Brookhaven RHRF

STEPS

Recycling Process

Winter Brothers Brookhaven RHRF runs a dual stream facility in which fiber materials such as paper and corrugated cardboards are processed separately from containers (plastics, metals, aluminum). This type of segregation often improves sorting effectiveness and enhance the quality of recovered materials.

Pre-sort stage:  The conveyor goes through the first room, called the presort room, where there are manual sorters who look for shredded paper that’s in plastic bags, or any trash that was placed in the recyclables and other types of film that need to be removed before they enter the single stream system. Once the material flows through the pre-sort, it drops down and hits the cardboards line. Then they go through another screening where there are large rotating disks, rotating at a fast speed. Here the material hits the rotating disks, the disks push the corrugated cardboard (OCC) over the top while all of the smaller pieces of paper and containers fall through. In this stage cardboard has been sorted out, and then only paper, mixed paper, containers and glass remains. These material goes up the conveyor and goes through the post sort and the manual sorters removes any OCC or trash that made it through the first screening stage. Once the material goes through the post sort phase, it enters the first glass breakers screens. As the disks are rotating the glasses break and fall underneath, whereas the paper is pushed over the top and containers falls through. The containers, plastic, metal, aluminum and glass are sorted out. The sorted paper after the screening moves down a conveyor and enters the sorting room. There are two conveyor belts in the sorting room and there are manual sorters that sort any garbage that may still be in the recyclables, and any cardboard or container that still has made it through. Once the paper goes through the sorting room, it goes through the balers.  

Processing of Containers

The container process starts when the collection trucks offload the containers onto the tipping floor. With the help of a payloader, these items are then conveyed into storage piles. Collected containers are fed into the metering system (to guarantee materials flow consistency) through a loader.

These items are then sent to an in-feed conveyor using a metering wheel which distributes the materials evenly across the conveyor belt, enhancing downstream sorting stages. The first phase of mechanical process includes an extra-large screen that removes any materials larger than fourteen inches (rigid plastics, for example). These large items are then processed through hand sorting by RHRF staff. Smaller materials which are able to go through the large screen are conveyed to a fine screen where fine debris such as shredded paper and crushed glass are removed. The materials then move on to an optical sorting unit which is equipped with infrared technology and air jets to recognize and segregate #2 plastics, mainly HDPE containers like milk and washing detergent containers. These segregated materials then proceed to a quality control belt where manual sorters segregate clear grade HDPE milk containers from other items. The rest of the materials continue to move forward along a fast-moving conveyor belt to ensure uniform spacing before entering the second optical sorting unit. The second optical sorter mainly extracts PET bottles (#1 plastics) such as water and beverage bottles. Extracted PET bottles are conveyed to another QC belt where manual sorters remove any non-PET materials. Next the materials pass under an overhead magnet which separates ferrous materials like steel cans. Again, manual sorters retrieve any overlooked #1 or #2 plastics. The remaining items then pass through an eddy current where aluminum materials are extracted with the help of rotating magnetic field. This method repels the aluminum materials from the conveyor line. All segregated containers (plastics, aluminum and ferrous) are then compressed and sent for baling.

Processing of Fibers

Alongside the container line, the paper line is responsible for handling mixed paper recyclables, such as ONP, OCC, and office papers. Collection trucks offload these materials onto a different tipping area, from where they are loaded into a metering bin for even distribution of materials. At the pre-sort stage, manual sorters remove any contaminants like plastic bags, or foamed polystyrene. The materials then move onto the OCC screen which allows big cardboard to glide over the surface whereas smaller paper materials fall through. OCC then proceeds to the QC line where manual sorters remove any other paper materials or contaminants. Smaller paper materials that dropped through the OCC screen undergoe additional processing by a fine screen where remaining contaminants are removed. The fiber materials then enter the newsprint screen where bigger and flat newspapers travel up and pass over the screen whereas fine residues and other paper items fall below. Recovered ONP later proceed to a QC belt to support further segregation of other paper types and small cardboard. Materials then fall through the ONP screen and proceed to a secondary metering bin for further sorting. A secondary screen is responsible for removing any large-sized OCC and the remaining materials moves to an optical sorting unit that mainly targets newspapers. A quality control line comes next to ensure that non-ONP items are removed. Materials moves through another optical sorter which separates and removes mixed paper and OCC which then proceeds to another QC line for elimination of any non-paper items. A magnet is used to remove any ferrous materials, and manual sorters remove final residues. At the end the materials go through an eddy current to extract any aluminum materials. The sorted paper materials are then sent for baling and storage.