Small-scale processing of commingled recyclables

by Steve Apotheker Resource Recycling

There is more than one way to design a materials recovery facility.

From barns and agricultura1 conveyors to specially designed conveyors and ele- vated sor-ting platforms, innovative and site-specific solutions are being found to handle the commingled recyclable con- tainers generated by communities with small volumes. Interviews with severa1 commingled processing system vendors and profiles of nine operating programs illustrate some of the principles that guide the construction of these facilities.

For the purpose of this article, small- scale materials recovery facilities (MRFs) are designed to process about 25 tons or less of commingled recyclable containers per eight-hour shift. The surveyed MRFs all handle at least glass, aluminum, steel and plastic containers (see Table 1). However, even within this limited scope of activity, different variations in system design abound.

Customized is standard John Redmond, president of the Harris Group, a recycling and solid waste equip- ment manufacturer, echoes the senti- ment of nearly every equipment supplier interviewed, “Each MRF installation has to be customized.” Manufacturers (see sidebar) evaluate each situation and select an approach to optimize process- ing efficiency.

For surveyed programs that handled a volume of 10 tons per shift or less, there is a marked dependence on using an en- gineering design that takes advantage of available processing resources and mar- kets. For example, the Town of Bowdoin- ham, Maine retrofitted an elevator to a multi-level barn so recyclables could be hauled to the second floor for sorting on an agricultura1 conveyor. Chutes take the sorted materials to the first floor. The con- tainers are then shipped to another proc- essor for additional processing and mar- keting.

Beaver County, Pennsylvania and Swift County, Minnesota used engineer- ing firms to design their facilities. On the

other hand, Alternatives Recycling Center (ARC) of Oneida, New York had an engineer with its parent organization, Association of Retarded Citizens, provide the processing layout.

In some cases, the initial design turns out to be a learning experience. ARC started with a ground-level sorting con- veyor and discovered the first general principie of processing design - minimize the handling of materials. One technique used by almost every program is an elevated sorting platform so that gravity moves containers into storage containers or processing equipment.

ARC spent $50,000 to elevate its sort- ing line and added a nifty variation on plastics handling at the same time. High density polyethylene (HDPE) containers

Selected manufacturers of small-scale MRFs Bruce Mooney Associates, Inc. Bulk Handling Systems Inc. CP Manufacturing Inc. Count Recycling Systems, Inc. Duraquip Inc. Harris Group Hustler Conveyor Company Krause Mfg. Inc. Lundell Manufacturing Magnatech Engineering Inc. Magnificent Machinery Company Mayfran International Ptarmigan Machinery Company T.I.P. Inc. Torbeck Industries Triple “E” Company

For other sources, please see “A directory of MRF vendors and equip- ment suppliers,” in our March 1992 issue and the recycling equipment directory in our August 1992 issue.

64 Resource Recycling October 1992

n Table 1 - Pet-formance of small-scale materials recovery facilities

Plant Number House- size Capital Through-

& Labor Residue

Program Location MateriaIs holds (SF) (1) cost (2) put (TPD) (percent) (FTE) Alternatives Recycling Center (3) Oneida, NY 70,000 7,000 $150,000 G,A,S,Pl-2 8 1 10.0 6 Beaver County Franklin Twp, PA 100,000 26,000 800,000 G,A,S,Pl-2 30-35 3 44.0 12-14 Best Recycling & Waste Services Wheeling, IL 50,000 4,000 120,000 G,A,S,Pl-2 20 1 5.0 3 Town of Bowdoinham Bowdoinham, ME 1,000 8,000 27,000 G,A,S,Pl-7,T l-2 1 1.5 6 Continuum Recycling Cleveland, OH 80,000 10,000 300,000 G,A,S,PlQ 15-20 1 10.5 5 Laidlaw Waste Systems Schaumberg, IL 95,000 17,000 N.A. G,A,S,Pl-7 35-40 1.50- 10.0 10-15

1.75 Larry’s Sanitary Service Cotati, CA 7,000 1 acre, N.A. G,A,S,Pl-2 5-8 (4) 1 4.0 5

outside Swift County Benson, MN 3,000 6,000 N.A. G,A,S,PlQ 3-4 1 6.0 3 Taormina Industries Regional

Material Recovery Facility Anaheim, CA ll ,000 10,000 70,000 (5) AP,G,A,S,Pl-7 lOS(6) 2 36.0 15-20

SF = Squarefeet. S = Steel cans. TPD = Tons per day. T = Textiles. FTE = Fulltime equivalents. P = All plastics. N.A. = Not available. Pl = Polyethylene terephthalate.

G = Glass bottles. P2 = High density polyethylene. A = Aluminum cans. P3 = Polyvinyl chloride.

(1) Space dedicated to processing of commingled containers. (2) For equipment only.

P4 = Low density polyethylene. P5 = Polypropylene. P6 = Polystyrene. P7 = Mixed resin plastics. AP = All residential paper.

(3) Does the processing for Madison County, New York. (4) Processing for only two to three hours per day. (5) Includes only the cost of the sorting line and not any volume-reduction or loading equipment. (6) Commingled containers represent about 25 percent of recovered materials. Sources: Resource Recycling, 1992; 1991-92 MateriaIs Recovery and Recycling Yearbook, 1992.

No More Bulky Storage Ptvblems! No More Unsightiy Mess! I Made of highly durable

oolvethvlene ’ 56800 + S&H: Check, B Measures 16” wide x 34” tall MO, VISA, MC acccepted

x 22” deep I Ouantitv Discounts a

B Weighs 10 Ibs. CSL & ASSOCIATES

2482 Jett Ferry Road. Suite 680-El6 Dunwoody, GA 30338

404-396-2949. 800-622-6069. FAX 404-396-2950

Crush & Store Over 400 Aluminum Cans For Recycling !

I CANPACTOR II is perfect for schools, club facilities, offices, homes, cafeterias and bars - wherever cans collect!

I Easy hand operated crusher operates in 3 easy steps! Insert can horizontally, pull handle down to crush, lift handle and can self ejecix into bin.

Crushes Over 3000 Aluminum or Steel Beverage Cans Per Hour!

FEED CANS 0 BULK LOAD /NT0 INDMDUALLY FUNNEL [hmnel

cover optional/ I CANSAVER’ II is ideal for

bottlers, beverage dlstributors, hotels, hospitals and rnstitutions, SPECIFICATIONS: cafeterias, schools and bars! I Crusher unit: 17” L x 14” W

I Crushes full or partially filled cans! I Volume reduction 4:l to 8:l

x 9” H Weighs: 74 Ibs.

I Easy to operate. safee qulet I Funnel wlth agitator

motor: 30”Lx2l”Wx2l”H I Portable. occupies Ilttle space! B Low Cost . High Efficiency

Wt: 35 Ibs. Holds 125 cans B ‘/4 - K H.P. - 110 or 220 V I Severa1 models available

CSL 8¿ ASSOCIATES 2482 Jett Ferry Road. Suite 680-El6. Dunwoody, CiA 30338

404-396-2949.800-622-6069. FAX 404-396-2950

Circle 326 on RR service card Circle 328 on RR service card

66 Resource Recycling October 1992

are manuaily pulled from the sorting con- veyor and placed on an inclined conveyor that carries the bottles up 10 feet into a 90-cubic-yard storage silo. The HDPE containers can be emptied into boxes for efficient moving to the baler. Color- sorted glass bottles are sent through chutes directly into storage bunkers for loading into shipping trailers.

According to Mike Hulland, industrial director for ARC, the organization has realized increased productivity, safety and material quality from this design change. “For example,” Hulland says, “we are now processing 10 percent more volume with two fewer workers.”

Standard is customized Some MRF manufacturers start with a basic processing framework that is then customized, depending on volume and application. The standard processing module is an elevated sorting platform that includes a dumping hopper, inclined conveyor, sorting conveyor, picking sta- tions and a magnet to remove steel cans. One way to customize these modules is to make them pottable or mounted on skids.

As Redmond observes, portable units can play a valuable role in rural areas or in regions where small residential recy- cling collection programs are just getting statted. One processing unit can go where the materials are being generated, so that bulky, uncompacted materials are not shipped long distances.

The standard sorting platforms can also be customized with various mechan- ical devices such as bag breakers, trom- mels, shaker screens and air classifiers. However, the cost of these devices needs to be justified by the program’s volume.

Thomas Bunker of Bulk Handling Sys- tems estimates that three tons per hour is the break-even point for the more auto- mated processing systems. This obser- vation is borne out by the programs inter- viewed (see Table 2). Those with the capability of doing about 20 tons per shift incorporated some type of mechani- cal sorting device to boost the produc- tivity of manual sorting.

The Laidlaw Waste Systems MRF in Schaumberg, Illinois uses a trommel and air classifier to improve productivity. Laid- law’s workers are averaging about four

tons per person per eight-hour shift, double that of other systems depending solely on manual sorting.

Best Recycling & Waste Services of Wheeling, Illinois went from a ground- level sorting system to a vendor-supplied elevated sorting platform. The new sys- tem incorporates a shaker screen at the front end to get out the broken glass, dirl and other contaminants. Sorted mate- rials, such as glass bottles, go through chutes into roll-off boxes for direct market hauls, or are put into volume-reduction equipment.

Don Bulthuis, assistant general man- ager for Best Recycling, notes, “We now process the same volume with five people in one shift that it used to take 12 people and two shifts to do.” He attrib- utes the new efficiency to minimizing the handling of the materials and improved mechanical sorting.

Developing material flexibility Small-scale systems have to watch every penny in order to achieve favorable economics. Larry Gilmore of Duraquip stresses the need for MRFs to diversify beyond curbside collection of residential

Now entering our third decade of manufactwing superior recycling equzpment.

Desien vour svstem fkom our -_ . ^^ ---. _--- CI d d tiLAS lMk!AKbK Model GB- 1000 Four models available UD to 15 tons ner hour. self- cleaning tail pulley, andkost impo&nt, high toque, low speed cmsher eliminates glass dust.

full range of equipment. . ..Miller Mini-MRF - Ideal for processing

al1 mixed curbside recyclables. . ..Can Shredders, Flatteners, Weigh Hoppers,

Magnetic Separator Conveyors, and Blower Loaders.

* In-house engineering sc to help design al1 your specialty applications.

P B . ..Paper Shredder - Ideal for document destruc-

tion, animal bedding and cellulose insulation manufacturing.

1 .>.+ ‘+: ;>:> ;;j:: ,,, :,*, “;< . ..Plastic PerforatorVFlattener for PET ,i, * ? \> ‘C HDPE bottles and jugs. . ..Glass Breakers

/&LLEW /hN”F..CT”RINC IZO. Box 336, Turlock, CA 95381

(209) 632-3846 Fax (209) 632-1369

Circle 132 on RR service card

67 Resource Recycling October 1992

recyclables. “Processing facilities need small-scale MRF to handle commingled clables from 15 cities in Cuyahoga to handle containers generated from in- recyclables generated from businesses County, but also materials from institu- dustrial, commercial and institutional responding to San Diego’s mandatory re- tions, apartments and commercial sources,” he says. One organization that cycling ordinance. sources. The MRF receives recyclables follows this theory is Solana Recyclers of Continuum Recycling in Cleveland, from a diversity of sources because it Encinitas, California, which purchased a Ohio not only accepts the curbside recy- takes the commingled containers in plas-

n Table 2 - Description of processing systems for small-scale materials recovery facilities

Program Alternatives

Recycling Center

Beaver County Best Recycling

& Waste Services Town of Bowdoinham

Continuum Recycling

Laidlaw Waste Systems

Larry’s Sanitary Service

Swift County Taormina Industries

Regional Material Recovery Facility

System description Unloading pit, incline conveyor to 15’-high sorting platform, nine picking stations, magnet, residue off the end of the line;

P2 sorted onto conveyor that feeds a 90-cubic-yard silo, glass goes down chutes into storage bunkers. Negative sort of residue.

Unloading pit, incline conveyor to 25’-high sorting platform, eight picking stations, magnet. Unloading hopper, shaker screen to remove small glass and grit, incline conveyor to sorting line, five picking stations,

magnet. One-ton winch-driven elevator carries boxed material to second floor, material dumped onto chute that empties onto

25’-long agricultura1 conveyor for sorting. Material dropped through chutes to bottom floor for storage or processing. Unloading pit, bag breaker and pneumatic bag removal system, incline conveyor to 50’-long sorting platform, 1 O-l 1

picking stations. Unloading hopper, infeed conveyor, overhead magnet, trommel to remove broken glass and dirt, air classifier to

separate glass from light aluminum/plastic fraction, six sorters. Negative sorts on aluminum and clear glass. Unloading hopper, shaker screen, incline conveyor with magnetic head pulley, air classifier separates light aluminumi

plastic fraction from glass. Negative sor? on aluminum and green glass. Agricultura1 conveyor used for sorting, six picking stations. Infeed hopper fed with a loader using a grapple bucket. Incline conveyor carries material to elevated sorting line, with

nine picking stations for paper and aluminum. Material then goes toa second sorting belt, with nine picking stations for container removal. Five-cubic-yard boxes are on each side of sorters, and sometimes behind them.

P2 = High density polyethylene.

Source: Resource Recycling, 1992.

THE BHS MRF CAN SORT PLASTIC BOTTLES

AND ALUMINUM AUTOMATICALLY!

For More Information Call 503/485-0999

Circle 39 on RR service card Circle 74 on RR service card

BottlegBuster The quick, clean, easy & profitable

method to turn glass to cash

0 Easv fo set-up on ---, -- -- 55 Gallon 1 ìrums

l Reduces Storaae 12 fo 1

l Only One Moving Part

l Low Noise Level

Ask for BULLETIN BB-4 Ertel Engineering Company PO. Box 3358 l Kingston, N.Y. 12401

914-331-4552.800-553-7835. Fax914-339-1063

66 Resource Recycling October 1992

tic bags. The recyclables are collected separately from garbage in packer trucks.

The secret to Continuum’s success is an automatic bag-breaker that accom- plishes its purpose without breaking the glass bottles. After the bags are opened, they are pneumatically removed from the material stream and deposited in a baler. The automatic bag breaker saves the labor of seven workers, according to Tom Norton, president of Continuum.

Norton is in a unique position, because the equipment used at the MRF was built by Magnificent Machinery, another com- pany Norton owns. This gives him direct feedback on how his equipment and sys- tem works.

Taormina Industries of Anaheim, Cali- fornia gets a bigger bang for its buck by handling a fully commingled stream of scrap paper and containers. The com- pany purchased a small portable MRF to process Anaheim’s pilot curbside recy- cling collection program that started in 1989.

Processing was very labor-intensive, and a second conveyor belt had to be added to accommodate all the pickers needed to recover the numerous mate-

\

rials. Tom Vogt, vice president with Taor- mina Industries, says the portable proc- essing unit worked well and the company purchased two other units to handle other communities.

Vogt also points out that the experi- ence with the small system was invalu- able in assisting with the design of Taor- mina’s large 120,000-square-foot MRF. In the new plant, productivity was im- proved with the use of a finger screen that separates larger, mostly paper, ma- terials (Le., greater than nine inches) from the smaller ones. The paper stream is then separated into different grades.

The smaller items fall onto a vibrating screen that separates out items smaller than 1.5 inches, such as broken glass and bottle caps. The containers are pulled, and a mixed paper stream exits the belt.

Improving performance Dennis Pederson, president of Count Re- cycling Systems, Inc., sees a better per- formance by MRFs in the future, as com- ponents are improved and a better under- standing is gained of how to sequence those components, especially to take ad-

vantage of the “negative sor?.” The “negative sort” material is not touched by sorters and exits the conveyor into a shipping container or volume-reduction equipment.

Count sets up the negative sort by using a trommel to remove broken glass and dirt, while an air classifier divides light materials from heavy ones. Pickers remove colored glass bottles from the “heavy” belt and different scrap plastics from the “light” belt. Clear glass bottles and aluminum cans exit the “heavy” and “light” material conveyors, respectively, as “negative sorts” for final storage, or processing and then storage.

Michael Ellinger of Ptarmigan Machin- ery Industries sees better use of sorters in small scale MRFs as one way to im- prove performance. The company has developed a swing-away catwalk for its portable processor that allows sorters to move to different picking locations.

Ellinger observes that when com- mingled recyclables are dumped into a hopper, the materials stratify by density. As a result, a preponderance of the heavier materials come up the conveyor first, followed by the lighter materials.

b

Subscribe today and sa .VI

OULD YOU LIKE TO KEEP CURRENT ON COMPOST NEWS, TECHNOLOGIES AND RFPs?

Now you can by subscribing to

The independent monthly newsletter that reports the most current developments in

agricultural, industrial, MSW and home composting.

e more than 30% off the regular subscription price of $12500. To subscribe, simply send a check or money order for $83.00 to:

COMPOS TING NE WS 8383 Mentor Avenue, Suite 102

Mentor, Ohio 44060-5756

Circle 13 on RR service card

69 Resource Recychg October 1992

Some workers that are assigned to re- move lighter materials are inactive ini- tially under the old segregated picking station approach, but the catwalk allows them to move up to the stations where the heavier items are being removed. Workers can then shift back to other pick- ing stations when the lighter fraction starts to dominate the sorting stream.

John Willis of CP Manufacturing Inc. sees glass bottles, particularly broken ones, as items to reckon with in the MRF design. CP’s approach is to use a flexible corrugated rubber sidewall belt that rides on rollers so that broken glass pieces are contained on the belt. (On a regular slider belt conveyor, the abrasive glass pieces get between the belt and metal bed and grind up the metal surface.)

However, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Steve Tatro at T.I.P. offers a slidei belt conveyor whose metal bed is lined with a durable high-molecular- weight plastic. The liner is easily replace- able and protects the metal bed from damage.

MRF economics The capital cost of small-scale MRFs

varies, depending on the proximity of facility. The capital cost per daily ton of markets and how much of the processing processing capacity (Le., in an eight-hour is done at the MRF, as opposed to an- shift) ranges from $10,000 to $20,000. other intermediate larger processing Programs can improve the use of capital

Forget Tubgrinders, Crushers, Shredders, Maulers, Densifiers, a Hogs, Tree Harvesters, Chippers, Mulchers, Compactors, 1 Stumpeaters, Composters and Debalers. . . ,L

CUTTER DRUM SIZING CONCAVE WITH VARIOUS WITH LOCKOUT TOOLING

Originally built to process asphalt slabs and chunks at rates of 200 TPH, the Maxi- grind 9100 makes fast work out of other products such as wood, root balls, asphalt shingles, demo debris, pallets, compost materials, salt blocks, lantill top dress, hazard- ous waste, carcasses, stumps, red bricks, sludge with plastic liners, MSW, sediment I ash, railroad ties, 24” logs, box board, glass, and a host of other materials. The unit even allows compaction of white goods, barrels, etc. using the unique feed ram system.

i;

If you need portability and low investment cost, yet need to reduce, recycle, or recover to cut costs and meet compliance, count on the Maxigrind 9100. Cal1 it profit insurance. l 3 times the production l 1/2 the price

NORKOT Mfg. Co., Inc. FAX 701-228-2127 x;

l 1/4 the maintenance l-800-292-MAXI fi IF YOU LIKE THOSE NUMBERS. . . CALL THIS ONE - Rwuest a FREE Video 6 2 9 4 1

Circle 428 on RR service card

70 Resource Recycling October 1992

:.

_: :

equipment by operating more than one taged workers as a source of labor. Pro- shift and processing more than just ductivity per worker may not be as high, curbside residential recyclable contain- but financially it may still be attractive to ers. the MRF’s bottom line. Just as important,

A number of programs are able to use the community, which pays for the recy- socioeconomically or mentally disadvan- cling collection and processing programs,

An automatic bag breaker at Continuum Recycling in Cleveland, Ohio allows the company to accept recyclables from a vari- ety of sources (1). After the bags are opened, equipment at the materials recov- ery facility further separates the recyclables (2).

reaps a double financia1 benefit by creat- ing productive jobs for these populations, such as ARC has done.

For MRFs to realize their full potential, there 6eeds to be increased market de- velopment, asserts T.I.P.‘s Tatro. The MRF’s ability to handle more types of ma- terials with a commingled approach is weakened if markets are not available. A number of programs - including Con- tinuum Recycling, ARC and the Town of Bowdoinham - identified problems with marketing plastics, with the exception of high density polyethylene. If tests with the state Department of Transportation are successful, the MRF in Beaver County, Pennsylvania is looking to market its mixed-color glass, which makes up 80 percent of the residue from the container stream, as a backfill material for drainage pipe. RR

f-1 B!Wl!ETTER - For all your shredded material Wlth thls new patented system nearly all materials can be compacted into solid high density briquettes.

A reliable and cost effective briquetting press for a wide range of materials.

Aluminum turnings and chips Aluminum cans Copper Steel turnings and chips Wood shavings and debris Saw dust and powders Paper/Newspapers Wood pallets Cartons and trates Chemicals/Fertilizers Agricultura1 waste

13-14 seconds per briquet on material previously thought impossible. From 1 to 3 tons per hour depending on material. FUEL. POWER l STORAGE l RECYCLING

ACROSS AMERICA CALL 800-268-6797 GENSCO AMERICA ING. 2372 S. Stone Mountain - Lithonia Ftoad, Lithonla, GA. 30066

GENSCO EQUIPMENT CO. LTD. 63 Carlaw Ave., Toronto, Canada M4M 2R6 Tel: (416) 4657521 Fax: (416) 4654469 In the USA: l-600-266-6797

Circle 277 on RR service card

71 Resource Recychg October 1992