This shredder building complex, built with recycled metals and an old locomotive engine, runs on environmentally friendly fuel. It’s almost the perfect storm of environ-

mental-business activity.

By Gene Marrano  

   The official debut a couple of weeks ago of a new heavy-duty shredder at the Cycle Systems facility in Lynchburg allowed the 90-year-old company to show off two sides of its latest technology.

Preston Bryant, Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources (and a former Lynchburg delegate to the Virginia General Assembly) spoke at the Lynchburg facility, declaring,

“The company’s unique approach to recycling and re-using is a prime example of how

commerce and the environment can co-exist to benefit Virginians.”

   The $4.5-million shredder in Lynchburg is portrayed as being environmentally friendly because it can run on renewable fuels like sulfur-free     bio-diesel that can reduce emissions and greenhouse gases.  It is also operated by a three-megawatt diesel power plant and motor drive system built by ARE Energy, a division of American Railroad Equipment, sister company of Cycle Systems.  the heart of the power plant was once a locomotive engine.

Testing on the Lynchburg shredder when completed showed that it used less fuel

than projected and spewed 62 percent fewer emissions into the atmosphere than anticipated. “That allows us to run longer hours,” Brenner notes.  The shredder has actually been in operation for six months but an open house and speeches on June 27 signaled its arrival.

Three containers small enough to travel on Interstate highways hold the engine, cooling and electrical components.  All the customer has to do is pour a concrete pad and wait for the unit to arrive.

   Installation requires “hooking them up and turning them on,” says Jay Brenner of a

process that usually takes less than two working days.  Brenner is a fourth-generation family member in the business.  His father, Bruce, is still active and has been pushing the ARE Energy power plants overseas recently with Pest.  “There are very real opportunities that exist for this type of equipment,” Pest says.  “The challenge is to bring those orders home.”