A materials recovery facility, also called a recycling center, recycling factory, or multi-reuse facility (MRF, pronounced "murf"), is a place that sorts and prepares recyclable materials for use by manufacturers. It receives waste, separates it into categories, and prepares it for sale. Common recyclable materials include ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal, plastics, paper, and glass. Organic food waste is used to help create compost or support anaerobic digestion. Inorganic inert waste is used to make building materials. Non-recyclable waste with high energy content is used to create refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF).

Industry and locations

In the United States, there are more than 300 materials recovery facilities. The total market size is estimated to be $6.6 billion as of 2019.

In 2016, Sims Municipal Recycling from Brooklyn, New York, was the leader among the top 75 facilities. Waste Management operated 95 materials recovery facilities in total, with 26 in the top 75. ReCommunity operated 6 in the top 75. Republic Services operated 6 in the top 75. Waste Connections operated 4 in the top 75.

Business economics

In 2018, a survey in the Northeast United States showed that the cost to process one ton of material was $82, compared to about $45 per ton. Each ton included 28% mixed paper and 24% old corrugated containers (OCC).

Prices for OCC dropped during 2019. Three paper mill companies have started plans to use more recycled fiber.

Glass recycling is costly for these facilities. However, a study suggested that costs could decrease greatly with better glass processing methods. In Texas, Austin and Houston have glass recycling facilities. These facilities were built and run by Balcones Recycling and FCC Environment, respectively.

Robots are now widely used in the industry to help with sorting materials.

Process

Waste enters a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) when it is placed on the tipping floor by collection trucks. The materials are then picked up and moved onto conveyor belts, which carry them to the pre-sorting area. In this area, human workers remove items that cannot be recycled. These items are sent to a landfill or an incinerator. Between 5% and 45% of the material that is not clean is recovered. Items that can cause fires, such as lithium batteries, propane tanks, and aerosol cans, are also removed. Materials like plastic bags and hoses, which can damage recycling equipment, are taken out as well.

Next, the materials are sent to another conveyor belt that leads to the disk screen. This machine separates wide, flat items like flattened cardboard boxes from other materials, such as cans, jars, paper, and bottles. Flattened boxes move across the disk screen to one side, while other materials fall below. Paper is then separated from the rest of the waste using a blower. The stream of cardboard and paper is checked by workers, who ensure that no plastic, metal, or glass is mixed in. Some newer or updated MRFs use industrial robots instead of workers for pre-sorting and quality control.

Metal is separated from plastics and glass first using electromagnets, which pull out ferrous metals like iron. Non-ferrous metals, such as aluminum, are removed next using eddy current separators.

Glass and plastic are then separated using additional disk screens. Glass is crushed into small pieces called cullet to make it easier to transport. Plastics are sorted by type, often using infrared technology (optical sorting). Infrared light reflects differently off different types of plastic. Once identified, a jet of air directs the plastic into the correct bin. MRFs may only recycle a few types of plastic, sending the rest to landfills or incinerators. Finally, the sorted materials are baled and sent to the shipping dock of the facility.

Types

A clean MRF receives recyclable materials that have been sorted before they arrive. These materials come from homes or businesses and are part of regular trash. There are two main types of clean MRFs. One is called single stream, where all recyclables are mixed together. The other is dual stream, where recyclables are divided into two groups: one for materials like glass, metal, and certain plastics, and another for paper products such as cardboard, newspapers, and magazines. After sorting, the materials are prepared for shipment by baling, shredding, crushing, or compacting.

A mixed-waste processing system, also called a dirty MRF, handles a mix of trash that has not been sorted. It uses both people and machines to separate recyclable materials. These materials may be further processed to meet requirements set by companies that buy them. The remaining trash is sent to a landfill. Today, mixed-waste processing facilities are gaining more attention because they can help increase recycling rates and prepare materials for use in new technologies. These facilities are often more effective than traditional recycling methods due to recent technological improvements.

In about 2004, new technologies began using wet MRFs. These systems combine a dirty MRF with water to help separate and clean materials. The water also crushes and dissolves organic waste that can break down naturally, making it suitable for a process called anaerobic digestion.

History

In the United States, modern materials recovery facilities (MRFs) started in the 1970s. Peter Karter started Resource Recovery Systems, Inc. in Branford, Connecticut, which became the first materials recovery facility (MRF) in the country.