A secondary sorting facility pulling deposit containers out of mixed plastic bales was awarded funding from the state of California. | Hiv360/Shutterstock
California’s state recycling agency will provide $10 million toward a facility sorting plastics with resin codes 2-7, additional multimillion dollar grants for several major MRF retrofits, and a handful of smaller awards for localities to install recycling collection containers.
The funding, approved at CalRecycle’s April 22 monthly meeting, comes from multiple pots of money earmarked for beverage container recycling improvements.
The largest single grant was awarded through the Beverage Container Quality Infrastructure Grant Program, which funds sorting-related projects for “creating clean streams of beverage container materials that are substantially free of contamination from existing curbside recycling programs or drop-off collection programs.”
Totaling $10 million, the grant was awarded to GreenWaste Recovery, the San Jose-area MRF and compost facility operator. In the grant description, GreenWaste proposes to create a “secondary plastic plant system dedicated to sorting and processing mixed plastic bales (types 2-7),” sourced from GreenWaste’s own single-stream MRF and from other facilities.The project comes after GreenWaste bale audits showed additional high-quality deposit containers were available for recovery, according to the description.
Totaling 2.34 acres — over 100,000 square feet — the facility will feature equipment from Bulk Handling Systems, including NRT SpydIR-HS optical sorters and the company’s Total Intelligence Platform. The platform is already in use at GreenWaste’s existing San Jose MRF and provides AI-enabled data analytics on the material stream.
CalRecycle also approved the following MRF grant projects:
- The city of Sunnyvale was awarded $6.6 million to upgrade its Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer Station, which has a 10-ton-per-hour recycling processing line and a 100-ton-per-hour MSW processing line. The equipment will increase capture of PET, HDPE, PP, glass, cartons, aluminum cans and bimetal containers.
- Ming’s Resource Corporation was awarded $5.3 million to install optical sorting equipment that will sort deposit materials out of the stream coming in from grocers, dealer cooperatives and public venues. Ming’s, a Sacramento-based redemption center operator and broker, “aims to enhance sorting infrastructure in Northern California, providing high-quality commingled sorting services to high-volume California Redemption Value locations,” according to the grant.
- The city of Bakersfield was awarded $5.1 million to fund a retrofit of its municipally-owned MRF by equipment supplier Green Machine. The facility currently “struggles with outdated equipment,” according to the grant. “The planned upgrades aim to modernize the sorting line and reduce manual labor. These improvements are expected to reduce contamination by 10-15%, increase California Redemption Value materials by 10%, and enable the facility to capture additional recyclable materials.”
- SANCO Resource Recovery was awarded $4.9 million to install a glass decontamination unit and three optical sorters at its MRF in Lemon Grove, San Diego County. The optical sorters will be placed on the lines producing California Redemption Value container bales and will remove non-deposit containers from that stream.
- Mid-Valley Recycling was awarded $4.6 million for a CP Group retrofit of the company’s MRF in Fresno that will increase container recovery by 250 tons per year. CP Group will perform “a complete redesign of the commercial processing line to incorporate new technologies and expand capacity for beverage container recovery,” according to the grant. “The new processing line will be equipped with larger belt capacities, more efficient fiber screens, two optical sorters and three AI robots targeting beverage containers, and an eddy current for aluminum recovery.”
- The city of Redding was awarded $4.1 million to replace and upgrade its existing sorting line, aiming to reduce contamination and increase throughput.
- BLT Enterprises of Fremont was awarded $4.0 million for equipment upgrades at the Fremont Recycling and Transfer Station, a regional MRF that receives recyclables from the City of Fremont. The grant will fund four optical sorters, two robotic sorters and other associated equipment. The upgrades will primarily improve the quality of PET and aluminum beverage containers, according to the grant.
- Marin Sanitary Service was awarded $1.6 million for new optical sorters at its San Rafael MRF.
CalRecycle also approved 15 projects for local and tribal governments, schools and other organizations to install container recycling receptacles or water refill stations, and to engage in public outreach promoting recycling and reusable container use. The grants totaled $3 million and were issued through the Beverage Container Recycling Grant Program.