Dump trucks roll into Waste Management’s new Philadelphia Recycling Facility every day, bearing residents’ demands that their waste be turned into new products and kept out of landfills.

On Tuesday, one of these trucks pulled up to the factory on Bleigh Avenue. HolmesburgHe unloads a small mountain of plastic containers, bottles, cans and cardboard. But he also dropped a metal tank, plastic sheets, a mattress and a basketball, none of which will be recycled.

Pre-screening tons of items, then sorting, baling, and finally transporting them to market is a laborious task.

Waste Management says its $40 million, 57,860-square-foot materials recovery facility (MRF) could handle not only Philadelphia’s recycling but also parts of surrounding suburban counties.

Optical separators supported by artificial intelligence are used in the facility. Viewed from above, a series of multi-level conveyor belts resemble a recycling superhighway, with dozens of entry and exit ramps that guide paper, plastic bottles and cans with GPS precision to individual balers capable of transporting 45 tonnes per hour.

Rafael Hernandez Avellan, manager of the facility, said there was a need to automate and increase the capacity of the new facility. It not only handles the load better, but also solves the labor problem.

“It’s very difficult to convince people who want to come in and do this, it can be very tiring waiting in line all day,” said Hernandez Avellan. “We had a very difficult time finding people to come in and fill these roles. So automation definitely helps. With automation, we ultimately obtain cleaner materials. “Markets are becoming more stringent about the quality of material they want to buy.”

However, he said: Waste Management It employs a staff of 40 people who sort, recover, operate and maintain heavy equipment.

” READ MORE: What can you recycle if you live in Philly?

Inside the MRF

MRF began operating in August, but company officials allowed The Inquirer a sneak peek this week, the industry’s Recycling Week. The company also held a ribbon cutting with city officials on Friday.

The plant, which replaces an older facility nearby, uses newer technology to separate 160,000 tonnes of paper, plastic, metal and glass a year, all of which are jetted at high rates along a series of whirring belts. The old plant had a monthly capacity of 120,000 tons. The new facility represents a 33% increase in capacity.

Philadelphia has its own employees who collect and transport recycling and waste in city trucks. The city pays Waste Management an average of $72.20 per ton for processing recyclable waste and $77.49 per ton for waste. Recyclables are brought to Bleigh Ave.

After a dump truck is unloaded into the staging area, workers perform initial screening to eliminate obvious contamination.

What remains is loaded onto a 358-long, heavy-duty conveyor belt that Waste Management purchased from the mining industry to move the load.

As soon as the glass enters the facility via the large conveyor, it enters a device that breaks the glass. The pieces fall onto a special conveyor, and an optical reader sorts them into piles by color.

The conveyor spills a flood of potential recyclables as workers quickly remove plastic bags, blankets and wires that could become tangled in the gears. They levitate helium tanks and pull out lithium-ion batteries that can ignite fires.

All these unwanted items not only damage the equipment but also contaminate the loads. Contamination rates range from 10% to 35% per load.

The higher the pollution, the more likely it is that recyclable materials will become waste; This makes it important for residents to place only the right items in their home and business recycling containers.

After an initial screening by up to seven human sorting machines, automation largely takes control.

Hernandez Avellan said the paper is separated as the conveyor passes through the double screen. The process uses momentum and gravity to separate lighter fibers from heavier products, such as plastics, which fall back onto another belt.

By scanning material as it moves rapidly, optical readers display the composition of the load on the computer and can schedule when workers need to change. In some sections, air jets separate the products from each other and blow them to other belts.

The flow of each product gradually becomes smaller as it reaches the baling stations. Balers squeeze large blocks of compressed material into stages, waiting to be transported.

What happens to recyclable materials?

Bales are sold In markets in North America. For example, cardboard and paper, which make up 60% of the material processed in MRFs, are sold into recycled paper.

According to Waste Management literature, the plastics market is driven by manufacturers using recycled products in products and packaging. As of now, demand for materials exceeds supply, which means better markets. For example, recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) from plastic water bottles can be turned into clothing, carpets, outdoor flooring and pillow filling.

Other blending products, tin cans, are differentiated from aluminum cans, both in different markets.

At the end of each day, the plant is swept away and destroyed.

Waste Management spokesman John Hambrose said the system’s efficiency starts with residents and businesses.

“We want to encourage our customers and everyone everywhere who wants to protect the environment to use their products. recycling containers only for materials collected by their programs‘ said Hambrose.

Typically, he said, there are No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles, No. 5 plastic food containers, aluminum and cans, paper and cardboard and glass bottles.

Things MRF doesn’t deal with: batteries, food waste including greasy pizza boxes, clothing, wires, garden hoses, and propane and helium tanks.

Hambrose said the new system helps balance the flow to markets’ demand. Philadelphia MRF is also preparing to process recyclables from South Jersey as well as Delaware and Bucks counties. The company will invest $1.4 billion in 40 new or upgraded recycling facilities by 2026.

“Every time we build a new facility, we take advantage of everything we’ve learned before,” Hambrose said.