Japan: Austria’s Lindner-Recyclingtech has entered into a sales partnership with the Japanese company Ryohshin in Toyama to strengthen its presence in the region. The Japanese recycling technology company will assume responsibility for selling Lindner shredding products to the local waste management industry.

‘The Japanese shredder market is characterised by high demand and fierce competition, with a focus on replacing older systems, upgrades and expanding existing capacities. To succeed in this environment in the long term, we choose our partners worldwide according to very strict criteria,” said Osamu Kono, the chief executive officer of Ryohshin.

US: Lawyers representing the Speed cement plant in Indiana have started taking legal action against the Clark County planning commission for reversing permission for the site to use alternative fuels. The plant’s lawyers say it invested US$1.5m on a fuel conversion project, according to the Courier Journal newspaper. The plant also says that it will lose money as coal is more expensive to burn. The local planning commission reversed a previous decision to let the plant burn alternative fuels in mid-2016 following complaints by the public.

Namibia: Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta has inaugurated Namibia’s first solid recovered waste plant in Windhoek. The US$15.7m unit is a joint-venture between local company Rent-A-Drum and Ohorongo Cement, a subsidiary of Germany’s Schwenk Zement, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Rent-A-Drum will collect more than 12,000t of non-recyclable waste material that will be converted into alternative fuel for use by Ohorongo Cement. The waste plant has created 60 jobs.

Trinidad & Tobago: Kazim Hosein, the minister of Local Government and Rural Development, is considering allowing the Trinidad Cement company to burn waste fuels at its cement plant. This follows a visit by Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon to the plant, according to the Trinidad Express newspaper. The cement producer has proposed burning waste fuels as part of an expansion plan.