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Tag Archives: MRFs

Panelists: AI has a bigger role to play in recycling

Published: April 9, 2024
Updated:

by

Panelist Rebecca Hu said during the session that AI is moving beyond robotics and the technology is on track to provide data and create partnerships that could improve the whole value chain. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling

Artificial intelligence is a key element of increasing plastic recycling, panelists at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in Grapevine, Texas, said last month. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

Survey: Residents expect glass recycling option

Published: April 2, 2024
Updated:

by
Glass bottles collected for recycling.

In the latest edition of the annual survey, 58% of respondents were from the public sector, 12% were glass manufacturers, and 10% were MRFs. | Michael Warwick/Shutterstock

The vast majority of residents expect to be able to recycle glass, and concern about glass recycling programs has fallen sharply, the Glass Recycling Coalition’s 2023 Glass Recycling Survey found. Continue Reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , |

Oregon approves first set of EPR rules

Published: December 1, 2023
Updated:

by
Oregon state capitol building with state flag and blue sky.

The newly instated rules cover end markets, performance standards and several other key issues. | Grindstone-Media-Group/Shutterstock

Of the states that have passed extended producer responsibility laws for packaging, Oregon just became the first to approve a round of administrative rulemaking. 

Continue Reading

Why Glacier’s MRF robots drew millions in funding

Published: March 12, 2024
Updated:

by

Robotics from Glacier can be made to fit any belt width and can target more than 30 distinct materials. | Courtesy of Glacier

The co-founders of emerging sortation robotics supplier Glacier say their robots provide an immediate quality benefit with a small footprint: They can be placed anywhere a manual sorter would be stationed. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

MRF battery fires burn ‘really fast’ and ‘really hot’

Published: March 5, 2024
Updated:

by

Vinod Singh of Far West Recycling speaks during an Association of Oregon Recyclers presentation on recycling facility battery fires in February. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling

At a Portland, Oregon-area transfer station, site superintendent Matt Tracy has noticed smaller lithium-ion batteries often behave like fireworks when they go into thermal runaway: They move erratically and can even become projectiles. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

Details on Oregon’s $150M trash-sorting MRF

Published: February 6, 2024
Updated:

by

The $150 million price tag on the new Lane County, Oregon, facility will be footed by Bulk Handling Systems and the county. | Courtesy of Bulk Handling Systems

An upcoming facility in Lane County, Oregon, will process mixed waste, commingled recyclables and organics and is projected to boost the county’s diversion rate by as much as 20 percentage points. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged |

Recology upgrades MRF serving Northern California

Published: January 29, 2024
Updated:

by

Recology’s newest MRF in California has seven optical sorters, an eddy current separator, drum magnet and 109 conveyor belts. | Courtesy of Recology

A $35 million materials recovery facility that opened this week in Sonoma County promises to more than double the processing capacity of the sorting center it is replacing. Continue Reading

Posted in News | Tagged , |

Group updates on UBC-sorting robot’s success

Published: December 12, 2023
Updated:

by

A robot funded by the aluminum industry successfully picked an average of 1,565 UBCs per day, an analysis found. | EWY Media/Shutterstock

A recycling robot installed at a California MRF has recovered an average of 1,565 UBCs per day since it was installed this summer, according to a metal can industry group. 

The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), which helped finance the installation of the EverestLabs robot at Caglia Environmental’s MRF, is now looking to deploy another unit at another MRF. 

“CMI plans to use the learnings from this successful initiative to support additional UBC capture equipment at MRFs, further enhancing the recycling industry’s efficiency,” according to a case study that was published today (Dec. 12). “CMI and EverestLabs are now looking to expand their partnership and are exploring placing a robotic system in another MRF.”

The robot installed at Caglia’s MRF in Fresno, Calif. received financing assistance from CMI members Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings. Those companies, which manufacture aluminum beverage cans, financed a two-year equipment lease for Caglia, which has agreed to share 50% of the revenue generated from the UBCs collected by the leased robot. 

The system was deployed on the MRF’s last chance line, where its picking priority is UBCs, followed by other containers.

More stories about metals

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

Panelists: AI has a bigger role to play in recycling

Published: April 9, 2024
Updated:

by

Panelist Rebecca Hu said during the session that AI is moving beyond robotics and the technology is on track to provide data and create partnerships that could improve the whole value chain. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling

Artificial intelligence is a key element of increasing plastic recycling, panelists at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in Grapevine, Texas, said last month. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

Survey: Residents expect glass recycling option

Published: April 2, 2024
Updated:

by
Glass bottles collected for recycling.

In the latest edition of the annual survey, 58% of respondents were from the public sector, 12% were glass manufacturers, and 10% were MRFs. | Michael Warwick/Shutterstock

The vast majority of residents expect to be able to recycle glass, and concern about glass recycling programs has fallen sharply, the Glass Recycling Coalition’s 2023 Glass Recycling Survey found. Continue Reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , |

Why Glacier’s MRF robots drew millions in funding

Published: March 12, 2024
Updated:

by

Robotics from Glacier can be made to fit any belt width and can target more than 30 distinct materials. | Courtesy of Glacier

The co-founders of emerging sortation robotics supplier Glacier say their robots provide an immediate quality benefit with a small footprint: They can be placed anywhere a manual sorter would be stationed. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

MRF battery fires burn ‘really fast’ and ‘really hot’

Published: March 5, 2024
Updated:

by

Vinod Singh of Far West Recycling speaks during an Association of Oregon Recyclers presentation on recycling facility battery fires in February. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling

At a Portland, Oregon-area transfer station, site superintendent Matt Tracy has noticed smaller lithium-ion batteries often behave like fireworks when they go into thermal runaway: They move erratically and can even become projectiles. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

Details on Oregon’s $150M trash-sorting MRF

Published: February 6, 2024
Updated:

by

The $150 million price tag on the new Lane County, Oregon, facility will be footed by Bulk Handling Systems and the county. | Courtesy of Bulk Handling Systems

An upcoming facility in Lane County, Oregon, will process mixed waste, commingled recyclables and organics and is projected to boost the county’s diversion rate by as much as 20 percentage points. Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged |

Recology upgrades MRF serving Northern California

Published: January 29, 2024
Updated:

by

Recology’s newest MRF in California has seven optical sorters, an eddy current separator, drum magnet and 109 conveyor belts. | Courtesy of Recology

A $35 million materials recovery facility that opened this week in Sonoma County promises to more than double the processing capacity of the sorting center it is replacing. Continue Reading

Posted in News | Tagged , |

Group updates on UBC-sorting robot’s success

Published: December 12, 2023
Updated:

by

A robot funded by the aluminum industry successfully picked an average of 1,565 UBCs per day, an analysis found. | EWY Media/Shutterstock

A recycling robot installed at a California MRF has recovered an average of 1,565 UBCs per day since it was installed this summer, according to a metal can industry group. 

The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), which helped finance the installation of the EverestLabs robot at Caglia Environmental’s MRF, is now looking to deploy another unit at another MRF. 

“CMI plans to use the learnings from this successful initiative to support additional UBC capture equipment at MRFs, further enhancing the recycling industry’s efficiency,” according to a case study that was published today (Dec. 12). “CMI and EverestLabs are now looking to expand their partnership and are exploring placing a robotic system in another MRF.”

The robot installed at Caglia’s MRF in Fresno, Calif. received financing assistance from CMI members Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings. Those companies, which manufacture aluminum beverage cans, financed a two-year equipment lease for Caglia, which has agreed to share 50% of the revenue generated from the UBCs collected by the leased robot. 

The system was deployed on the MRF’s last chance line, where its picking priority is UBCs, followed by other containers.

More stories about metals

Posted in News | Tagged , , |

Oregon approves first set of EPR rules

Published: December 1, 2023
Updated:

by
Oregon state capitol building with state flag and blue sky.

The newly instated rules cover end markets, performance standards and several other key issues. | Grindstone-Media-Group/Shutterstock

Of the states that have passed extended producer responsibility laws for packaging, Oregon just became the first to approve a round of administrative rulemaking. 

Continue Reading