Penn Waste Adds MRF in Pennsylvania to Expand Single-Stream Recycling

Penn Waste Inc. has opened a material recovery facility (MRF) in Manchester, Pa., featuring a single-stream recycling system.

The York, Pa.-based Penn Waste unveiled a 96,000-sq.-ft. MRF that more than triples the company’s processing capabilities and improves recovery rates.

The new MRF is one of the largest in the nation. It features a single-stream system designed, manufactured and installed by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), the Eugene, Ore.-based firm said in a news release. The new system features NRT (a BHS subsidiary) optical sorting technology to separate materials more efficiently.

The new operation upgrades Penn Waste’s sorting and processing capability to 35 tons of recyclables per hour from the previous 10 tons per hour.

Penn Waste hopes to double its 2014 record of materials recycled–81,000 tons–during the next few years. That 2014 total represents a 50-percent increase since 2010.

“Our long-term goal is to continue to find innovative ways to waste less and recycle more by diverting recyclable materials from the waste stream, ” said Scott Wagner, president and owner of Penn Waste.

Penn Waste serves more than 175,000 customers in 65 municipalities, with more than 100 waste and recycling collection trucks.

The move continues a slow but steady expansion in recycling infrastructure. In May

Solid waste firm Hamm Inc., Perry, Kan., expanded its MRF in Lawrence, Kan., to add a single-stream recycling operation. The new operation has the processing capacity of 10 metric tons per hour, with a planned further expansion to 20 metric tons per hour.

Late last year Lycoming County, Pa., opened a 60,000-sq.-ft. facility in Montgomery. City of Industry, Calif.-based Athens Services added an 80,000-sq.-ft. facility in Sun Valley, Calif. A public-private partnership expanded a MRF in Quebec City to double its capacity and efficiency. A year ago Recology Inc. opened a new 75,000 sq.-ft. MRF in Seattle.

But recycling markets continue to struggle. Industry financial analyst Leone Young, in her latest Waste360 Business Insights column about first-quarter fiscal results in the waste and recycling industry, noted that recycled commodity pricing, particularly paper and plastic, did worse than the big solid waste companies expected.