SUEZ’s Recycling & Recovery UK Division has started-up two new recycling systems located at the Altens East Industrial Estate south of Aberdeen. The turnkey Single Stream and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) systems provided by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) process 20-tonnes-per-hour (tph) and 30-tph, respectively. Purchased and operated by SUEZ on behalf of Aberdeen City Council, the materials recovery facility (MRF) will process 140,000-tonnes-per-year and increase the City’s diversion by nearly 20 percent, saving an estimated £5 million in annual landfill taxes.
The systems feature advanced recycling technology from BHS, Nihot and National Recovery Technologies (NRT). The facility is designed for high performance, featuring five BHS Tri-Disc screens, six NRT optical sorters, and a Nihot Single Drum Separator as the heart of the recovery process. Knowing that product quality is absolutely critical in today’s volatile commodity markets, SUEZ invested in specialized technology to ensure the end products are highly marketable, according to Bulk Handling Systems.
A BHS Debris Roll Screen breaks the incoming glass and removes the 50mm fraction, which is processed through a Nihot Single Drum Separator to remove light contamination. The remaining glass-rich material passes through an NRT ColorPlus optical sorter to remove the remaining non-glass contamination, including paper and small pieces of ceramic, stone and porcelain, to leave “a clean glass product”.
Paper purification is accomplished with NRT optical sorters, where the recently updated ColorPlus-R removes cardboard from the news stream and a SpydIR®-R recovers flattened plastic from the mixed fiber stream. Designed to comply with the Scottish Government’s Code of Practice on Sampling and Reporting at Materials Recovery Facilities, the systems features numerous belt scales to weigh inbound and outbound materials and automated labeling of outbound bales.
“The quality of our commodities is more important now than it’s ever been,” said Tim Hughes, SUEZ Project Development Manager. “The abundance of technology in our systems ensures that we’re able to meet or exceed our customers’ specifications. BHS has been a great partner from design onwards, as these systems surpass all of our throughput, recovery, purity and uptime expectations. The City of Aberdeen is in a great position to landfill significantly less while contributing to the circular economy, and should be proud of its Council for making its vision a reality.”
“This MRF includes an abundance of new technology that is producing products that have exceptional quality,” said BHS CEO Steve Miller. “Employing NRT optical sorting on glass, news and mixed paper really sets the Aberdeen plant up for long term success with regards to product quality. The recyclables leaving this facility are of the highest purity found anywhere in the industry, which is a testament to SUEZ’s commitment to excellence. We expect this MRF to be a top performer for SUEZ for years to come.”
In 2000, the Council awarded SUEZ a 25-year contract to manage recycling, composting, treatment and disposal of the household waste for the local authority’s now more than 228,000 residents. The £27 million project was developed to meet the goals set out in the Aberdeen City Waste Strategy and is in line with Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan, the latter of which includes a 70 per cent recycling target by 2025.
