SONOCO OPENS SOUT CAROLINA RECYCLING PLANT
Sonoco, headquartered in Hartsville, S.C., has started commercial operation of a fully automated materials recovery facility (MRF) that will process dual-stream residential and commercial recyclable materials from the Raleigh and Wake County, N.C., area.
The 45,000-square-foot MRF operates under Sonoco’s wholly owned subsidiary Paper Stock Dealers Inc. The facility’s computer-automated reclamation processing system uses customized conveyors, an elliptical sorter, large storage hoppers and a fully automated horizontal baler to automatically separate, store, compact and bale reclaimed newsprint, old corrugated containers and other recycled paper and packaging, aluminum, steel, glass and plastic.
"Sonoco has invested nearly $5 million in developing a fully automated materials recycling facility that the Raleigh area can be proud of," Myles Cohen, vice president and GM of Sonoco’s Recovered Paper Division, says. "We have been operating Raleigh’s MRF for the past 10 years and the company was recently awarded a new contract to continue reclaiming the community’s curbside recyclables. This new facility is replacing two older, less sophisticated facilities that were unable to meet the growing residential and commercial reclamation needs of the Raleigh and Wake County area," Cohen adds.
"Our new facility is already improving the efficiency and productivity of Raleigh’s curbside recycling program by significantly reducing the time it takes to off-load, process and move recycled materials in and out of the facility," Marilyn Quattlebaum, director of operations for Sonoco’s Recovered Paper Division, says.
Quattlebaum says the MRF has the capacity to process 500 million tons of residential and commercial recyclables annually. She adds that the system will accommodate the commercial and municipal reclamation needs of communities in a 150-square-mile radius.
CALIFORNIA REACHES 50 PERCENT DIVERSION RATE
The state of California has reported that it has reached a diversion rate of 52 percent in 2005, exceeding the level the state legislature established more than a decade ago.
The state’s Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 sets a 50 percent diversion rate.
"I am proud of how California has once again shown the nation what can be done through perseverance and ingenuity," Margo Reid Brown, chairperson for the California Integrated Waste Management Board, said at a meeting Aug. 24 at the Puente Hills Landfill Materials Recovery Facility in Whittier, Calif. "Achieving this goal has required a long-term commitment from all sectors of the private and public enterprises. I deeply appreciate what has been accomplished."
The board, which uses a series of comprehensive standards to calculate the diversion rate, says the figure reflects the influence of population and economic growth.
California’s recycling industry is made up of 5,300 establishments and accounts for 85,000 jobs, generating $4 billion in salaries and wages and producing $10 billion in goods and services annually, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board.
The Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires individual cities and counties to cut their disposal rates in half, but leaves the mechanics for doing so largely up to each jurisdiction in light of their individual needs and available resources. Since the adoption of the act, the board has provided oversight, technical guidance and financial assistance for programs that could lead to increased waste diversion.
In 1990, California diverted just 10 percent of its waste stream, causing broad concern about the dwindling landfill capacity available to meet disposal requirements.
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