Achieving maximum density: Waste Management Recycle America's Elkridge, Md., MRF takes advantage of a population-dense area with its hub-and-spoke approach.

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The competitive landscape for companies that target municipally collected recyclables is such that more companies are seeking advantages to increase their tonnage while lowering their processing costs. With the opening of its largest single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Elkridge, Md., Waste Management Recycle America. headquartered in Houston, is taking this concept seriously.

The company also plans to further develop its super-MRF concept with locations throughout the country.

The facility, which began processing material in the summer of 2006, already is seeing significant activity, as a host of municipalities in the general area have either shifted tons to the MRF for processing or have seen a noticeable increase in the amount of material being collected as a result of their single-stream programs.

A NEW APPROACH. According to Mike Taylor, vice president of market development for Waste Management Recycle America's Southern Division, the decision to build die facility came after discussions with municipal officials in the Washington area.

The District of Columbia had an on-again, off-again curbside recycling program throughout the 1990s and struggled to find a way to make the program viable. Officials also looked at moving from a dual-stream to a single-stream collection program as well as at shifting the collection of recyclables. By shifting the collection of recyclables from the private sector to the public sector; the hauler would be able to purchase and use the same fleet of vehicles to collect garbage and recyclables, thereby improving collection efficiencies.

The operation of a large MRF would allow Waste Management to further develop its "hub and spoke" approach to collecting and delivering recyclables to transfer stations. Using such an approach, the material would be gathered at Waste Management's smaller locations and then transloaded to the company's Elkridge facility.

Waste Management was also in discussions with other municipal entities, including the Maryland counties of Ann Arundel and Howard, which had mature dual' stream collection systems. These counties also saw advantages to implementing single-stream operations, as they potentially could increase their static recovery rates.

BIGGER IS BETTER. While conversations with the municipal sector seemed to indicate a significant interest in single-stream programs, facility planning and building costs would dictate the final results. Taylor says determining the scale of the facility involved factoring in the volume of recyclables generated as well as future recovery totals in the area.

For the 55,000-square-foot Elkridge plant, Waste Management spent roughly $7.5 million on capital equipment for the single-stream processing system, which is comprised primarily of equipment from Netherlands-based Bollegraaf Recycling Machinery, distributed in North America by Van Dyk Baling Systems of Stamford, Conn. While the facility initially was planned to handle a throughput of approximately 15,000 tons per month, it presently averages approximately 20,000 tons per month, or roughly 1,000 tons of recyclables per day.

"It is one of the largest MRFs out there and certainly the largest of Waste Management's facilities," Taylor says of the Elkridge plant.

While Ann Arundel and Howard counties as well as the District of Columbia were the initial sources of supply, the MRF has been scaled for further growth. Taylor notes that the MRF has been designed so it can pull material from a 200-mile radius, including the Maryland counties of Cecil and Carroll and a number of individual municipalities that operate their own recycling programs. In fact, even though the MRF quickly exceeded its initial throughput expectations, the company has additional space to add more capacity if needed.

In fact, the majority of material that comes through the MRF is from outside the Waste Management collection network.

While the facility is the largest in the Waste Management network, for the level of capital investment, the MRF can more easily reach the volume numbers needed to justify the cost of installing single-stream processing equipment. By locating the facility in a densely populated area, Waste Management Recycle America can take advantage of its "hub and spoke" approach to efficiently process curbside recyclables. "We use a network of transfer locations to draw from the service area. And, single stream lends itself from a space standpoint. It is a heck of a lot easier to use a bay in a transfer station format for one pile rather than keep dual-stream recyclables segregated with two different trucks," Taylor says.

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Going further, Taylor says by using a transfer station it is far easier to commingle recyclables and to ship them to the MRF rather than separate the material by type.

While the debate concerning the advantages of single-stream vs. dual- (or multi) stream collection programs continues, for Waste Management, which has been switching many of its MRFs to single-stream methods, the advantages are quite significant. "We have seen, on average, the tonnage collected and received from existing programs increase by an average in the mid-20 percent level," Taylor says. While some facilities have seen increases as high as 40 percent, he says Waste Management's MRFs that have adopted single-stream processing see an increase in tonnage of approximately 22 percent on average.

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A QUESTION OF QUALITY. One of the biggest criticisms of single-stream collections has been the issue of quality. With the Elkridge MRF focused primarily on bulk materials, such as old newspapers and old corrugated containers, some consumers have expressed concern that quality degradation would result in higher costs for their operations. The thought persists among some consumers that single-stream material is far inferior in quality when compared to material collected through multi-stream or dual-stream collection programs.

As a company that is committing a significant amount of energy to the single-stream approach, Waste Management says a number of factors should be considered when it comes to the quality of the material. "To me, as a MRF operator, the quality is a function of two things. First, the inbound quality, and, second, how you run the facility," Taylor says.

"I have been in some places where you have poor material quality from a dual-stream system. I don't think it is necessarily a dual stream/single stream reason," he says. "There has been a long history of successful and unsuccessful programs, both dual and single stream.

Taylor continues, "I will say that for single stream, the likelihood of success with material quality has to be due to a combination of the equipment you install [and] if it is the latest generation of technology."

He adds that the level of technology is not the only factor that affects the success of a single-stream MRF--the quality of the management is also a factor. Taylor also says companies should not be turned off by the expense of single stream, but must realize that they are making a significant investment to meet the changing demands of the marketplace.

However, just because the equipment is expensive doesn't mean that it is right for a particular operation. "You have to make sure you are putting the technology to use in the appropriate way," Taylor says. He says the application of the technology must correspond with the quality of the facility's management, which ultimately will be the biggest difference between a successful and unsuccessful program.

Some quality complaints have come from companies that have now invested in single-stream technology for their facilities, according to Taylor. He questions the ongoing ability of a consuming operation (often a paper mill) opposing a single-stream process, noting that two of the largest newsprint mills that have been major critics of single-stream programs (SP Newsprint and Abitibi Consolidated), have both invested in single-stream technology. "Why would they be building single-stream systems if there was a problem?" he asks.

In its discussions with consumers, such as newsprint mills, Waste Management Recycle America is stressing that quantity levels have increased at its single-stream MRFs. The conversations have not been about dual-stream vs. single-stream programs, rather they have been about increasing the collection of material.

While single-stream systems hold the opportunity to increase the amount of recyclables coming through a MRF's door, they are not a panacea. Public education is often the wildcard that can be the difference between a successful program and one that struggles.

Some of the municipalities that have mature dual-stream collection programs are updating their public education approach when they introduce single-stream collection programs. Municipalities are demonstrating greater interest in ensuring that their residents are aware of the changes, which can be quite significant, with the introduction of a new system, from the acceptable materials to the type of collection container.

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Taylor says that the revamped public education has resulted in a higher quality stream of material.

While a larger MRF holds the opportunity to handle greater volumes of material, investing sizable capital in equipment also entails some risks. Volatile markets increase the challenges an operation encounters. To ensure that the company meets the return on investment it needs, contract length is becoming more important. Taylor says, "We look at the five-to-10-year time frame as the model to financially make the capital investment needed." He says such a time frame could come in the form of a single full-term contract or an initial contract with renewal options.

Another contract component is revenue-sharing. For Waste Management, revenue sharing depends on the contract and community. Some communities opt to avoid the risk of fluctuating markets.

MRF OF THE FUTURE. The Elkridge MRF may just be the model that Waste Management incorporates as it goes forward. Presently, the company has 25 single-stream plants out of 100 total facilities. Not all of these locations are MRFs, however; some are basically integrated waste management facilities while others may be baling stations. The company's MRFs also have a range of processing volumes, from 20,000 tons per month at the high end to as few as 2,000 tons.

Despite the range, Taylor says he feels the company should be looking at establishing larger single-stream facilities in areas that are close to large populations in the future.

"The capital costs get incremental after the initial investment in capital," he says. "To do it right, you are going to have to spend a chunk of money. We have found it worthwhile to build the larger [MRFs] and use the hub and spoke approach."

Because of the areas population density, Waste Management is in the process of converting a dual-stream facility in Prince Georges County, Md., to single stream. The facility, slated to be operational in September of 2007, will allow the company to handle 10,000 tons of additional material.

However, just because this facility uses the technology, Taylor isn't convinced that that single-stream is always the best option. He says there are significant values in dual-stream collections in some cases. However, for larger metropolitan areas, single-stream programs work well, Taylor adds.

The Elkridge facility is geared to handle bulk materials. However, Waste Management has not limited the scope of its MRF facilities to this method. Recognizing that some materials, like electronic scrap, have to be handled in a different way means that the company is in discussions with its customers to make sure its facilities have the services a community needs. While the Elkridge facility does not handle electronics now, Waste Management does offer it as a service at its Minneapolis/ St. Paul MRF. "It is a complementary service that depends on the nature of the market and the customer service needs," Taylor says, adding that offering the service makes sense given Minnesota's electronic scrap legislation.

Advancements in technology also have helped drive the single-stream trend. As companies seek to improve their efficiencies, single-stream systems often are the most effective way to meet these ends. To ensure its equipment works most effectively for its operations, Waste Management Recycle America works closely with equipment manufacturers to fine-tune the equipment it uses in its single-stream MRFs. Technology improvements are often born in MRFs by companies such as Waste Management experimenting. "Lots of new technology in regards to single-stream technologies have been developed in plants by us trying new things, whether that is the shape of the stars in a star screen or an additional screening device," Taylor says.

By constantly improving, tweaking and enhancing processing and collection methods, companies such as Waste Management are able to reduce overall collection costs and to make recycling convenient for its customers.

The author is Internet and senior editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at [e-mail].