FCC Completes Commissioning of Dallas MRF

The new materials recycling facility (MRF) on the McCommas Bluff Landfill site in southern Dallas has successfully received and processed more than 1,000 tons of single stream materials from the city during the last two weeks of December, according to FCC Environmental Services.

FCC Environmental Services is the U.S. subsidiary of FCC, the global environmental services, infrastructure and water management group. It built the facility and will operate the plant for a period of 15 years, with a possible extension for a further 10 years.

FCC officially commenced its operations at the plant on January 2, receiving single-stream material from the city of Dallas as well as from the City of University Park, Texas which in November 2016 awarded FCC a five-year service contract for the treatment and marketing of all the City recyclables.

The expected backlog for the Dallas MRF is $300 million over the course of its lifetime. It will use the latest sorting and classification techniques, including artificial vision, as well as optical and gravimetric sorting machines. All of the material collected in the single recycling container will be sorted into different categories. It will recycle and give thousands of tons of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metals produced by the citizens of Dallas, back to the market, thereby following the circular economy principles.

The MRF’s equipment was provided by VAN DYK Recycling Solutions of Stamford, Conn.

A series of starscreens separates OCC, glass, fiber and containers. The series features Van Dyk’s newest offering, the anti-wrapping ONP screen, which is 13.3 feet wide with 440 stars. The stars incur virtually no wrapping, even after hours of operation. A total of four TOMRA (TITECH) Autosort 4 optical sorters recover any remaining fiber and separate all plastics. An overbelt magnet and eddy current recover ferrous and aluminum cans, respectively. And a glass cleanup system (Walair) creates four fractions of clean, sellable glass. The system is capped off by a Bollegraaf HBC-120S that is capable of baling all commodities accepted at the facility.

The contract to build and operate a plant to manage all of the recyclable waste in the Texan city, was awarded to FCC in November 2015. Construction on the state-of-the-art facility began at the start of 2016. The design was based on helping the city to meet goals to increase waste diversion to: 40 percent by 2020, 60 percent by 2030, and 80 percent by 2040.

In recent months FCC has secured several contracts in the U.S. including in Polk County, Fla., and in Orange County, Fla. It has also secured a service contract for the treatment and marketing of all the recyclables in University Park, Texas.

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim became FCC’s largest shareholder at the end of 2014. He now owns a 61.1 percent stake. Bill Gates also holds a 5.7-percent stake in the group.