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Thursday, July 24, 2008

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Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)

The Material Resources Facility uses single stream technology to automatically sort the paper, plastic, cans and glass collected at curbside in San José.

Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)

  1. As incoming material moves along a conveyer belt, workers pull out large items, cardboard and plastic bags and toss them into bins. Unusable trash is thrown away.
  2. The recyclables move into a double-deck screening machine that separates newspapers, mixed paper and containers into separate streams. Material bounces over rows of square wheels spinning 1,000 times per minute. Blasts of air dislodge cans and bottles from newspapers. Gaps between rollers allow smaller items to fall onto conveyer belts.
  3. Workers again pull out any trash and discard it.
  4. Next is the trommel-mag - a large, rotating tube with small holes in the sides and an electromagnet at one end. Small items such as bottle caps fall through holes. The electromagnet snags tin cans. Then it's on to the air classifier, where a powerful fan blows lightweight aluminum and plastic onto one conveyer, and heavier glass falls onto another. Workers sort glass and plastics.
  5. An electromagnetic device diverts aluminum cans into a storage bin.

Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News
Written by Frank Sweeney
Graphic by Reid Brown

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Last Modified Date: 12/20/2007

 
 

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