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Green Cities Company, Gaedeke Group and Miron Construction among others leveraging Fitwel's viral mitigation strategies to safeguard occupant health and wellness
NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2021 /CNW/ --  Fitwel ®, the healthy building certification system operated by the Center for Active Design (CfAD), is pleased to announce that leading companies including Manulife Investment Management, JBG SMITH, Boston Properties (BXP), QuadReal, BentallGreenOak (BGO), Green Cities Company, Gaedeke Group and Miron Construction have continued to expand the implementation of the Viral Response Module (VRM), safeguarding the health and wellness of occupants across 111 assets totaling 2,8416,505 square feet in Q3. The applicability of the VRM is demonstrated by the diverse range of properties covered by these certifications, including office, multifamily and retail. Manulife Investment Management, Miron Construction and Green Cities all certified their entity-level policies this quarter, with Miron progressing to secure approval of its implementation across seven assets and Manulife Investment Management securing approval at four assets. Further, BXP, BGO, JBG SMITH, QuadReal and Gaedeke Group have continued making inroads towards implementing the VRM further across their portfolios since having secured their entity-level certifications, with BXP securing approval for a total of 106 properties; BGO securing approval for a total of 83 assets; JBG SMITH securing approval across 55 total assets; QuadReal securing approval across 24 total assets; and Gaedeke Group approving one asset as of the third quarter. Regan Smith, Head of Real Estate Sustainability at Manulife Investment Management said, "We are guided by our values and commitment to support the health and wellbeing of employees, customers, and communities. In tackling the challenges associated with virus transmissions, we recognize the important role real estate managers can play in providing safer and healthier spaces within our buildings." Kim Pexton, VP of Sustainability of JBG SMITH added, "Asset level certification for our commercial office portfolio was a clear next step following our entity level accomplishment. The health and well-being of our tenants is incredibly important to us and this certification provides them with the comfort that our pandemic response protocols and processes are equitability deployed across our buildings. " The progress made by these companies reflects how forward-thinking enterprises continue to factor health and wellness into their broader ESG strategies. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown the direct correlation between focusing on occupant health and strong financial performance. In fact, two studies featured in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that businesses with strong employee health and well-being programs significantly outpaced the S&P 500 Index appreciation. Joanna Frank, President and CEO of the Center for Active Design, which operates Fitwel, said, "A growing body of evidence is continuing to reinforce the connection between environments that are optimized for health and wellness and the financial performance of the companies that own and operate them. This data is helping to drive sustained demand for the VRM among all types of businesses and geographies, especially as more employees begin to head back to the office. As we look beyond the pandemic, it's clear that people have been conditioned to think differently about the connection between their environments and their health, and we expect these initiatives will continue to play a prominent role in companies' ESG investments moving forward." Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategies advanced in the VRM were developed with input from a diverse group of public health experts from leading institutions such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Queensland University of Technology and prototyped by industry leaders. The module provides turnkey policy solutions that allow companies to seamlessly adopt Fitwel's strategies for a multi-faceted approach to optimize health and wellness throughout their properties. Unlike other solutions that provide more generalized approaches to viral mitigation, Fitwel's VRM has established specific best practices for companies to follow by setting minimum requirements that are necessary to mitigate viral transmission, while providing turnkey policies to ensure an efficient and consistent approach to guide the industry. The module also creates economies of scale, making it affordable to roll out an effective viral response across entire portfolios. For more information on the Viral Response module, click here . About Fitwel and the Center for Active Design
Fitwel is the world's leading certification system committed to building health for all®. Generated by expert analysis of 5,600+ academic research studies, Fitwel is implementing a vision for a healthier future where all buildings and communities are enhanced to strengthen health and well-being. Fitwel was originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and U.S. General Services Administration. The CDC remains the research and evaluation partner for Fitwel. The Center for Active Design, a global not-for-profit organization, was selected as the licensed operator of Fitwel, charged with expanding Fitwel to the global market. To learn more about Fitwel, please visit: www.fitwel.org . About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. As of June 30, 2021, Manulife Investment Management's assets under management and administration, including assets managed for Manulife's other segments, totaled CAD$1.0 trillion (US$834 billion). Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com . About JBG SMITH
JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in and develops a dynamic portfolio of mixed-use properties in the high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Over half of JBG SMITH's holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, where it serves as the exclusive developer for Amazon's new headquarters, and where Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus is located. JBG SMITH's portfolio currently comprises 17.1 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets at share, 98% of which are metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 16.6 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit www.jbgsmith.com . SOURCE Center for Active Design
For further information: ICR for Fitwel and the Center for Active Design, [email protected] , 203-682-8277, centerforactivedesign.org
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Industry-Leading Companies Including Manulife Investment Management, JBG SMITH, Boston Properties, QuadReal and Bentall...

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Green Cities Company, Gaedeke Group and Miron Construction among others leveraging Fitwel's viral mitigation strategies to safeguard occupant health and wellness
NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --  Fitwel ®, the healthy building certification system operated by the Center for Active Design (CfAD), is pleased to announce that leading companies including Manulife Investment Management, JBG SMITH, Boston Properties (BXP), QuadReal, BentallGreenOak (BGO), Green Cities Company, Gaedeke Group and Miron Construction have continued to expand the implementation of the Viral Response Module (VRM), safeguarding the health and wellness of occupants across 111 assets totaling 2,8416,505 square feet in Q3. The applicability of the VRM is demonstrated by the diverse range of properties covered by these certifications, including office, multifamily and retail. Manulife Investment Management, Miron Construction and Green Cities all certified their entity-level policies this quarter, with Miron progressing to secure approval of its implementation across seven assets and Manulife Investment Management securing approval at four assets. Further, BXP, BGO, JBG SMITH, QuadReal and Gaedeke Group have continued making inroads towards implementing the VRM further across their portfolios since having secured their entity-level certifications, with BXP securing approval for a total of 106 properties; BGO securing approval for a total of 83 assets; JBG SMITH securing approval across 55 total assets; QuadReal securing approval across 24 total assets; and Gaedeke Group approving one asset as of the third quarter. Regan Smith, Head of Real Estate Sustainability at Manulife Investment Management said, "We are guided by our values and commitment to support the health and wellbeing of employees, customers, and communities. In tackling the challenges associated with virus transmissions, we recognize the important role real estate managers can play in providing safer and healthier spaces within our buildings." Kim Pexton, VP of Sustainability of JBG SMITH added, "Asset level certification for our commercial office portfolio was a clear next step following our entity level accomplishment. The health and well-being of our tenants is incredibly important to us and this certification provides them with the comfort that our pandemic response protocols and processes are equitability deployed across our buildings. " The progress made by these companies reflects how forward-thinking enterprises continue to factor health and wellness into their broader ESG strategies. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown the direct correlation between focusing on occupant health and strong financial performance. In fact, two studies featured in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that businesses with strong employee health and well-being programs significantly outpaced the S&P 500 Index appreciation. Joanna Frank, President and CEO of the Center for Active Design, which operates Fitwel, said, "A growing body of evidence is continuing to reinforce the connection between environments that are optimized for health and wellness and the financial performance of the companies that own and operate them. This data is helping to drive sustained demand for the VRM among all types of businesses and geographies, especially as more employees begin to head back to the office. As we look beyond the pandemic, it's clear that people have been conditioned to think differently about the connection between their environments and their health, and we expect these initiatives will continue to play a prominent role in companies' ESG investments moving forward." Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategies advanced in the VRM were developed with input from a diverse group of public health experts from leading institutions such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Queensland University of Technology and prototyped by industry leaders. The module provides turnkey policy solutions that allow companies to seamlessly adopt Fitwel's strategies for a multi-faceted approach to optimize health and wellness throughout their properties. Unlike other solutions that provide more generalized approaches to viral mitigation, Fitwel's VRM has established specific best practices for companies to follow by setting minimum requirements that are necessary to mitigate viral transmission, while providing turnkey policies to ensure an efficient and consistent approach to guide the industry. The module also creates economies of scale, making it affordable to roll out an effective viral response across entire portfolios. For more information on the Viral Response module, click here . About Fitwel and the Center for Active Design
Fitwel is the world's leading certification system committed to building health for all®. Generated by expert analysis of 5,600+ academic research studies, Fitwel is implementing a vision for a healthier future where all buildings and communities are enhanced to strengthen health and well-being. Fitwel was originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and U.S. General Services Administration. The CDC remains the research and evaluation partner for Fitwel. The Center for Active Design, a global not-for-profit organization, was selected as the licensed operator of Fitwel, charged with expanding Fitwel to the global market. To learn more about Fitwel, please visit: www.fitwel.org . About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. As of June 30, 2021, Manulife Investment Management's assets under management and administration, including assets managed for Manulife's other segments, totaled CAD$1.0 trillion (US$834 billion). Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com . About JBG SMITH
JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in and develops a dynamic portfolio of mixed-use properties in the high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Over half of JBG SMITH's holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, where it serves as the exclusive developer for Amazon's new headquarters, and where Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus is located. JBG SMITH's portfolio currently comprises 17.1 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets at share, 98% of which are metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 16.6 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit www.jbgsmith.com . SOURCE Center for Active Design
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Malaysia sets ferrous scrap tariff at 15 percent
Nation’s steelmakers had been urging an export ban or restriction. The Malaysian government has reportedly finalized its system to impose a 15 percent duty  on ferrous scrap exports, enacting a policy favored by that nation’s steel industry. A March 19 online news report by S&P Global Platts says a Malaysian government gazette entry on that day points to the March 25 enactment of the 15 percent duty on outbound shipments for scrap with the Harmonized System (HS) codes of 7204.10.0000, 7204.29.0000, 7204.30.0000, 7204.41.0000, and 7204.49.0000. The Selangor, Malaysia-based South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) has been expressing concern since at least October 2020 about additional steel capacity being added in the nation. The association fears downward finished steel price pressure accompanied by a scramble for raw materials. “It will take about 20 years for demand to catch up with this [planned] capacity level,” SEAISI wrote in October about blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) capacity being added in the nation. The new BOF projects also will create additional competition for ferrous scrap supplies needed by Malaysia’s existing electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers. With those projects likely to continue, the government has instead opted to disincentivize Malaysian traders from sending ferrous scrap overseas. According to S&P, traders in 2020 shipped some 450,000 tons of Malaysian ferrous scrap to nations such as India and Singapore. Prompt ferrous scrap continues to widen its price margin compared with the benchmark obsolete scrap grades tracked by the Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS) of Pittsburgh-based MSA Inc. Although the reluctance of some overseas buyers to purchase at a perceived pricing peak is acting as a brake on the value of shredded and heavy melting steel (HMS) scrap, prompt grades have soared in value in the first quarter of 2021. The situation at the end of March, as measured by aggregated RMDAS mill purchase prices, shows a widening gap  between the lines representing the Prompt Industrial Composite figure and those for No. 2 Shredded Scrap and No. 1 HMS. In a 30-day window that included late February and the first 19 days of March, mills in the United States paid an average of $120 per ton more for prompt scrap compared with shredded scrap. There was a $146 per ton difference between the value of prompt scrap and No. 1 HMS. In the RMDAS South region, where prompt scrap is considered to be at a consistent deficit and where the HMS export grade can be the farthest from major ports, the gap was $185 per ton. (Prompt scrap was worth $572 per ton in the region while No. 1 HMS checked in at $387 per ton.) At least one processor Recycling Today contacted in mid-March was unconvinced prompt grades could retain their lofty status heading into April, saying he “had a hard time placing some final tons of busheling” in the second week of March. Steel mill output in the U.S. continues to rise steadily, however, with the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reporting some 1.755 million tons of steel output the week ending March 6, 2021. That total was nearly even with the 1.761 million tons of output in the comparable week in 2020—just before COVID-19 restrictions began curtailing industrial output in the U.S.
As far as prompt scrap generation, a still quiet aerospace sector is creating less scrap, and a global shortage of semiconductor chips has slowed down some automotive assembly plants. The latter condition was not helped in the third week of March, when an automotive chip plant in Japan operated by Renesas Electronics was damaged by a fire. According to Reuters, the plant will be out of commission for at least one month. New York-based Colgate-Palmolive has relaunched its Palmolive Ultra dish soap  in 46-ounce  and smaller bottles in the U.S. and 20-ounce and smaller bottles in Canada that are now made with 100 percent postconsumer resin (PCR) . The company says it estimates this transition will “divert more than 5,200 tons of plastic a year out of landfills in the U.S. and Canada.”
According to a news release from the company, Palmolive Ultra dish soap is also formulated with 100 percent biodegradable cleaning ingredients while maintaining its grease-cutting performance. Palmolive is made at a Colgate-Palmolive facility in Cambridge, Ohio, that has achieved True Zero Waste certification from the Green Business Certification Inc. The  Palmolive Ultra bottles made fully from PCR feature labels that highlight the brand’s use of recycled plastic and that feature the How2Recycle label that communicates recycling instructions so shoppers can properly recycle bottles at home. “We’re proud that Palmolive has become the largest dish soap brand to move to bottles made with 100 percent recycled plastic," says Kevin Jordan-Deen, general manager of Home Care at Colgate-Palmolive North America. “This is a milestone in our ongoing journey to help millions of households adapt healthier, more sustainable habits in their daily routines, which ultimately lead to a bigger, global impact.”
The company reports that this transition  also will contribute to Colgate-Palmolive’s commitment to design and deliver zero plastic waste solutions for all products, including eliminating one-third of its new plastics by 2025. Green Bay Packaging Inc. (GBP), Green Bay, Wisconsin, has announced that the first reel of paper was produced March 11 at its paper mill in Green Bay. The company says this milestone comes two and a half years after it broke ground on the site. The company now operates a total of five paper mills in the U.S. GBP is a family-owned, vertically integrated manufacturing company consisting of corrugated shipping container plants, a folding carton facility, recycled and virgin containerboard mills, pressure-sensitive label roll-stock plants, timberlands a paper slitting operation, specialty converting operations and a sawmill facility. The new mill, which will produce containerboard and is expected to consume both old corrugated containers and mixed paper, is located at the mouth of the Fox River, south of the Leo Frigo Bridge. According to a news release from GBP, the company’s $500 million investment has had “a profound, positive impact on northeast Wisconsin’s economy and the environment.”
Green Bay Packaging
Green Bay Packaging employees in front of the new mill's first reel produced. “These are exciting times at Green Bay Packaging as we ramp up production on our new paper machine,” says Will Kress, chairman and CEO of Green Bay Packaging. “This is the single biggest project in our company’s history, and it certainly would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of our internal people and our many partners and suppliers working together to turn this dream into reality. Not to be overlooked are the many great customers we have, without whom this project would not have been necessary or feasible.”
GBP says the construction and startup of the new mill will preserve about 1,100 Green Bay Packaging jobs across Brown County, Wisconsin, and more than 1,500 jobs in the state of Wisconsin. At the new mill, the company says it planned to add approximately 200 full-time jobs. “The team, led by Matt Szymanski, has done an outstanding job bringing this project in on time,” says Bryan Hollenbach, executive vice president of Green Bay Packaging. “This complex and intense project was completed on time and will play a significant role in the future of Green Bay Packaging. The entire team did an outstanding job.”
GBP reports that it partnered with local companies to design and construct the facility. Neenah, Wisconsin-based Miron Construction served as the general contractor for construction of the new mill. Voith Paper was chosen as the full-line equipment supplier for this project, GBP says. Voith Paper’s North
American headquarters are located in Appleton, Wisconsin. GBP says its partnership with Voith includes cutting-edge papermaking and fiber recycling technology. “Every member of the Green Bay Packaging mill team worked tirelessly over the past several years to bring this vision to reality,” says Matt Szymanski, vice president of mill operations. “I am very proud of our team and the partnerships we forged during this project. The chemistry that was developed allowed us to meet our startup schedule in light of a global pandemic. Voith, Miron and our other major equipment suppliers have proven to be great partners that were committed to the success of this project, delivering a world-class paper mill.”
Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), Irving, Texas, reports that its second-quarter earnings from continuing operations increased compared with the prior-year earnings from continuing operations. According to CMC’s latest earnings report, the steelmaker achieved earnings from continuing operations of $66.2 million, or 54 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1.5 billion compared with prior-year earnings from continuing operations of $63.6 million, or 53 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1.3 billion. During the second quarter of fiscal 2021, CMC reports that it incurred $13.5 million in net after-tax charges, primarily from the previously announced refinancing of long-term debt, as well as closure costs associated with the final decommissioning of CMC’s Steel California operations. CMC says those costs were partially offset by a gain on the sale of certain facilities. Excluding these items, CMC reports that second-quarter adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $79.8 million, or 66 cents per diluted share. Barbara R. Smith, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer at CMC , says the company achieved “record” second-quarter core earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). She notes that the company achieved that in a particularly challenging environment of “rising scrap costs and weather-related disruptions,” which she says demonstrates the value of CMC’s vertically integrated structure and the agility of its commercial, operational and support teams. Smith says, “CMC’s second-quarter results also highlight the benefits of managing the operating factors that are within our control, including leveraging opportunities to improve efficiency throughout our organization. From this solid foundation, CMC will further enhance our earnings capability in the coming quarters, as we continue to capitalize on benefits from ongoing network optimization efforts and ramp up our third rolling line in Poland this summer.”
Operational updates
During an earnings presentation March 18, Smith provided an update on several projects the company is working on. She reported that site work at CMC’s Arizona micromill “is progressing well,” and that the company remains on target for startup in early 2023. That mill is replacing CMC’s shuttered rebar capacity at its Steel California operations in Rancho Cucamonga, California. All production ceased at that site as of December 2020. “This will be our third micromill and the first in the world capable of producing merchant bar product,” Smith said of its Mesa site. “Once fully operational, we expect this state-of-the-art mill to contribute roughly $50 million of annual EBITDA. WE look forward to giving future updates as activity progresses.”
On the call, the company noted that it plans to invest about $85 million on the new micromill in fiscal 2021. CMC is also working to expand its sustainability disclosures and reporting; Smith said the company plans to provide an update in its corporate sustainability report in the summer. Business segment results
CMC reports that its North America segment generated adjusted EBITDA of $171.6 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an increase of 12 percent compared with $152.8 million in the prior-year period. The company reports that this improvement reflects “solid management of controllable costs at each stage of [its] vertically integrated value chain.” 
CMC says cost performance at the mills was particularly strong in its second quarter, driven by network efficiencies and lower costs for consumables. Earnings also benefited from expanded margins on sales of raw materials, as well as the impact of selling lower cost inventory within an environment of rising prices for steel products. Shipment volumes of finished steel, which include steel products and downstream products, increased by 2 percent from the prior-year quarter. CMC’s earnings report states that demand for rebar from the mills remained strong, growing year over year, supported by resilient construction activity. Single-family residential construction within CMC’s core geographies has increased significantly over the last year, which CMC says has opened additional selling opportunities for the company and is a positive indicator of future infrastructure and nonresidential spending in these areas. According to the company, shipments of merchant and other products increased by 13 percent from a year ago, driven by rising industrial activity and the construction of warehouses and metal buildings. Downstream products volumes declined 6 percent year over year due to a backlog contraction and weather-related job-site disruptions in several regional markets. Margins over scrap cost within the vertical chain declined from the second quarter of fiscal 2020, with compression in both steel products and downstream products. Average selling price for steel products increased $70 per ton year over year, which CMC reports was offset by higher scrap costs. Steel products margins improved sequentially throughout the second quarter and exited February at the highest level in nearly a year. According to the company, margin over scrap cost on downstream products declined compared to a year ago, driven by higher input costs and modestly lower pricing in CMC’s committed backlog, which led to lower average selling prices. CMC’s Europe segment reported adjusted EBITDA of $16.1 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, up 20 percent compared with adjusted EBITDA of $13.5 million for the prior-year quarter. The company reports that the improvement was driven by a modest expansion in margin over scrap, as well as the impact of selling lower cost inventory within an environment of rising prices for steel products. Demand for steel products from both construction and industrial end markets remained healthy during the quarter. However, shipments declined by 7 percent year over year due to the “unusually high volumes” that shipped during the second quarter of fiscal 2020. During the quarter, CMC says it shifted product mix “to capitalize on opportunities with customers of merchant and other products.” The company says the reduction in rebar shipments from a year ago reflects the operations commercial agility rather than any softening of market conditions. Smith says, “We expect finished steel volumes in both North America and Europe to follow typical seasonal trends during the third quarter, which is historically strong given the start of the spring and summer construction seasons. Shipments of steel and downstream products in North America should be supported by our construction backlog, with steel products also benefiting from elevated residential construction spending, continued manufacturing recovery and anticipated strong highway infrastructure activity. She concludes, “Volumes in Europe are anticipated to remain healthy, driven by growing demand from construction and industrial end markets. We expect margins over scrap on steel products in both North America and Europe to increase sequentially following the realization of price adjustments made throughout the second quarter.”

Malaysia sets ferrous scrap tariff at 15 percent

RMDAS confirms rising value of prompt grades
Transaction figures show prompt ferrous scrap widening its price lead over obsolete grades in March. Prompt ferrous scrap continues to widen its price margin compared with the benchmark obsolete scrap grades tracked by the Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS) of Pittsburgh-based MSA Inc. Although the reluctance of some overseas buyers to purchase at a perceived pricing peak is acting as a brake on the value of shredded and heavy melting steel (HMS) scrap, prompt grades have soared in value in the first quarter of 2021. The situation at the end of March, as measured by aggregated RMDAS mill purchase prices, shows a widening gap  between the lines representing the Prompt Industrial Composite figure and those for No. 1 HMS. In a 30-day window that included late February and the first 19 days of March, mills in the United States paid an average of $120 per ton more for prompt scrap compared with shredded scrap. There was a $146 per ton difference between the value of prompt scrap and No. 1 HMS. In the RMDAS South region, where prompt scrap is considered to be at a consistent deficit and where the HMS export grade can be the farthest from major ports, the gap was $185 per ton. (Prompt scrap was worth $572 per ton in the region while No. 1 HMS checked in at $387 per ton.) At least one processor Recycling Today contacted in mid-March was unconvinced prompt grades could retain their lofty status heading into April, saying he “had a hard time placing some final tons of busheling” in the second week of March. Steel mill output in the U.S. continues to rise steadily, however, with the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reporting some 1.755 million tons of steel output the week ending March 6, 2021. That total was nearly even with the 1.761 million tons of output in the comparable week in 2020—just before COVID-19 restrictions began curtailing industrial output in the U.S.
As far as prompt scrap generation, a still quiet aerospace sector is creating less scrap, and a global shortage of semiconductor chips has slowed down some automotive assembly plants. The latter condition was not helped in the third week of March, when an automotive chip plant in Japan operated by Renesas Electronics was damaged by a fire. According to Reuters, the plant will be out of commission for at least one month. New York-based Colgate-Palmolive has relaunched its Palmolive Ultra dish soap  in 46-ounce  and smaller bottles in the U.S. and 20-ounce and smaller bottles in Canada that are now made with 100 percent postconsumer resin (PCR) . The company says it estimates this transition will “divert more than 5,200 tons of plastic a year out of landfills in the U.S. and Canada.”
According to a news release from the company, Palmolive Ultra dish soap is also formulated with 100 percent biodegradable cleaning ingredients while maintaining its grease-cutting performance. Palmolive is made at a Colgate-Palmolive facility in Cambridge, Ohio, that has achieved True Zero Waste certification from the Green Business Certification Inc. The  Palmolive Ultra bottles made fully from PCR feature labels that highlight the brand’s use of recycled plastic and that feature the How2Recycle label that communicates recycling instructions so shoppers can properly recycle bottles at home. “We’re proud that Palmolive has become the largest dish soap brand to move to bottles made with 100 percent recycled plastic," says Kevin Jordan-Deen, general manager of Home Care at Colgate-Palmolive North America. “This is a milestone in our ongoing journey to help millions of households adapt healthier, more sustainable habits in their daily routines, which ultimately lead to a bigger, global impact.”
The company reports that this transition  also will contribute to Colgate-Palmolive’s commitment to design and deliver zero plastic waste solutions for all products, including eliminating one-third of its new plastics by 2025. Green Bay Packaging Inc. (GBP), Green Bay, Wisconsin, has announced that the first reel of paper was produced March 11 at its paper mill in Green Bay. The company says this milestone comes two and a half years after it broke ground on the site. The company now operates a total of five paper mills in the U.S. GBP is a family-owned, vertically integrated manufacturing company consisting of corrugated shipping container plants, a folding carton facility, recycled and virgin containerboard mills, pressure-sensitive label roll-stock plants, timberlands a paper slitting operation, specialty converting operations and a sawmill facility. The new mill, which will produce containerboard and is expected to consume both old corrugated containers and mixed paper, is located at the mouth of the Fox River, south of the Leo Frigo Bridge. According to a news release from GBP, the company’s $500 million investment has had “a profound, positive impact on northeast Wisconsin’s economy and the environment.”
Green Bay Packaging
Green Bay Packaging employees in front of the new mill's first reel produced. “These are exciting times at Green Bay Packaging as we ramp up production on our new paper machine,” says Will Kress, chairman and CEO of Green Bay Packaging. “This is the single biggest project in our company’s history, and it certainly would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of our internal people and our many partners and suppliers working together to turn this dream into reality. Not to be overlooked are the many great customers we have, without whom this project would not have been necessary or feasible.”
GBP says the construction and startup of the new mill will preserve about 1,100 Green Bay Packaging jobs across Brown County, Wisconsin, and more than 1,500 jobs in the state of Wisconsin. At the new mill, the company says it planned to add approximately 200 full-time jobs. “The team, led by Matt Szymanski, has done an outstanding job bringing this project in on time,” says Bryan Hollenbach, executive vice president of Green Bay Packaging. “This complex and intense project was completed on time and will play a significant role in the future of Green Bay Packaging. The entire team did an outstanding job.”
GBP reports that it partnered with local companies to design and construct the facility. Neenah, Wisconsin-based Miron Construction served as the general contractor for construction of the new mill. Voith Paper was chosen as the full-line equipment supplier for this project, GBP says. Voith Paper’s North
American headquarters are located in Appleton, Wisconsin. GBP says its partnership with Voith includes cutting-edge papermaking and fiber recycling technology. “Every member of the Green Bay Packaging mill team worked tirelessly over the past several years to bring this vision to reality,” says Matt Szymanski, vice president of mill operations. “I am very proud of our team and the partnerships we forged during this project. The chemistry that was developed allowed us to meet our startup schedule in light of a global pandemic. Voith, Miron and our other major equipment suppliers have proven to be great partners that were committed to the success of this project, delivering a world-class paper mill.”
Greif Inc., a packaging producer based in Delaware, Ohio, has announced that it implemented price increases on certain paperboard products. The company reports that these price increases come in addition to previously announced price increases. According to a news release from Greif , it plans to institute a $50 per ton price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (RUB) and a $50 per ton price increase for all grades of coated recycled paperboard (CRB), effective March 18 with new orders placed. The company says the price increases are in response to the “continued robust demand across the Greif paperboard network and ongoing cost pressures in production and transportation.”
Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), Irving, Texas, reports that its second-quarter earnings from continuing operations increased compared with the prior-year earnings from continuing operations. According to CMC’s latest earnings report, the steelmaker achieved earnings from continuing operations of $66.2 million, or 54 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1.5 billion compared with prior-year earnings from continuing operations of $63.6 million, or 53 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1.3 billion. During the second quarter of fiscal 2021, CMC reports that it incurred $13.5 million in net after-tax charges, primarily from the previously announced refinancing of long-term debt, as well as closure costs associated with the final decommissioning of CMC’s Steel California operations. CMC says those costs were partially offset by a gain on the sale of certain facilities. Excluding these items, CMC reports that second-quarter adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $79.8 million, or 66 cents per diluted share. Barbara R. Smith, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer at CMC , says the company achieved “record” second-quarter core earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). She notes that the company achieved that in a particularly challenging environment of “rising scrap costs and weather-related disruptions,” which she says demonstrates the value of CMC’s vertically integrated structure and the agility of its commercial, operational and support teams. Smith says, “CMC’s second-quarter results also highlight the benefits of managing the operating factors that are within our control, including leveraging opportunities to improve efficiency throughout our organization. From this solid foundation, CMC will further enhance our earnings capability in the coming quarters, as we continue to capitalize on benefits from ongoing network optimization efforts and ramp up our third rolling line in Poland this summer.”
Operational updates
During an earnings presentation March 18, Smith provided an update on several projects the company is working on. She reported that site work at CMC’s Arizona micromill “is progressing well,” and that the company remains on target for startup in early 2023. That mill is replacing CMC’s shuttered rebar capacity at its Steel California operations in Rancho Cucamonga, California. All production ceased at that site as of December 2020. “This will be our third micromill and the first in the world capable of producing merchant bar product,” Smith said of its Mesa site. “Once fully operational, we expect this state-of-the-art mill to contribute roughly $50 million of annual EBITDA. WE look forward to giving future updates as activity progresses.”
On the call, the company noted that it plans to invest about $85 million on the new micromill in fiscal 2021. CMC is also working to expand its sustainability disclosures and reporting; Smith said the company plans to provide an update in its corporate sustainability report in the summer. Business segment results
CMC reports that its North America segment generated adjusted EBITDA of $171.6 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an increase of 12 percent compared with $152.8 million in the prior-year period. The company reports that this improvement reflects “solid management of controllable costs at each stage of [its] vertically integrated value chain.” 
CMC says cost performance at the mills was particularly strong in its second quarter, driven by network efficiencies and lower costs for consumables. Earnings also benefited from expanded margins on sales of raw materials, as well as the impact of selling lower cost inventory within an environment of rising prices for steel products. Shipment volumes of finished steel, which include steel products and downstream products, increased by 2 percent from the prior-year quarter. CMC’s earnings report states that demand for rebar from the mills remained strong, growing year over year, supported by resilient construction activity. Single-family residential construction within CMC’s core geographies has increased significantly over the last year, which CMC says has opened additional selling opportunities for the company and is a positive indicator of future infrastructure and nonresidential spending in these areas. According to the company, shipments of merchant and other products increased by 13 percent from a year ago, driven by rising industrial activity and the construction of warehouses and metal buildings. Downstream products volumes declined 6 percent year over year due to a backlog contraction and weather-related job-site disruptions in several regional markets. Margins over scrap cost within the vertical chain declined from the second quarter of fiscal 2020, with compression in both steel products and downstream products. Average selling price for steel products increased $70 per ton year over year, which CMC reports was offset by higher scrap costs. Steel products margins improved sequentially throughout the second quarter and exited February at the highest level in nearly a year. According to the company, margin over scrap cost on downstream products declined compared to a year ago, driven by higher input costs and modestly lower pricing in CMC’s committed backlog, which led to lower average selling prices. CMC’s Europe segment reported adjusted EBITDA of $16.1 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, up 20 percent compared with adjusted EBITDA of $13.5 million for the prior-year quarter. The company reports that the improvement was driven by a modest expansion in margin over scrap, as well as the impact of selling lower cost inventory within an environment of rising prices for steel products. Demand for steel products from both construction and industrial end markets remained healthy during the quarter. However, shipments declined by 7 percent year over year due to the “unusually high volumes” that shipped during the second quarter of fiscal 2020. During the quarter, CMC says it shifted product mix “to capitalize on opportunities with customers of merchant and other products.” The company says the reduction in rebar shipments from a year ago reflects the operations commercial agility rather than any softening of market conditions. Smith says, “We expect finished steel volumes in both North America and Europe to follow typical seasonal trends during the third quarter, which is historically strong given the start of the spring and summer construction seasons. Shipments of steel and downstream products in North America should be supported by our construction backlog, with steel products also benefiting from elevated residential construction spending, continued manufacturing recovery and anticipated strong highway infrastructure activity. She concludes, “Volumes in Europe are anticipated to remain healthy, driven by growing demand from construction and industrial end markets. We expect margins over scrap on steel products in both North America and Europe to increase sequentially following the realization of price adjustments made throughout the second quarter.”

RMDAS confirms rising value of prompt grades

Matalco to add Kentucky location
Recycled-content aluminum producer to build a 135,000-tons-per-year plant in Franklin, Kentucky. The office of the governor of Kentucky has announced that Canada-based secondary aluminum producer Matalco  has committed to building a 135,000-tons-per-year facility in Franklin, Kentucky, which is about 45 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee. Matalco Kentucky LLC is a newly formed venture of Matalco (U.S.) Inc., a producer of scrap-content aluminum alloys that itself is part of the Brampton, Ontario, Canada-based Giampaolo Group of Companies . “We are extremely excited about entering this next phase of our corporate strategic growth plan,” says Robert Roscetti, vice president, corporate development at Matalco Inc. “This investment demonstrates our continued commitment to serve our customers, expand our market share and is in direct response to the growth and demand that we are experiencing with our products and services.”
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says of the projected $53.5 million project, “I would like to welcome Matalco to Kentucky as the latest addition to our thriving aluminum sector and thank the company for its commitment to create 60 quality jobs for Kentuckians. Aluminum-related and other primary metals businesses are growing rapidly in our state and helping us build Kentucky’s economy back stronger than ever. Matalco will be a great fit in Kentucky as the company looks to expand its presence in the United States market. Congratulations to Matalco, Simpson County and the families in the surrounding area who will benefit from this great project.”
Matalco will occupy space in a 460,000-square-foot facility that formerly served as the home of a Quad/Graphics printing operation. The aluminum production line is expected to be operational by mid-2022. In addition to the new Kentucky site, which sits on 107 acres, Matalco produces scrap-content aluminum billets, slab and ingots at sites in Ontario, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. The company has some 500,000 tons of aluminum production capacity
According to Gov. Beshear’s office, “Matalco joins a primary metals industry in Kentucky that includes 234 facilities employing nearly 26,000 people statewide. Since 2019, the commonwealth has seen 21 announcements of aluminum-related projects, expected to drive over $625 million in new investment and create more than 620 full-time jobs.”
The Malaysian government has reportedly finalized its system to impose a 15 percent duty  on ferrous scrap exports, enacting a policy favored by that nation’s steel industry. A March 19 online news report by S&P Global Platts says a Malaysian government gazette entry on that day points to the March 25 enactment of the 15 percent duty on outbound shipments for scrap with the Harmonized System (HS) codes of 7204.10.0000, 7204.29.0000, 7204.30.0000, 7204.41.0000, and 7204.49.0000. The Selangor, Malaysia-based South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) has been expressing concern since at least October 2020 about additional steel capacity being added in the nation. The association fears downward finished steel price pressure accompanied by a scramble for raw materials. “It will take about 20 years for demand to catch up with this [planned] capacity level,” SEAISI wrote in October about blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) capacity being added in the nation. The new BOF projects also will create additional competition for ferrous scrap supplies needed by Malaysia’s existing electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers. With those projects likely to continue, the government has instead opted to disincentivize Malaysian traders from sending ferrous scrap overseas. According to S&P, traders in 2020 shipped some 450,000 tons of Malaysian ferrous scrap to nations such as India and Singapore. Prompt ferrous scrap continues to widen its price margin compared with the benchmark obsolete scrap grades tracked by the Raw Material Data Aggregation Service (RMDAS) of Pittsburgh-based MSA Inc. Although the reluctance of some overseas buyers to purchase at a perceived pricing peak is acting as a brake on the value of shredded and heavy melting steel (HMS) scrap, prompt grades have soared in value in the first quarter of 2021. The situation at the end of March, as measured by aggregated RMDAS mill purchase prices, shows a widening gap  between the lines representing the Prompt Industrial Composite figure and those for No. 2 Shredded Scrap and No. 1 HMS. In a 30-day window that included late February and the first 19 days of March, mills in the United States paid an average of $120 per ton more for prompt scrap compared with shredded scrap. There was a $146 per ton difference between the value of prompt scrap and No. 1 HMS. In the RMDAS South region, where prompt scrap is considered to be at a consistent deficit and where the HMS export grade can be the farthest from major ports, the gap was $185 per ton. (Prompt scrap was worth $572 per ton in the region while No. 1 HMS checked in at $387 per ton.) At least one processor Recycling Today contacted in mid-March was unconvinced prompt grades could retain their lofty status heading into April, saying he “had a hard time placing some final tons of busheling” in the second week of March. Steel mill output in the U.S. continues to rise steadily, however, with the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reporting some 1.755 million tons of steel output the week ending March 6, 2021. That total was nearly even with the 1.761 million tons of output in the comparable week in 2020—just before COVID-19 restrictions began curtailing industrial output in the U.S.
As far as prompt scrap generation, a still quiet aerospace sector is creating less scrap, and a global shortage of semiconductor chips has slowed down some automotive assembly plants. The latter condition was not helped in the third week of March, when an automotive chip plant in Japan operated by Renesas Electronics was damaged by a fire. According to Reuters, the plant will be out of commission for at least one month. New York-based Colgate-Palmolive has relaunched its Palmolive Ultra dish soap  in 46-ounce  and smaller bottles in the U.S. and 20-ounce and smaller bottles in Canada that are now made with 100 percent postconsumer resin (PCR) . The company says it estimates this transition will “divert more than 5,200 tons of plastic a year out of landfills in the U.S. and Canada.”
According to a news release from the company, Palmolive Ultra dish soap is also formulated with 100 percent biodegradable cleaning ingredients while maintaining its grease-cutting performance. Palmolive is made at a Colgate-Palmolive facility in Cambridge, Ohio, that has achieved True Zero Waste certification from the Green Business Certification Inc. The  Palmolive Ultra bottles made fully from PCR feature labels that highlight the brand’s use of recycled plastic and that feature the How2Recycle label that communicates recycling instructions so shoppers can properly recycle bottles at home. “We’re proud that Palmolive has become the largest dish soap brand to move to bottles made with 100 percent recycled plastic," says Kevin Jordan-Deen, general manager of Home Care at Colgate-Palmolive North America. “This is a milestone in our ongoing journey to help millions of households adapt healthier, more sustainable habits in their daily routines, which ultimately lead to a bigger, global impact.”
The company reports that this transition  also will contribute to Colgate-Palmolive’s commitment to design and deliver zero plastic waste solutions for all products, including eliminating one-third of its new plastics by 2025. Green Bay Packaging Inc. (GBP), Green Bay, Wisconsin, has announced that the first reel of paper was produced March 11 at its paper mill in Green Bay. The company says this milestone comes two and a half years after it broke ground on the site. The company now operates a total of five paper mills in the U.S. GBP is a family-owned, vertically integrated manufacturing company consisting of corrugated shipping container plants, a folding carton facility, recycled and virgin containerboard mills, pressure-sensitive label roll-stock plants, timberlands a paper slitting operation, specialty converting operations and a sawmill facility. The new mill, which will produce containerboard and is expected to consume both old corrugated containers and mixed paper, is located at the mouth of the Fox River, south of the Leo Frigo Bridge. According to a news release from GBP, the company’s $500 million investment has had “a profound, positive impact on northeast Wisconsin’s economy and the environment.”
Green Bay Packaging
Green Bay Packaging employees in front of the new mill's first reel produced. “These are exciting times at Green Bay Packaging as we ramp up production on our new paper machine,” says Will Kress, chairman and CEO of Green Bay Packaging. “This is the single biggest project in our company’s history, and it certainly would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of our internal people and our many partners and suppliers working together to turn this dream into reality. Not to be overlooked are the many great customers we have, without whom this project would not have been necessary or feasible.”
GBP says the construction and startup of the new mill will preserve about 1,100 Green Bay Packaging jobs across Brown County, Wisconsin, and more than 1,500 jobs in the state of Wisconsin. At the new mill, the company says it planned to add approximately 200 full-time jobs. “The team, led by Matt Szymanski, has done an outstanding job bringing this project in on time,” says Bryan Hollenbach, executive vice president of Green Bay Packaging. “This complex and intense project was completed on time and will play a significant role in the future of Green Bay Packaging. The entire team did an outstanding job.”
GBP reports that it partnered with local companies to design and construct the facility. Neenah, Wisconsin-based Miron Construction served as the general contractor for construction of the new mill. Voith Paper was chosen as the full-line equipment supplier for this project, GBP says. Voith Paper’s North
American headquarters are located in Appleton, Wisconsin. GBP says its partnership with Voith includes cutting-edge papermaking and fiber recycling technology. “Every member of the Green Bay Packaging mill team worked tirelessly over the past several years to bring this vision to reality,” says Matt Szymanski, vice president of mill operations. “I am very proud of our team and the partnerships we forged during this project. The chemistry that was developed allowed us to meet our startup schedule in light of a global pandemic. Voith, Miron and our other major equipment suppliers have proven to be great partners that were committed to the success of this project, delivering a world-class paper mill.”

Matalco to add Kentucky location

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