Ship shape: Eager consuming markets have allowed large MRF operators to keep upgrading their operations.

Since Recycling Today last published its list of largest material recovery facilities (MRFs) in 2004, none of the trends that have led to larger MRFs have faded.

To the contrary, solid recycling markets--particularly for metals and plastics--have provided additional incentives for haulers and recyclers to seek material.

And higher fuel and energy costs are providing the additional incentives to consolidate processing and shipping operations into fewer, highly capitalized MRFs.

The combination of trends means that MRFs have largely remained busy and financially viable. Most of the facilities that appeared on the last list are on this year's list as well, with most of them reporting larger throughput.

As with the 2002 and 2004 lists, the numbers make clear that some sizable MRFs are in operation, producing impressive amounts of secondary fiber, aluminum used beverage containers (UBCs), steel food cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles and jars.

MRF ELIGIBILITY. For our list, Recycling Today chose to include only facilities that process 50 percent or more residentially generated material. Facilities with a higher mix of commercially generated material may also take in bottles, cans and other commodities, but these facilities are instead considered when our "20 Largest Paperstock Dealers" list is published in odd numbered years.

Two facilities that appeared on the 2004 list (the Deffenbaugh Industries MRF in Kansas City, Kan., and the Metropolitan Paper Recycling plant in Brooklyn, N.Y.) are not on this year's list because currently less than 50 percent of the material they are handling is coming from residential or municipal program sources.

As in the past, we have chosen the amount of scrap paper shipped as the yardstick for ranking order on our list of the 20 largest MRFs. Although containers make up an important portion of the volume at most MRFs, this volume is greatly reduced in states with deposit-and-return bottle bills. Thus, MRFs in bottle bill states would be at an immediate disadvantage if total recyclables were used to rank facilities.

Unfortunately, designating a facility as either a MRF or a paperstock plant is somewhat arbitrary. Many facilities with a commercial to residential split ranging from 51/49 to 70/30 may look and sound like a MRF, but because a line had to be drawn, they will be considered as paperstock plants for purposes of creating our lists. The line is blurry, however, and we are open to suggestions for other definitions or criteria for designating a plant as one or the other. Please feel free to contact the editors with your thoughts.

CAPITAL IDEAS. Readers of Recycling Today magazine and its weekly e-newsletter (available by signing up at www.RecyclingToday. com) have noticed a non-stop string of MRF equipment installations and upgrades in the past two years.

Operators of MRFs--whether national hauling companies or regional solid waste and recycling companies-have been upgrading their plants to increase production at a time when commodities are yielding good returns.

Among the examples:

* While Waste Management already operates some of the largest MRFs in North America, it is adding equipment at its Elkridge, Md., MRF to allow it to join the ranks. According to equipment supplier Van Dyk Baler Corp., Stamford, Conn., that facility is now processing 780 tons per day in a regular two-shift operation. Van Dyk Baler supplied the plant with a system that includes Lubo screens, a TiTech optical sorting system for mixed plastic sorting and a Bollegraaf HBC 140 baler. Waste Management has also recently purchased large balers for operations in Denver and Milwaukee.

* In 2005, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority and FCR Inc. announced plans to build a new regional recycling center. FCR is investing $6 million in property and equipment for a facility that is being designed to handle 160,000 tons per year of recyclables. If it reaches that volume, it should easily qualify for the next listing of largest MRFs after its completion in 2007.

* Equipment made by Mayfran International, Cleveland, and NexGen Baling Systems, Vernon, Ala., and installed by Ely Enterprises, Cleveland, has brought upgrades to an Ohio MRF. Sims Brothers, Marion, Ohio, processes curbside recyclables from several north central Ohio communities.

* Cincinnati-based Rumpke Recycling has purchased a Bollegraaf HBC 110MR baler for its Cincinnati MRF to bale OCC, high grades and tin cans.

* Optical sorting has become a material upgrading method now deployed by some MRFs. Among plants that have recently installed or agreed to install TiTech systems distributed by Van Dyk Baler are the Waste Management MRF in Minneapolis and the Deffenbaugh Recycling plant in Kansas City, Kan.

* The active recycling program of Ann Arbor, Mich., has caused that city to work with FCR Inc. to expand its MRF there to handle a greater volume of material.

* The Allied Waste Rabanco MRF in Seattle, which appears on this year's list, purchased a new Bollegraaf HBC-110F baler in 2005.

* San Francisco-based Norcal, the operator of one of the largest MRFs on this year's list, has recently purchased a former Waste Management Inc. plant in San Jose, Calif. The company says it plans to upgrade the facility with new conveyors and sorting equipment.

* The Santa Fe (N.M.) Solid Waste Management Agency has installed a Bollegraaf HBC 80 baler with a Bollegraaf bottle perforator to allow plastic bottles to be compacted more effectively into denser bales.

* Increased recyclables collected in northern Indiana has prompted a public works agency there to propose a new MRF to handle paper and containers in Lake County, Ind., which includes Gary and surrounding communities.

* The region of Peel (Ontario), in suburban Toronto, has opened a sizable new MRF (see "Canadian Contender" sidebar at www. RecyclingToday.com). The MRF includes a Hurricane shredder made by Vecoplan LLC, Archdale, N.C., for the organics portion of its municipal stream.

* TFC Recycling, Chesapeake, Va., has been upgrading several plants in Virginia and North Carolina. It has added sorting systems, including TiTech optical equipment.

FORWARD PROGRESS. Stability and growth are the positive adjectives associated with MRF operations in the past two years.

Recyclers, city budget crunchers, recycling advocates and haulers who have made recent investments are united in their hope that economic trends will continue to favor the management of curbside recycling programs.

If all goes well, our 2008 list will include many of the same locations, but with even larger volume figures in the columns beside their names.

WERE YOU LEFT OUT?

Finding out which MRFs met the 50 percent residential material requirement and how much material they process and ship is a daunting task--and we can use your help. If you know of a MRF that should have been in our Top 20 list or is growing and may well qualify the next time we publish this list, please let us know. Contact editor Brian Taylor at [e-mail]

The author is editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at btaylor@gie. net. Recycling Today Managing Editor DeAnne Toto, Senior Editor Dan Sandoval and Associate Editor Jackie Gubeno also contributed research for the article and list.

20 LARGEST MRFs IN NORTH AMERICA

                                           2005 Materials Recovered
                                                 and Shipped

                                          Fiber       Plastic     UBCs
MRF Address and Affiliation            (Gross Tons)    (Tons)    (Tons)

Resource Management
1011 Andersen Ave., Chicago,
IL 60415                                 215,000       i.n a     i.n.a.

Metro Waste Paper Toronto MRF
45 Thornmount Dr., Toronto, ON,
Canada M18 5105                          184,605       3,730      741

Great Lakes International Recycling
30615 Groesbeck Hwy., Roseville,
MI 48066                                 145,000       3,039    1,700

FCR-Boston
24 Bunkerhill Ind. Park,
Charlestown, MA 02129                    136,186       9,205      368

Norcal--Recycle Central
Pier 96 Foot of Cargo and Jennings,
San Fran., CA 94124                      135,400       3,500      400

Waste Management Cascades Recy. MRF
1800 Broadway St. NE, Minneapolis,
MN 55413                                 131,413       1,438     i.n.a.

Waste Management Twin Cities MRF
1800 Broadway St. NE, Minneapolis,
MN 55413                                 121,944       2,017     i.n.a.

Waste Management Lake County (Ill.)
MRF
30869 Route 83, Grayslake IL 60030       120,000       24,000    i.n.a.

Smurfit-Stone St. Louis MRF (1)
5505 Natural Bridge Ave., St. Louis,
MO 63120                                 110,000       i.n.a.    i.n.a.

Groot Industries/Crown Disposal (1)
8475 West 53, La Grange, IL 60525         96,000       i.n.a.    i.n.a.

Omni Recycling (1)
635 Dickens St., Westbury, NY 11590       92,000       2,600       65

Far West Fibers--Hillsboro MRF
6440 SE Alexander St., Hillsboro,
OR 97123                                  90,000       2,500      200

Rabanco Recycling (Div. of Allied
Waste) (1)
2733 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134        90,000       1,262     1,387

BFI Recycling--Minneapolis (1)
725 44th Ave. N, Minneapolis,
MN 55412                                  80,000       4,600     1,800

Homewood Disposal/Diversified
Recycling (1)
1501 W. 75th St., Homewood, IL 60430      80,000       2,000      500

Dade County BFI (1)
3840 NW 37 Ct., Miami, FL 33142           76,000       i.n.a.    i.n.a.

Potential Industries (1)
922 East E St., Wilmington, CA 90744      72,000       i.n.a.    i.n.a.

Palm Beach County R-MRF (1)
7501 North Jog Rd., West Palm Beach,
FL 33412                                  71,000       3,730      880

Rumpke Recycling
5535 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45217       69,766       2,174      826

Waste Management--Newark SCS MRF
150 St. Charles St., Newark,
NJ 07105                                  63,980       2,297     i.n.a.

                                       2005 Materials Recovered
                                            and Shipped

                                        Steel Cans     Glass
MRF Address and Affiliation               (Tons)       (Tons)

Resource Management
1011 Andersen Ave., Chicago,
IL 60415                                  i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Metro Waste Paper Toronto MRF
45 Thornmount Dr., Toronto, ON,
Canada M18 5105                           3,438        21,908

Great Lakes International Recycling
30615 Groesbeck Hwy., Roseville,
MI 48066                                   230         4,500

FCR-Boston
24 Bunkerhill Ind. Park,
Charlestown, MA 02129                     4,153        27,552

Norcal--Recycle Central
Pier 96 Foot of Cargo and Jennings,
San Fran., CA 94124                       21,600       20,200

Waste Management Cascades Recy. MRF
1800 Broadway St. NE, Minneapolis,
MN 55413                                  i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Waste Management Twin Cities MRF
1800 Broadway St. NE, Minneapolis,
MN 55413                                  i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Waste Management Lake County (Ill.)
MRF
30869 Route 83, Grayslake IL 60030        i.n.a.       60,000

Smurfit-Stone St. Louis MRF (1)
5505 Natural Bridge Ave., St. Louis,
MO 63120                                  i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Groot Industries/Crown Disposal (1)
8475 West 53, La Grange, IL 60525         i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Omni Recycling (1)
635 Dickens St., Westbury, NY 11590       2,800        1,700

Far West Fibers--Hillsboro MRF
6440 SE Alexander St., Hillsboro,
OR 97123                                  2,000        3,500

Rabanco Recycling (Div. of Allied
Waste) (1)
2733 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134        2,455        22,504

BFI Recycling--Minneapolis (1)
725 44th Ave. N, Minneapolis,
MN 55412                                  3,800        8,500

Homewood Disposal/Diversified
Recycling (1)
1501 W. 75th St., Homewood, IL 60430      2,000        10,000

Dade County BFI (1)
3840 NW 37 Ct., Miami, FL 33142           i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Potential Industries (1)
922 East E St., Wilmington, CA 90744      i.n.a.       i.n.a.

Palm Beach County R-MRF (1)
7501 North Jog Rd., West Palm Beach,
FL 33412                                   900         14,000

Rumpke Recycling
5535 Vine St., Cincinnati, OH 45217       1,056        2,082

Waste Management--Newark SCS MRF
150 St. Charles St., Newark,
NJ 07105                                  i.n.a.       i.n.a.

(1) Figures are estimates for the year 2005; Sources: company
spokespersons and Web sites, GAA directory, previous annual estimates