Casepak Project 26 mtph Dry Recyclables System Leicester, UK - Case Study
BHS designed, manufactured and installed a highly automated, dual-function sorting system for Casepak at its new Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Leicester. The system start up was in September, 2011.
“This is a major milestone for Casepak,” said Mark Smith, Managing Director at Casepak, at the facility`s grand opening in January, 2012. “Since the MRF became operational in September we have already secured contracts to manage several local councils’ recyclable material streams.”
Due to the highly efficient BHS design, Casepak is able to process material at rates significantly beyond the design capacity of 26 metric tons per hour. Production was boosted with the addition of a second shift within months of start up. As soon as its first week of operation, the system was exceeding design capacity while delivering high recovery rates of more than 95% of the available commodities at extremely high purity levels.
“Our new MRF has been developed to meet the demands of changing collection systems at the same time ensuring we produce a quality end product,” says Kevin Thomas, Director – MRF Operations. “This is not a waste treatment facility – it’s a production process for essential materials and, as with any production process, quality is the key. Our system is based on a combination of robust screen and optical sorting technology to achieve the best possible quality output.”
According to Casepak officials, the new facility is the first in the UK to incorporate screening technology to recognize and separate the highly compacted plastic and metal food packaging found in household recycling collections. “We are the first MRF to import this technology from the USA,” says Thomas “It ensures that items such as small plastic bottles and yogurt cups that are easily squashed during the collection process are identified and separated, ensuring that they are recovered and retain their resource value.”
The MRF also features the patented BHS De-Inking Screen which separates fiber grades, another key factor in the purity of commodities, Thomas says. The system also includes a mixed fiber optical unit, a film handling system and a full NRT optical container line for plastics recovery.
- Location: Warren Industrial Park, Enderby, Leicester UK
- Commissioned: September 2011
- Type: Dry Recyclables, Mixed Fiber
- Tonnage: 26 mtph Commercial Dry Waste
- Serves: Residential & Commercial
- Recovery: > 95% of available recyclables
Material Captured/Equipment Utilized
- OCC: Metering Bin, Electro Magnet
- News & Pam: OCC Separator, Pneumatic Transfers
- Mixed Paper: Debris Roll Screen, Dust Control System
- PET: NewSorter (2), Controls System
- HDPE-N: Polishing Screen
- HDPE-C: Glass Clean-Up System
- Rigid Plastics: De-Inking Screen
- Mixed Plastics: NRT SpydIR (2)
- Film Plastics: NRT MultiSort IR
- Aluminum: Eddy Current Separator
- Ferrous Metals: Air Aspirators