Equipment report

Machinex to supply MRF in Troy, Michigan

Plessisville, Quebec-based Machinex has announced that it will supply a single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) for the Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority (SOCRRA) in Troy, Michigan.

Machinex says it was chosen to construct the MRF after a public bid by SOCRRA.

The new single-stream system will replace SOCRRA’s existing dual-stream system. The MRF will be operational in fall 2017, around the same time as the new recycling collection contract goes into effect. Serving several surrounding municipalities in the state of Michigan through curbside collection of recyclables, the new sorting center plans to double its capacity from 15,000 tons to 30,000 tons per year.

The existing building will be expanded to include a new tipping floor and a two-level education room. The processing system will include a drum feeder, a two-deck Mach OCC screen, a Mach One ONP screen, a Mach Ballistic separator as a finishing device, a ferrous magnet, a Machinex eddy current separator, a 3-cubic-yard waste compactor and a glass cleanup system.

SOCRRA, Royal Oak, Michigan, is a municipal corporation founded in the 1950s. The company consists of 12 member municipalities with a total population of approximately 283,000 and covers an area of 75 square miles.

In the early 1980s, Machinex says it became the first company in Canada to design machinery for MRFs. The company is a leader in designing recycling sorting systems, with more than 350 turnkey installations in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australia.

C&C Manufacturing purchases Al-Jon scrap product line

C&C Manufacturing LLC, Centerville, Iowa, has announced the purchase of Al-Jon Manufacturing LLC’s Scrap Products Division, based in Ottumwa, Iowa. The business was purchased out of foreclosure.

C&C, formerly known as C&C Machining Inc., says it has had a long-standing relationship with Al-Jon, having provided large precision-machined weldments since 1996. C&C owners Gaylon and Geoff Cowan say they are “delighted with” their newest acquisition.

“Al-Jon has been a family-owned and operated business since John Kneen opened it in 1963,” says C&C President Gaylon Cowan. “We are incredibly excited to purchase a company with 54 years of great history in the scrap metal and scrap vehicle recycling industries.”

Geoff Cowan, vice president of C&C, adds, “We are confident that C&C’s own commitment to excellence in manufacturing and customer service will help us carry on the legacy of quality, reliability and value that Al-Jon has been known for worldwide.”

Curt Spry, a 25-year veteran of the scrap equipment industry with 22 years spent at Al-Jon, will act as sales manager for the scrap equipment product line.

“It is my intention to work with our C&C sales, service and manufacturing teams to quickly instill market confidence and familiarity with the new C&C brand,” Spry says.

He continues, “The name will change, but the scrap processing equipment together with backup service and parts support we supply to the market will be the same or better.”

The scrap equipment product line, which includes car crushers, scrap balers and loggers and an end-of-life vehicle processing system, will continue to operate out of its 200,000-square-foot Ottumwa facility.

Stadler adds Presona baler line

Colfax, North Carolina-based Stadler America LLC has finalized exclusive representation in North America for the Presona line of balers designed and manufactured by Presona AB of Tomelilla, Sweden.

“We are excited about this opportunity,” says Mat Everhart, CEO of Stadler America. “Presona manufactures a fabulous baler. Being able to offer our customers best-in-class technology options is important for us, so Presona fits perfectly.”

Presona AB has been designing and manufacturing balers since the early 1940s. The company manufactured the original prepress flap baler. With more than 5,000 installations worldwide, Presona balers have a demonstrated track record of long-life and superior performance, Stadler America says. The machines can bale all materials being processed in today’s material recovery facilities (MRFs) and recycling plants.

“Presona balers are fantastic machines, very reliable and very robust,” Scott Jable, sales director for Stadler America, says. “Since this opportunity first presented itself, we have been working diligently to build the infrastructure to support and properly represent them. Now that this work has been done, we are thrilled to finally be able to make this announcement.”

Stadler America says Presona balers offer processors many advantages, including improved energy efficiency. Presona balers can be up to 60 percent more energy efficient than shear balers by eliminating the need for shearing. They also produce higher-density bales, do not need a dedicated operator and are suitable for all recyclables, Stadler America says.

Carton Council funds project to sort cartons with robots

The Carton Council of North America has announced it has been conducting a pilot program that uses artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of carton recycling at Alpine Waste & Recycling in Denver.

AMP Robotics and Alpine, through a collaboration led by the Carton Council, have used a robotic system to identify the wide variety of food and beverage cartons and grab and separate them from the recycling stream. The AMP Cortex, nicknamed “Clarke” after the sci-fi author and futurist Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, has spider-like arms with specially designed grippers to pick up and separate cartons at a material recovery facility (MRF). Clarke was installed at Alpine in late 2016 and, through fine-tuning and adjustments, has achieved a pickup rate of 60 cartons per minute. This is a considerable increase from the human average of 40 picks per minute, according to the Carton Council of North America.

Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling at Alpine, says, “At Alpine, we’re always looking at innovative ways to divert waste from landfills while making recycling programs more cost-effective. We recognized this opportunity with the Carton Council and AMP Robotics as a way to contribute toward methods that might encourage people to recycle more. We are extremely impressed with the advances Clarke has already made.”

A grant from the Carton Council made this project possible. The Carton Council and AMP Robotics say they hope to duplicate the success of Clarke at other MRFs as an innovative, cost-effective, long-term solution to sort cartons.

AMP Robotics, Denver, develops robotic systems for the recycling industry.

Founded in 1999, Alpine Waste & Recycling is the largest privately held commercial waste, recycling and compost collection company in Colorado. With more than 80 trucks and more than 200 employees, Alpine handles more than 300,000 tons of materials per year.

Resource Management Group opens new MRF

Resource Management Group (RMG), a San Diego-based materials management and recycling services provider, recently opened a new material recovery facility (MRF) that features a system designed and installed by CP Group, also of San Diego. The system features MSS Cirrus optical sorting technology and is designed for commercial and multifamily single-stream processing.

Most of the system input is a blend of commercial and multifamily materials, including OCC (old corrugated containers), OMP (old magazines) and plastic film. After loading onto the incline conveyor, the material goes through a manual presort, where any oversize items are removed. The three-deck CP OCC Screen recovers cardboard, and a CP Glass Breaker Fines Screen removes 2-inch and smaller fines. The remaining material enters the MSS Cirrus optical sorter, which is set up in a dual-eject configuration and positively ejects containers and fiber materials. This system achieves a higher than 90 percent diversion rate with minimal manual sorting, CP Group says.

“This is a unique system in the way we use optical sorting technology to handle and sort fiber,” says Terry Schneider, president and CEO of CP Group. “Our team at CP Group has enjoyed working so closely with RMG to help them reach their diversion goals. They are a very progressive company.”

“At RMG, we are very proud to be the first MRF built in the city of San Diego in over 16 years,” says Armen Derderian, president and CEO of RMG. “We look forward to playing a larger role as a solution provider in support of the city’s recycling ordinance and the state of California’s mandated diversion goals.”

CP Group is comprised of CP Manufacturing, Krause Manufacturing, MSS Inc. and Advanced MRF. The company provides recycling system design, manufacturing, retrofits, audits and consulting, as well as turnkey solutions for mixed waste, residential recycling, commercial and industrial, construction and demolition and electronic scrap applications.