Material Recovery Facility to Boost Houston Recycling Rates

09 August 2011 Waste Management Inc. has opened a 40,000 square foot (3700 square metre) Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in its home city of Houston, Texas. According to the company, the facility is one of the most technologically advanced single-stream sorting systems in the country, and simplifies the process of collecting and processing recyclable materials and could increase recycling rates by up to 50%. Residents and commercial customers will place recyclables in a single container for pickup, and no longer need to separate these materials in their homes or workplaces. When recyclables arrive at the facility, the company says that equipment including magnets, screens and optical scanners are used to separate, sort and process newspaper, mixed paper, plastic containers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), tetrapack and glass, which are then shipped out for reuse. The facility also includes a new 'paper magnet' for removing small paper and recyclable residue from the container stream and a 'paper spike' that mechanically removes boxboard/chipboard from newspaper. Other equipment installed at the plant includes magnets and eddy currents to capture the remaining metals, and two large balers bind the finished products into bales weighing as much as 1.5 tons (1.36 tonnes). The company says that it has invested over $15 million to create the facility that can sort and process more than 9000 tons (8165 tonnes) of recyclable newspaper, cardboard, aluminium, glass and plastic each month. In addition, the plant accepts a range of materials that have historically been discarded, such as film plastic and rigid plastics, expanding the range of materials that can be recycled. Additionally, the new MRF accepts materials from the City of Houston's single-stream residential collection program and other communities and commercial customers in the region. The company says that the new facility also features a 20 foot by 40 foot (6 metre by 12 metre) education centre to host tours and classes that will teach the fundamentals of recycling. The interior of the education centre was designed and built by Dan Phillips and The Phoenix Commotion Crew - a Houston-based building initiative known for using recycled and salvaged materials - and reused CDs on the ceiling. Alan Bachrach, director of recycling at Waste Management South Texas comments: "The less work the customer has to do to get these materials to the curb the more it helps increase participation. Everyone is busy, but wants to do their part in making our planet greener. We are excited to help make this a reality by investing in this type of technology." Sign up for Waste Management World's Free E-Mail Newsletters