Westchester RHRF

STEPS

Recycling Process

Once the collected materials arrive at the Westchester RHRF, collection trucks drop off materials onto the tipping area. The RHRF is divided into two main processing lines: one is reserved for commingled containers such as aluminum cans, bottles, etc., whereas the second line is dedicated to fibers (paper, ONP, OCC). This early-stage spatial separation enables greater efficiency in subsequent sorting steps.

The fiber goes through a drum feeder from where the materials pass through an OCC screen. After that, the fiber goes through a Quality Control OCC belt where the manual sorters remove any contaminants. OCC is then sent for baling. The remaining fiber materials go through an optical sorter, which then extracts ONP. Materials then move through the ONP quality control line, after which the ONP is baled.

Once the commingled materials are tipped, they go through the infeed conveyor. After that, a manual sorting station is located where a team of 4 sorters removes any non-commingled materials or contaminants. This step ensures the accuracy of the sorting process and guarantees that only correct commingled materials move forward along the sorting line. After the pre-sorting stage, the material goes through a vibrating screen and an overhead electromagnetic separator, which helps in segregating ferrous metals. From there, the ferrous metals are sent for baling. The remaining commingled materials are sent through an eddy current separator where aluminum is extracted by inducing electric currents. These currents generate a magnetic field that then propels aluminum cans from the mainstream, and they are later sent for baling. The material then goes through a glass crusher that acts as a big industrial sifter and breaks any glass materials present in the stream. Due to the distinctions in dimension and mass, the crushed glass falls down on the belt. The glass materials are later sent to a glass processing facility. 

The rest of the materials are mostly comprised of different grades of plastics, which then proceed through an advanced optical sorter. The first plastic container grade to be separated is PET. The first sorter removes PET and then the next sorter isolates Polyethylene. The other plastic containers, such as #3-7, move along the line. In the next phase, a dual-eject optical sorting unit helps in segregating HDPE natural from HDPE colored. Non-PET and non-PE items are consecutively removed by additional sorters. In the next stage, leftover materials are treated as residual waste. In the final phase, two dual-eject optical sorting units identify and divert #5 grade plastics (polypropylene) and cartons. At various stages, air blowers are employed in the system to facilitate the transfer of lighter items to the next stage.

Once all the recyclable materials are segregated, they are compressed into dense bales for easy storage and shipping. A single bale of recyclable materials mostly weighs around 1 ton, and these baled materials are stockpiled on site until they are shipped to domestic or international buyers. Most of the baled paper and OCC is shipped to markets in China. Plastics are usually melted and reconstructed into a variety of new plastic products, whereas metals are similarly melted and repurposed into new raw materials for manufacturing.