertex continues to re-invent itself. About five or six years ago, the company was more construction-focused, with an emphasis on heavy-facility construction and the industrial-insulation arm. Today, Vertex is much more focused on its environmental service aspects, strengthening its vac-truck division, industrial cleaning, and facility maintenance. “We see this as part of our corporate commitment to sustainability, helping our customers maintain their assets more sustainably.”

Internally, this environmental focus includes trialling a conversion to compressed natural gas from diesel within its fleet to not only save costs and fuel but produce fewer carbon emissions, contributing to the company’s improved supply chain performance for its clients.

As Canada transitions more and more from fossil fuels to renewable energy, carbon capture, and helium and lithium projects, Vertex Resource Group intends to be there every step of the way for its customers.

“When it comes to the energy transition and renewable energy, there is no one solution,” says Blenkhorn. “It’s a combination, from the wind energy everybody knows down to efficiency projects and existing supply chains that get put together in an emerging field, and our ongoing energy transition,” he says.

“We are in the middle of an energy transition, and we need a lot of these existing energy supply chains to get through the next 50 years. 2072 sounds far away, but 1972 was only 50 years ago. Our thinking as an organization is that we are working to integrate sustainability in all of our existing energy supply chains because they are so important,” he shares.

“By supporting our clients with evaluating emerging technologies and solutions, this is where we help industry find where the real winners in the space are, and what that industry will look like as we transition to the next round of cheap and abundant energy for the benefit of everybody.”

The post The Practical Side of Making the Planet a Better Place<p class="company">Vertex Resource Group</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

At Superior Fabrication Company, long-term partnerships trump short-term gains, making it an easy and efficient firm with which to collaborate. For those in original equipment manufacturing, oil and gas, agriculture, and several other sectors, Superior Fabrication Company serves as a contract heavy metal fabricator favored for producing quality heavy-duty welding, forklift mast assemblies that handle 100,000 lbs. and beyond, and bespoke components rendered from metal thicker than one inch – like the pivot body truck frames it is currently building in great numbers for mining companies.

The company is also well-known for the quality machining, welding, and high tolerances of its hydraulic fracking pumps, which are notoriously challenging to fabricate. A subsidiary of The Reserve Group (TRG), the company has a deep understanding of the heavy metal industry and has access to group-wide resources and easy collaboration among sister companies. These include a pressure-vessel facility and a super-heavy fabrication facility dealing with railroads and similar.

“Some mining vehicles have pressure vessels on top of them. We benefit from that by [addressing] fabrication work collaboratively. Sometimes that goes beyond just the Superior Fabrication brand. Now we are providing more comprehensive solutions to people as a result of these cross-brand capabilities,” says Rob Polich, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Superior Fabrication’s clients also benefit from TRG’s strong buying power, giving it access to better prices and often improved resources as a result.

In addition, the company offers clients a full-fledged engineering department with a solid knowledge base. “Because of our mast business, we have a [solid] engineering department which can assist in many ways, especially on first article inspections,” Polich adds, explaining that this initial prototype fabrication has to be to the exact standards upheld under contract fabrication.

Polich also highlights how imperative transparency is at Superior Fabrication. “I have personally studied the fabrication market and found it very opaque. People do not like to show you what is going on behind the curtain. You are not provided updates; you are not shown what is going on. We don’t engage with customers like that,” he says. For this reason, communication is considered to be of the essence, and clients receive regular progress reports and photographs to keep them up to speed with their fabrications while in the manufacturing process. But there is yet more to this dynamic company than first meets the eye.

Superior Fabrication Company also fabricates capital equipment, on- and off-road truck fabrications, dewatering and environmental equipment, charging systems and conveyors, specialty vehicle frames, and much more. Furthermore, its fabrication systems include all the elements needed to take projects from start to finish, including engineering, assembly, inspection, end of line testing, and painting.

There are always new partners signing up. As such, the company welcomed some fifteen first-time visitors to its plants just last year, adding to its impressive existing client base. And in a bid to build confidence and share expertise, such prospective clients are also free to conduct tests on its components and systems in-house. “That is not common in the industry. Even when we engage with a new prospect, we have every department’s managerial person there to address questions and discuss their subject matter and area of respective expertise. As a result, we’re much more successful – and we have more partnerships than we have customers,” Polich shares.

These efforts are supported by formal weekly progress meetings where the engineering and production teams meet with clients to iron out any possible challenges and ensure that they are on the right track. “We are not a one-off fabricator; we’re not interested in short-term work. Conversely, we seek long-term partners. We’re particular about who we engage with, and we expect them to be particular about who they trust,” he says.

To this end, every project is handled by a focused manager offering singular attention to every detail – including timelines and budgets. And Superior Fabrication’s after-sales service is just as robust, with all parts and service requirements being met and taken care of to the same high standards.

This approach brings us to an unlikely philosophy about clients and business in general. Albeit also very refreshing, the term ‘empathy’ is not one that you naturally and easily imagine when you think of heavy metal fabrication. Here, however, empathy is implied at the beginning of every sentence. And it is a trait that this dynamic leader holds very dear, both personally and professionally. The company’s transparency is only one of the ways in which it shows empathy to its partners; another way in which it displays empathy is by mitigating clients’ risk factors where possible, as with material management issues, complex processes, difficult tolerances, and the like. Whatever is needed to ensure clients feel confident and secure throughout the project, the Superior Fabrication team goes the extra mile to provide.

“[We offer] effective communication targeted at their greatest areas of concern and risk. We like to mitigate risk for both us and the client. A successful partnership for us is the mitigation of mutual risk. Many times we find commonalities; this is the value of transparent partnering,” Polich says.

Sprawled across 150,000 square feet of what sounds much like a movie set, the former Cold War strategic command air force base the company calls home is as fascinating as the work it does. Operative during the full-on tensions with Russia between the 1950s and 1980s, the company began its life as a military fabricator. Today, the facility comprises three buildings housing its office and fabrication facility spread across two gargantuan B52 Stratofortress aircraft hangars connected with a passage. There is more than enough space to create greatness – even for large, 30-foot-plus-long fabrications.

Superior Fabrication regularly invests in new technology, making the company the proud owner of seven robotic cells, a collection that will soon expand to several more. This fall will also see the implementation of new enterprise resource planning software that will help to further streamline its systems to provide clients with even better all-around speed, quality, and service. Superior Fabrication is also the proud owner of such trusted material handling brands as Knickerbocker, Brudi, and Swingshift.

With the significant current growth in heavy fabrication in sectors such as construction, agriculture, oil and gas, mining, and more, Superior Fabrication’s team of seventy is appreciated beyond belief. “We’re a customer-centric team. There’s very little sense of titles here. We all work very collaboratively to delight the customer,” Polich says with the sincere smile of a leader who knows that being too serious is unhealthy – both for business and morale.

“We have a good time doing it. It’s a fun place to work. I’m proud that we have a very approachable culture,” he adds, pointing out that being a great fit culturally is one of the best perks for customers.

“They always like the tempo, the personalities, the open expression that we have, culturally. We’re more interested in serving our customers than serving our hierarchy inside the organization,” Polich says of this wholesome, ego-free workplace where gag gifts and celebrated wins are equally common occurrences. And, speaking of tempo, this fantastic team is growing as new opportunities continue to roll in. Its success stands to reason, however. Superior Fabrication has turned blending its partners’ teams seamlessly with its own into a fine art, ensuring that every project rolls smoothly from start to finish while underpromising and overdelivering – every time. Just as its work promises to outlast the competition, its quality and dedication do the same.

The post Pulling Back the Curtain – Resourceful, Transparent Fabrication With a Smile<p class="company">Superior Fabrication Company</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.