Materials Recovery Processes
Our MRF has recently undergone major re-developments. This was necessary due to the changes in the way in which the materials arrive at the facility. Householders of Carmarthenshire no longer have their kerbside collections segregated at the point of collection; they put all of their recyclable materials into Blue Bags for regular collections.
The MRF was originally set up to receive a higher percentage of segregated materials but has now had to adapt in order to receive mixed recycling from about 70,000 households in Carmarthenshire, this equates to about 12,000 tonnes of Blue Bags per annum.
All segregated materials that are delivered to our MRF are added to the bulked up loose recyclets that are already sorted within the facility but the majority of our material has not been subject to any prior segregation and it goes through a finely tuned process that enables a maximum recovery of recyclables.
This process involves:
- Bag Splitter
- Pre-Sort Station
- Trommel
- Ballistic Separator
- Three Picking Lines
- Visual and Manual Operations
- Overhead Band Magnets
- Eddy Current Separator
- Baler
Follow the processing of your Blue Bag Recycling below:
Blue Bags are delivered to our MRF and are offloaded onto the pile already delivered and awaiting the sorting process.
Blue Bags are then loaded onto a Tele-Handler and dropped into a Bag Splitter where the bags are ripped open so that the contents can be easily removed.
The next process moves the split bags along a conveyor belt and to the Pre-Sort Station. Here a team of men remove the Blue Bags from the belt. They are bulked up and baled, then sent back for reprocessing back into bags once again. At the Pre-Sort Station as much non recyclable material as possible is removed so that segregation is made easier.
As the material works its way along the conveyor belt it drops into a Trommel which is a revolving drum that has specially sized holes throughout to enable smaller recyclable materials such as plastic bottles and cans to pass through. Larger flat material such as paper and card continue through the Trommel and onto a ‘negative’ picking line where any remaining contaminants are removed, the cardboard is manually picked and segregated by dropping it into chutes that directly fall into a cage to capture the cardboard. Paper travels to the end of the Picking Line and falls directly into bins specifically designated to capture the paper.
The majority of smaller recyclet that falls through the holes in the Trommel are referred to as ‘3D’. This is because they are not flat they include plastic bottles and cans. However, there is also an element of small pieces or shredded paper, broken glass (this should not be in the Blue Bags) and other household waste that cannot be recycled. The small or shredded paper is captured via a vacuum bar and is sent over the negative picking line to drop off into the paper bin at the end.
The 3D materials that fall through the Trommel enter a Ballistic Separator which further segregates the different types of materials. It has a moving floor and fans at one end which enable the segregation of different types of recyclable materials which it carries on to the appropriate picking line in the sorting process.
The MRF has 3 Picking Lines, the Trommel and Ballistic Separator guide the material onto the appropriate belt:
Picking Line 1 - Larger plastic bottles and cans
Picking Line 2 - Lighter plastics and cans plus small materials which have travelled through the process
Picking Line 3 - Negative Picking Line. Large, Flat cardboard and paper (including shredded paper) travels along, only cardboard is removed, leaving the paper to fall off the end into a paper bin.
On each of the Picking Lines strategically placed staff know exactly what to remove i.e. plastic, cardboard. The process of spreading the pre sorted material over the 3 Picking Lines enables a far superior sort and makes for a more efficient and better quality end commodity for reprocessing.
The installation of Over Head Magnets attracts and sorts steel cans, whilst the Eddy Current Separator deflects the aluminum cans into a designated cage.
As the plastic bottles are removed they pass through a ‘piercing’ machine. This has proved to be very beneficial when at a later time bulked plastics are baled as the air is able to escape which allows for far greater compaction, heavier bales and less transport requirements which is good for the environment.
Once all of the materials have been segregated, they are stored and bulked up. All of the materials apart from paper is baled in readiness for loading and transporting to re-processing manufactures. Paper is transported in its loose form back to Paper Mills where it undergoes its recycling process.
