Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), Eugene, Ore., has announced that for the second year in a row, a recycling system designed and built by the company has nabbed the top award in the Solid Waste Association of North America’s (SWANA) annual Excellence Awards Program.
“We know there are many wonderful recycling plants throughout North America, so for our facility to receive the Gold Award from SWANA is a huge success,” says Phil Stecker, director of solid waste at the Tri-County Single Stream Recycling Facility in Appleton, Wis. The plant operates as a partnership between Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties.
“We greatly appreciate the efforts invested in this facility by all of our partners,” adds Stecker. “We benefit from the support BHS has given us in starting up the plant and fine tuning its operation, particularly because we are a public sector owner that operates just this one facility. “The cutting-edge technology we installed throughout our plant gives us the best that is achievable in performance and reliability.”
BHS says it custom-tailored the single-stream recycling system, utilizing patented screen, air and optical technologies to maximize recovery and minimize residue. The facility currently processes nearly 50,000 tons of material per year from more than 200,000 households in 65 communities. Stecker credits the BHS system for the facility’s processing efficiency and product quality and its low residual rate of 5 percent.
“We are thrilled that the Tri-County system won this prestigious award and are honored to be part of that success,” says BHS CEO Steve Miller. In 2009, another BHS system, a municipal solid waste (MSW) processing line at GreenWaste Recovery in San José, Calif., won the SWANA Gold Award. “We are proud to partner with these and other companies to provide the most efficient and innovative sorting and handling systems in the world,” Miller says.
The 50,000-square-foot facility is publically owned and operated. It deploys separation technologies, an extensive dust collection system, computerized controls and numerous safety components. The equipment layout is one football field long and three stories high with the capacity to process more than 80,000 tons per year.
More than 1,200 individuals have toured the facility, including elected and administrative officials, educators, regulators, industry professionals and members of the general public.
“After one year of operation, we have achieved all the goals we originally established for the project, including maximum processing efficiency and product quality,” Stecker says. “We have received more interest and attention for our facility than ever expected, including visitors from throughout Wisconsin, the United States and even Europe.”
BHS is a major supplier of processing systems for the solid waste, recycling, wood products/compost and waste to energy industries and continues to develop new generation products and systems, while adding to an extensive list of patented technologies.
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