Midwest Fiber invests in $3 million upgrade

Midwest Fiber Recycling, Normal, Illinois, announced plans to invest $3 million to equipment additions and upgrades at its material recovery facility (MRF). According to a company news release, the upgrade will enable the facility to more efficiently sort materials from contamination and increase processing capabilities.

All new equipment in this upgrade was designed by Bulk Handling Systems, Eugene, Oregon, which is a designer of single-stream recycling systems throughout the U.S.

Midwest Fiber is a family-owned single-stream processor in central Illinois. The company reports that the investment translates into a 33 percent increase in the plant’s recycling capabilities, giving the company and the communities and clients it serves the ability to divert increasing amounts of material away from landfills. Midwest Fiber receives single-stream materials from throughout central Illinois, which is more than 700 trucks delivering material per month.  

This marks Midwest Fiber’s third expansion since the MRF opened at 422 S. White Oak Rd. in 2011. The company made its last expansion in 2013. Overall, the company has invested in a total of more than $5 million in plant expansions in the last seven years. The expansions have enabled Midwest Fiber to increase the amount of recyclables diverted from landfills for its recycling partners.  

“Even though our facility is still fairly new, we strive to continue to keep up with the changing markets and material streams coming into our facility,” says Todd Shumaker, vice president of sales and marketing for Midwest Fiber. “Our goal is to continue to provide the best service in the Midwest where our recycling partners can recycle as many materials as possible and have confidence that as much material is diverted from landfills as possible. With the addition of three new pieces of equipment and upgrades to others, we can continue to achieve these goals. 

“The material stream is constantly changing. With more online purchases, we are seeing more cardboard than ever before and we needed to adjust for that. Also, with more types of plastic packaging for the products we buy, there is more confusion as to what of that can be recycled. We end up with a lot of things that are not recyclable, and we needed to add more equipment to help pull those out of the stream.”