This project is the result of a tight and efficient cooperation between Machinex, Bradley Austin from the Marquette County Solid Waste Authority and Resource Recycling Systems (RRS). This MRF was specifically designed to face challenges of rural areas recycling needs.
When discussions started, a single stream system imposed itself as a necessity for this County of Michigan. “Simply, we saw an opportunity to improve recycling not only in Marquette County but the Upper Peninsula as a whole. The challenges of rural area recycling needed to be addressed in a more regional frame of mind. People in Upper Michigan want to recycle, however recycling capacity and education were lacking in many parts of the region. This facility is designed to process recyclables from the entire region and the hope is that with this new infrastructure and solid education in place, participation in recycling will increase across the entire territory,” commented Brad Austin, Director of Operations at Marquette County Solid Waste Management Authority.
This innovative material recovery facility (MRF) is what we call the rural MRF of the future because it is a highly automated system that represents an asset for the municipalities of the County where there is a lack of labor. With the capacity to sort 10,000 to 15,000 tons per year, the system is equipped with a Back Scraping Drum to ensures a constant height of input material, a MACH OCC Screen for cardboard sorting, a Fines Screen to separate glass, a MACH Ballistic to separate containers from glass and paper, a Magnet to sort ferrous metals, and a Machinex II-Ram Baler. To sort PET and HDPE plastic containers more efficiently, a SamurAITM robot was installed in an innovative way to create a loop; thus, containers are sorted with high efficiency and no waste. This innovation allows better recovery rates and reduces the need for human sorters.
Features of this system make it reliable, efficient, flexible, with a limited footprint. ‘’The project is really rooted in managing materials more effectively’’, added Austin. Considering the current sanitary situation, reducing the number of people operating in an MRF, with an automated system, remains a necessity, made possible with automatization.
Machinex worked with the customer in a partnership to bring its expertise with creative design ideas. ‘’The level of organization and communication displayed by Machinex throughout this entire process has been impressive. Under some very challenging circumstances with COVID-19, adjustments needed to be made on the fly in order to keep the project on schedule. Project management is second to none. It is clear that Machinex cares deeply about quality and efficiency. Competent and skilled employees that are professional in every sense of the word. The ability to bring all phases of the project together and then execute speaks to the attention to detail by the entire Machinex team’’ says Austin. Chris Hawn, CEO at Machinex Technologies Inc. comments on this project: “It’s hard to believe that Brad reached out to Machinex in August 2017 with his original vision. Through initial discussions at tradeshows, we were able to blend our visions of the Rural MRF of the Future. From the time we first visited Marquette, MI in early November 2017, Machinex was heart set on earning this business. With both a great operator and a good story, nothing was going to stop us from making this a success!”
