by Jon M. Casey
The 2013 WHEN Recycling Expo in York, PA, held October 23 and 24, gave recyclers from the mid-Atlantic region and surrounding areas, the opportunity to see equipment demonstrations and exhibits designed to help them make informed, future buying decisions. With outdoor equipment demonstrations and exhibits hosted by companies like Metso, Allu, Sandvik and HAMMEL, show goers were able to see the capability of shredders and screens in action throughout the day. Indoors, exhibitors offered their products and services as well.
As a way of making full use of this venue to demonstrate the effectiveness of their equipment, the folks from HAMMEL New York, LLC, took the time to invite a customer prospect for an onsite demonstration designed specifically to meet their individual needs (see sidebar on opposite page). For others, the show was an opportunity to clarify production rates and equipment capabilities for visitors who were contemplating a purchase but who were unsure about which model to buy. For one visitor, going home and re-thinking what he had originally wanted to do at his own recycling operation, gave him the added information he needed to help save him time, money and effort in the long run.
With future WHEN Recycling Expos planned for other venues in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, Bruce Button, vice president and general manager of Lee Publications, Inc., said that these shows are designed for the local and regional dealers to highlight their product lines. In this way, they are able to offer some of their key prospects a central location from which to observe several products at the same event. Unlike other tradeshow events where the equipment is exclusively in static displays, at the WHEN Recycling Expo’s, customers have the opportunity to see the equipment as it was designed to operate. In like fashion, equipment dealers do not need to be demonstrating their products at a prospect’s business where there could be liability issues and added cost of moving equipment.
Button also noted that because this show is designed to bring in recycling business owners and employees as attendees, the exhibitors are able to talk with people who are at the Expo to shop for equipment and services rather than those who would attend a trade show for other purposes. At a WHEN Recycling Expo, attendees are there because they have heard or read about the show in Waste Handling Equipment News or other industry sources and are expressly interested in shopping for advertised products. Exhibitors agreed that it was nice to be able to acquire leads more easily because most of the people that they talked to were business owners who were looking for product information and pricing.
“We are  looking at Springfield , MA  for next year’s WHEN Recycling Expo,” said Button. “We are still working on the  dates before we announce it. Be sure to watch for the promotional updates in upcoming issues of Waste Handling Equipment News.”

WHEN exhibitor welcomes personalized, custom demonstrations

Ralf Semler of HAMMEL New York, LLC had recently been in discussions with Priefert® Ranch Equipment about the possibility of Priefert acquiring a shredding machine for use at their manufacturing facility in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Priefert was looking for ways to reduce the size and shape of the steel tubing designated as waste material, generated during their ranch equipment manufacturing process. Since the amount of steel regularly discarded each day is considerable, they determined that by reducing the overall size and volume of the waste, they would generate considerable cost savings in the recycling process.
With that in mind, the week before the show, Semler suggested that Priefert send a sample of the steel tubing to the York Fairgrounds in York, PA. Since HAMMEL would be demonstrating a Model 850 primary shredder at its outdoor demo area it would be an ideal time to test how the steel runs through one of their shredders. Because steel tubing is extremely difficult to reduce to usable size for recycling in an easy way, Priefert executives were interested in seeing first hand how the HAMMEL unit would perform on waste material that Priefert was producing, every day. Thus, on Wednesday afternoon, a bundle of Priefert pipe arrived at the demo site, awaiting the upcoming demonstration on Thursday.
Nathan Priefert, vice president, and Rocky Christenberry, vice president of Manufacturing, flew into Baltimore, arriving at the WHEN Recycling Expo early Thursday morning. Together, they met with Ralf and other Hammel New York, LLC  team members, discussing the challenges that they face when it comes to shredding this high quality steel pipe. Priefert and Christenberry said that they have come to realize the importance of proper size reduction of their recyclables as a way to reduce costs and improving profit. With the daily tonnage of quality steel that their plant operation generates, they understand the need for an onsite shredder to aid them in their recycling efforts.
It didn’t take long for the bundle of pipe to be processed through the HAMMEL 850. Within a matter of minutes, the steel had gone through the shredder, and it was easy to see the challenges that pipe recycling offers. While much of the material was reduced to the 24-inch minus size that Christenberry and Priefert were seeking, a second pass was extremely beneficial in reducing the material once again, to the ideal size that they desired.
Semler noted that while they did not set up the machine specifically for shredding pipe, the opportunity that presented itself at the show, could give the Priefert people a reasonable demonstration of how the shredder performs. He said that when a customer negotiates a purchase of a machine of this kind, the specific shaft configuration for the recyclable being shredded, is included in the design of the unit. In the case of shredding pipe, considerations would be made for this kind of material. If higher production rates were needed, the possibility of a larger sized, more powerful shredder, like the 950, would be a consideration as well.
Following the demonstration and a visual assessment of the material that the HAMMEL 850 produced, Christenberry said that he was happy that they made the decision to send the material to York on such short notice (the decision to do the demo and attend was made the Friday before the event).
He said that seeing material from the Priefert plant, being processed in this way, gave his company the kind of input that they needed to make a serious decision like this. Since Priefert uses a high quality steel for their equipment line, a demonstration shredding other pipe of lesser quality would not have made for the kind of information that they would need to make a decision of this kind.
LFF Recycling
Similarly, HAMMEL NY had been in contact with LFF Recycling of Sterling, VA. When LFF Plant Manager, Peter Wekenmann became aware that the HAMMEL 850 was going to be demonstrated in York, he was interested to see how the unit would perform using a sample of C&D material that he had sent up earlier in the week.
Without hesitation, the wood and sheetrock went cleanly through the 850. Not only did it reduce the bulk density volume reduction of the materials by over 50 percent, but it also recovered valuable metals otherwise not practical, including nails, metal strapping and hinges off wooden materials. Because LFF is a clean C&D MRF and strives for 100 percent recycling alternatives for all materials handled at the facility, this demo helped give Wekenmann an idea of how much more he could reduce this kind of material while recycling more of its contents before heading it to a landfill.
Additionally, since the LFF Recycling operation in Sterling, is close to York, the two of them arranged for the shredder to be moved to Sterling, VA for an additional onsite demonstration the following week. For Wekenmann, the WHEN Recycling Expo demonstration was extremely helpful.
Semler agreed. He said that it was the perfect opportunity for recyclers to take advantage of having the shredder available in a convenient location and accessible. Certainly, it is ideal for customers who might want to see a unit in operation before buying one. Since it is easier to bring customers to the equipment, than it is vice versa, the WHEN Recycling Expo proved to be the ideal place for exhibitor and customer to come together. For more information on future WHEN Recycling Expos, contact Ken Maring at 800-218-5586 or e-mail him at kmaring@leepub.com .