Business Segment Information - Segment Operating Performance (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	$ 462.4	$ 499.2
Cost of sales	376.6	486.3
Gross margin	85.8	12.9
Operating income (loss)	22.8	(45.2)
Equity in earnings of investees	(0.1)	(0.3)
Securities earnings	6.8	6.6
Insurance recoveries	0.8	0.6
Loss on prepayment of debt		(6.6)
General expenses, net	(8.3)	(9.7)
Interest expense	(13.7)	(15.4)
Income (loss) before income taxes	8.4	(70.0)
Chemicals
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	420.1	463.6
Cost of sales	340.2	460.3
Gross margin	79.9	3.3
Operating income (loss)	27.6	(45.1)
Component products
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	25.8	21.5
Cost of sales	18.0	15.5
Gross margin	7.8	6.0
Operating income (loss)	3.3	1.5
Waste management
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	7.0	14.1
Cost of sales	10.7	10.5
Gross margin	(3.7)	3.6
Operating income (loss)	(8.5)	(1.6)
Real Estate Management And Development
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	9.5
Cost of sales	7.7
Gross margin	1.8
Operating income (loss)	0.4
Corporate segment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Equity in earnings of investees		$ (0.3)