High Volume MRF Seeks Efficient Systems

“Our biggest claim to fame used to be as the MRF doing the most with the least, but we can’t really say that anymore,” quips Patrick Carroll, assistant director at the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County, Fla.’s material recovery facility (MRF).

But in mid and late 1998, the county expanded and overhauled its facility, and now has systems that are a better match with the impressive amount of recyclable material that the county collects for processing.

Now Palm Beach County operates a 65,000-square foot facility that Carroll calls “one of the most impressive MRFs in the country.” The combination of a well-maintained and capitalized MRF with an aggressive collection program has produced a 50% recycling rate in Palm Beach County—a figure well above the national or state of Florida average.

KEEPING UP WITH GROWING VOLUME

Throughout the 1990s, Palm Beach County has collected a growing volume of recyclables within its jurisdiction. Part of the reason can be attributed to pure demographics.

Palm Beach County is a residential and commercial hot spot, even in a fast-growing part of the nation. Staying true to the stereotypical “snowbird” model, the county’s population grows by some 35% during the winter months, according to Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) assistant director Patrick Carroll.

The tourist economy alone generates an increased stream of recyclable beverage containers and newspapers. The commercial and retail sector that has grown to serve tourists, snowbirds and year-round residents alike generates an impressive amount of old cardboard containers (OCC).

Beyond the pure growth in waste and recyclable generation, the SWA has engaged in an active education program to urge residents (both year-round and seasonal) to recycle. “We spend close to $1 million educating our residents,” says Palm Beach County SWA recycling director Kathleen Kelley. “That money comes back to us in the sale of our commodities. We collect about 35 pounds per participating household per month, compared to a national average of around 20 pounds, I believe,” adds Kelley. “We attribute that difference to our education programs and our ability to take our message to the mass media.”

Curbside recycling is available to 95% of the county’s 500,000 households, including apartment and condominium dwellers.

According to Kelley, municipal solid waste landfill costs in the Palm Beach area run about $85 per ton, making recycling an attractive option for local officials. Kelley believes that beyond the dollars and cents aspects of it, Palm Beach County residents and business owners also recycle for altruistic reasons. “I think our residents and businesses do it more out of a sense of community and a feeling that it’s the right thing to do, less so than because of the economics of it.”

The SWA has also aggressively pursued recyclables generated by retailers, manufacturers and commercial businesses. Drop-off bins have been placed in downtown shopping areas and other retail sites. The authority has gone virtually door-to-door to retailers and other business operators within the county asking for input on how to make recycling easier for them and also alerting them to existing recycling options. Small, manual compressing devices known as Break-Time balers have also been distributed to store owners who wish to break down cardboard boxes before taking them to the drop-off container.

“Two-thirds of the waste stream comes from businesses,” notes Kelley. “We have a total of 115 small business drop-off locations. The downtown area [of Palm Beach] was tough because space is limited,” she adds. “Even to get one parking spot for a drop-off box was tough.” She notes that 75 businesses share the use of 30 of the Break-Time balers to prepare their OCC to take up less room in the drop-off bins.

“We are now also working with janitorial services to collect office paper—such as white paper from high-rise office buildings—and we even have a sort of profit-sharing plan in place as an incentive for the services to collect,” says Kelley.

The office grades collected by the SWA are processed at a different MRF directly across the street from the newly-renovated residential MRF. According to Kelley, the commercial MRF processes what is collected and markets office pack and sorted white ledger grade shipments.

The authority has made an effort to collect anywhere recyclables might be generated, according to Kelley. “There is a huge amphitheater in the county where public events are held; we collect there,” she notes. “We collect at the beaches. All of our parks have programs. We collect at the marinas; wherever people recreate and spend leisure time, we have collection sites.”

“The growth in collections has been tremendous,” says Carroll. “We’ve been averaging about 7% to 10% materials collection growth annually.

“The population growth only accounts for some of that,” Carroll continues. “We have a very aggressive education and outreach program, and a dynamite media team that can get our message out.”

How the county’s efforts have paid off can be measured not only by the amount of recyclables collected but also by the subsequent upgrades in its facilities.

The first Palm Beach County MRF—which was considered an interim facility from the start—could process about 200 tons per day and was largely dependent on hand sorting.

A new MRF opened in 1991 with some mechanical sorting capabilities and the ability to process 365 tons of material per day.

By 1997, SWA officials began planning for a major expansion. The MRF grew from 38,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet, while two highly automated stream systems were designed: one for commingled containers and the other for secondary fibers.

The expansion, completed in late 1998, allows the SWA to process 450 tons per day of recyclables at the MRF, which is operated by FCR Florida Inc., part of FCR Inc., Charlotte, N.C.

In addition to processing its own recyclables, the Palm Beach County MRF also processes recyclables collected by three neighboring counties, although these added materials make up just 10% of the total stream.

TWO STREAMS IN PLACE

The MRF in Palm Beach County has been designed to deal with two streams that are kept separate from the point of collection and beyond.

Containers—glass, aluminum, and plastic—are brought to one tipping floor and processed with one set of machinery while secondary fibers are tipped onto a different floor and never touch the same conveyors as the containers.

The secondary fibers are fed by mobile handling equipment into a hopper that serves as the starting point of a conveying and processing system designed by CP Manufacturing, National City, Calif. Assistant director Carroll estimates that 75% of the recyclables by weight recovered by the Palm Beach County SWA are secondary fibers, with old newspapers (ONP) making up 90% of that secondary fiber stream.

Manual sorting stations are still very much present in the Palm Beach County MRF fiber processing system. “I don’t know of any other method that can work as well for paper,” says Carroll, who notes that the newer Star-screen and similar technology is generally only applicable to larger, commercial facilities.

While there are just 22 sorting stations on the commingled container line (one less than with the old system), there are 88 sorting stations on the secondary fiber line, more than double than the 40 that were in place before the new equipment was added.

Cascaded conveyors bring the fiber stream past those 88 sorters, who are seeking out certain grades, with OCC, ONP, telephone directories, magazines and catalogs being the ones currently processed and sold.

Up to 14 tons of commingled containers can be handled per hour at the Palm Beach County MRF. In addition to aluminum, glass and plastic containers, the SWA also processes aseptic packages and aluminum foil.

While some contaminants are removed manually, a Countec Recycling system with trommels and air sorters separates the various materials. All packaging materials—except glass, of course—are baled as the final step.

The new automated equipment has performed beyond expectations, according to Carroll. “The commingled system was designed to process between 12 and 14 tons per hour. But it’s been operating at or above 14 tons per hour since it was commissioned in July of 1998.”

Steel cans accidentally placed by residents into the recycling stream are magnetically separated and baled. Otherwise, ferrous items are separated out magnetically at Palm Beach County’s waste-to-energy plant.

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

Even for a county with a healthy tax base such as Palm Beach County, a $4.4 million MRF expansion project will need to produce dividends. Palm Beach County SWA officials are certain that the investment is paying off.

Logistically, Carroll says the improved facility eliminates a lot of difficulties that used to be encountered. “Increasing the throughput and tip floor space significantly gives us the ability to handle the maximum peak days a lot more efficiently,” he remarks. “The systems we previously had in place were being operated well over their design capacities.”

In a seasonal region like southern Florida—where the waste generated can grow significantly in the span of a week or two—that has been helpful. “It also lets you handle any hiccups,” Carroll says of equipment glitches. “If you have to shut the line down now, it’s not the end of the world. We used to work on less than one day’s tip floor capacity in reserve.”

Carroll adds that the storage capacity at the finished product end of the line was similarly tight before. “And there’s almost always hiccups in scheduling trucking,” he remarks.

Beyond the issue of the volume processed lies the quality of material being shipped to paper packers, paper mills, and the other consumers.

“The quality issues are at the forefront now for all commodities,” says Carroll. He notes that Southeast Paper Recycling Co., Marietta, Ga., with whom the SWA has a long-term contract for the sale of some of its secondary fiber, is “really driving the quality issue hard. That was one of our focuses—to make consistently high-quality No. 8 [Deink Quality] News shipments. The new systems allow us to do that more efficiently with the same or less manpower, and in less time.”

The steady volume and the reliable quality of the SWA’s shipments has enabled them to enter long-term contracts for their processed secondary fiber. “We have long-term contracts with paper vendors,” notes Kelley. “They’re 20-year contracts, with floor prices that have been very helpful to our bottom line.”

Carroll believes the new configuration has achieved a good balance between being able to process high volumes of material while still keeping the quality level high. “I think the amount of tonnage we process is impressive,” he notes. “If you check, you won’t find any that do more in terms of what equipment we have. The expanded facility and the new configuration is something that we’re real, real proud of. As far as the quality of the material and the cleanliness and the condition of our facility, every person that has come through here on a tour has said it’s the cleanest, most well-kept facility of its type.

“The upgraded systems have worked better than we could’ve hoped—better than advertised,” concludes Carroll.

The author is editor of Recycling Today.

A Recycling Party

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA), West Palm Beach, Fla., does not believe sorting through the recyclables has to be a dirty business kept away from public view.

In fact, the SWA’s newly-upgraded MRF has a viewing area where tour parties—including school children—can see recycling processes up close and at full speed.

The SWA hosted two days’ worth of activities this February to show off its newly-expanded facility. On Friday, Feb. 5, school children and civic groups were able to tour the facility to see what happens to the materials they take out to the curb.

On Saturday, Feb. 6, former Senator John Mitchell of Maine was the guest speaker at an event that included not only further tours of the facility, but also environmentally-themed game shows, a fashion show featuring recycled clothing, a handful of corporate and governmental agency exhibitors manning booths, and free hot dogs, popcorn and soft drinks.

William Ferretti, executive director of the National Recycling Coalition, Alexandria, Va., was also on hand. He was in all likelihood impressed by what he saw in Palm Beach County, particularly in regard to the collection of recyclables. While the national average of solid waste materials for diverted for recycling has been estimated at 27%, Palm Beach County is currently claiming an impressive 50% recycling rate.