Singles hitters: recylers are beginning to test whether single-streams systems are cost-effective for smaller recycling programs as well.

Single-stream recycling collection and processing in North America is widely considered to have gained its initial momentum on the Pacific Coast. In the eastern half of the U.S., single-stream methods are just beginning to take root, although equipment makers and recycling program managers note that switches in several programs have taken place in the past two years.

Among the programs adopting the method are several smaller communities in New York State and New England, who are offering a look at whether single stream makes economic sense in areas beyond the major population centers.

SWEEPING CHANGE IN BROOME COUNTY

Broome County, N.Y., is a three-hour drive west of Manhattan, and the rural and small town nature of the region is markedly different from the Big Apple. County seat Binghamton has a population of nearly 50,000, while the country's other 150,000 people live in smaller towns, villages and sparsely populated townships.

The State of New York has long had a bottle bill pertaining to beverage containers, but Programs throughout the state collect old newspapers (ONP) and other paper grades as well as steel cans and non-refundable plastic and glass containers.

Many of the Broome County cities and villages, including Binghamton, had been operating a dual-stream recycling program since the early 1990s. But when Kevin Roche, deputy commissioner of public works and solid waste, and other county officials evaluated the recycling program, they identified some areas that could be changed.

"We had a desire to reduce overall recycling costs for hauling and for processing," says Roche. "We also wanted to increase diversion and reach a new audience in recycling. Single-stream is a way to make it easier for people to participate."

The county made a major commitment to single-stream up front in its bidding process, when it guaranteed a 10-year contract to the winning proposal. "We had to guarantee some level of quantity, and we also guaranteed a 10-year contract; that got the interest of the private sector to make the investment," says Roche.

Waste Management Inc., Houston, was the winning bidder to operate the county's material recovery facility (MRF). The company and the county retrofitted an old manufacturing facility in central Binghamton that now serves as one of the smaller single-stream MRFs in operation in the U.S. "I call it a micro-MRF," says Roche.

The 20,000 sq. ft. tipping, processing and finished storage area contains a Bollegraaf/Lubo fiber and container sorting screen, an Andela glass breaker, live-bottom floor bunkers to keep fiber moving and a Harris HRB baler. A John Deere wheel loader keeps material moving from the tipping area to the sort line, while a Toyota forklift transports finished bales. The sorting system can handle up to 10 tons per hour throughout an eight-hour shift.

Waste Management charges the county a pre-determined service fee, with a percentage of commodity revenues subtracted. "It's a formulated revenue share based on a blended value of all commodities," says Roche. "The contractor gets the first $40 per ton, while of the balance, 65 percent goes to the county and 35 percent goes to the contractor."

According to Roche, the single-stream system, which started up in the fall of 2002, has been a winner all the way around:

* "Residents are participating more because they do not have the previously confusing container requirements," says Roche. "With haulers using single compartment trucks to collect recyclables now, residents are also seeing fewer trucks making trips back and forth to the tipping floor."

* Haulers, says Roche, also benefit by using the single-compartment trucks because of lower fuel costs. "With no curbside sorting and longer and more efficient routes for trucks, this allows the hauler to introduce some level of automation and lower labor costs."

* And the MRF operator needs less tipping floor space with a single stream, says Roche, and with good sorting equipment, the quality of grades produced is not compromised.

STAVING OFF THE PROBLEMS

Critics of single-stream processing can point to several potential problem areas, but Roche says early indications are that these potential issues have been addressed upfront.

"In a rural area, what to do with glass can be a problem, with cullet markets few and far between," acknowledges Roche. The county has side-stepped the cullet markets by finding a home for glass recovered at the MRF in civil engineering applications. The Broome County Solid Waste Division uses the glass as aggregate in civil engineering applications, saving the county additional processing and shipping fees.

Higher residue rates have also not been a problem. "I had heard horror stories of high residue rates at programs that went from no recycling program directly to single-stream," says Roche. "But because our residents and haulers have 10 years of two-stream experience behind them, our residue is running at just 4 percent," he remarks.

And the up-front investment and higher processing costs that could occur with new technology have not been burdensome. The way the bid was structured, Waste Management and the County worked to keep capital costs down. Regarding processing costs over the first few months, Roche says, "The processing per ton costs associated with our program actually went down. Everyone thinks of single-stream as more capital intensive; we found that wasn't the case anymore. The gap has narrowed considerably, so in some cases it's more efficient to sort and process this way."

Though only at the start of a 10-year contract, Roche sounds confident that the single-stream arrangement is a winner in Binghamton. "What we've found is that single-stream does work in a community our size, and it worked without the county making a big investment."

SERVING SMALL TOWN AMERICA

Canada and the U.S. have been valued trading partners with each other going back to the Colonial era. The free trade relationship has helped two Canadian MRF operators keep their workers and facilities on the job.

Haycore Canada Inc., Russell, Ontario, www.haycore.com, is a company with a background in agricultural products and recycling and employees who are familiar with American raw materials markets in New York and New England.

According to Haycore sales and operations manager Bill Renkema, the company's partnership with two single-stream MRFs in Quebec provided a natural opportunity for Haycore to market processing capacity at the MRFs to American municipalities in counties within reasonable hauling distance of the facilities.

Renkema, who had previously been employed in the solid waste and recycling sector, says the MRFs are independent--one owned by a non-profit entity and the other by a smaller hauling company--and seeking additional materials.

The marketing partnership has existed for two years. "We got a few weird looks from haulers and town officials at first when we presented our proposals," says Renkema. "But after a couple of towns tried it and word started to get around, now we're pretty well known in the region."

He says the single-stream MRFs offer a service that is attractive for a number of reasons. "We don't cherry-pick materials--we try to move all materials, so they can add additional materials to their programs."

The company has targeted towns and haulers fitting a particular profile, he notes. "Most of our customer base consists of municipalities with 50,000 people or less; larger cities can make it pay for itself," says Renkema.

Single-stream collection, with its wider basket of materials and ability to compact what is collected, isan easy sell, says Renkema. "We found that with single-stream curbside collection, the cost is fairly equal to garbage collection," he notes. "Then basic economies of scale demonstrate that anyone doing less than 5,000 tons per year is much better off out-sourcing their sorting and baling."

The Canadian MRFs accept all plastic containers, gable-top milk and juice packaging, plastic tubs and lids used in dairy product packaging and almost every type of paper. "Using us, they don't have to save it and hold it just to make one bale per year," says Renkema. "Programs can add products that weren't cost-effective when they were doing it themselves.

"What we have found is that number one and two plastics are all that are collected in the U.S.," says Michel Jacobs, president of Haycore Canada. "We have tried to promote that we take one through seven, and that our facilities can process tubs and lids. We do have end markets for these resins," he adds.

The tipping fees charged by the two Canadian MRFs are comparable with landfills, says Renkema. "The savings for these towns are on collection and processing, with a lot of cost avoidance from previous collection methods and small-scale processing," he comments.

A letter of testimony from Michael J. Palmer, city engineer of Amsterdam, N.Y., cites a $230 per ton cost for its recycling program in 2001, before it started using Haycore, compared to a $170 per ton cost in 2002.

"It's what they're going to save versus how they're doing it now that makes the single-stream option attractive," says Renkema.

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

TOP 20 UPDATE

Since publishing our list of America's 20 largest MRFs in the U.S. ("Mighty MRFs, August 2002 Recycling Today), we have been informed of changes or additions to the descriptions of several MRFs, particularly in the area of equipment used.

Bollegraaf and Lubo equipment installed by Van Dyk Baler Co., Stamford, Conn., is found not only in the three plants indicated (Charlestown Recycling Center, Potential Industries and Price George's County MRF), but additionally at the following facilities: Resource Management, Chicago; Waste Management-Minneapolis; Palm Beach County RMRF, West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Empire Waste Management, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Equipment made by Machinex Industries, Plessisville, Quebec, Canada, is on the job at the Groot Industries facility in La Grange, Ill., America's fifth-largest MRF.

Some of the considerable material handled at America's largest MRF, Charlestown (Mass.) Recycling Center, is being baled by an IPS model TR-1388-200 made by IPS Balers Inc., Baxley, Ga.

And in our August feature, we noted that what had been the 10th largest MRF, the BFI New York plant in Brooklyn, was no longer handling paper in 2002, meaning it would soon drop off the list. A lot of that paper is going to Metropolitan Paper Recycling in Brooklyn, a possible candidate to be added to the list the next time it is compiled by Recycling Today.

ALL IN ONE

Single-stream systems like those found in Broome County and served by Haycore allow programs to collect a wider variety of materials. Read a sample list in an online sidebar at www.RecyclingToday.com.