Regulation can be a powerful business stimulus. For the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts, state regulation proved to be a huge municipal benefit as well. When the Massachusetts yard waste recycling mandate took effect in 1987, the visionary leaders in Lexington converted an outdated, unused 30-acre landfill into a composting site to eliminate transfer costs for all the green waste they were collecting. Thirty years later, the operation has become a profit machine, effectively flipping hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses to the other side of their balance sheet.
Converting Costs to RevenuesKerry Weaver, operations manager of the site, emphasizes the benefits that organics recycling has generated.
“This is a completely self-supporting operation that produces a positive cash flow for the city,” Kerry shares. “All our labour and equipment investments come from our revenues, and we’re still able to give back to the budget.”
He says residents also gain the benefit of having access to an organics recycling yard. “Residents can of course drop off material at no charge,” continues Kerry. “The compost we produce is then sold back into the community to landscapers and individuals, so all those organics are eventually returned to our land.”
Space, time and costBack in 2016, city leaders had a new vision and voted to convert five and a half acres of the compost site into a solar farm which generates nearly 2.2 MW of electricity to help offset the cost of powering the municipal buildings around town. While that outcome is obviously in the best interest of the city overall, the loss of space proved challenging to the compost operation.
“All of our windrows had been previously set down with 20 feet of buffer between them. We turned with front-end loaders, so the extra space was necessary,” recalls Kerry. “When we lost the acreage to the solar project, we didn’t want to reduce our overall production so we needed to find a solution.”
That solution came in the form of a new BACKHUS A60 compost turner. Adding more equipment to a smaller site may seem counterintuitive on the surface, but the benefits were enormous.
“The BACKHUS turner allowed us to build our windrows toe to toe, so we could easily fit as much compost into the reduced space,” Kerry explains. ”But the real benefit was in time and cost.”Turning with front-end loaders used to require two people, 10 days and 800 gallons of fuel.
Today, Kerry’s team turns an equal amount of material with one person in eight hours, using only 100 gallons of fuel. Curing time improved dramatically as well, reduced by nearly half.
“Getting high-quality finished compost in seven months, where before we used to wait 14 months, is a real difference maker. So not only can we fit more windrows in less space, we’re able to cure twice as much compost in the same amount of time. It’s really unbelievable how much our investment in the BACKHUS has paid off.”
Expanding capability with a two-in-one screenAs the operation became ever more efficient, Kerry found additional materials and products that could be produced and offered. In 2018, leaf and bark mulches were added to the mix.
“We do a leaf mulch, as well as a black bark and natural brown bark mulch,” he said. “Those products have been very popular since we started making them.”
But the additional products required another investment in equipment to make the economics work. Lexington had no screening capability on site, and were relying on an outside contractor to come in and take care of their screening needs as they arose. With the addition of mulches, screening demand rose to the level where a screen acquisition made sense.
“We knew we wanted a trommel screen to produce a finer compost product, but since we started making mulches too, a star screen also seemed appealing,” admits Kerry.
Ultimately, the City of Lexington opted for a Doppstadt SM 720K trommel screen with a star screen insert.
“That’s what made the Doppstadt such a perfect choice for us. The ability to run a trommel drum, but easily switch to a star screen insert suited our flexibility quite well. Now, when we’re making bark mulches, or if our compost is really wet, we can swap in the star unit and keep our production rates running at peak.”
Another factor in their equipment acquisitions was the option of a tracked chassis versus rubber tires. Running a 12-month operation in New England presents some challenging conditions in deep snow or the rainy spring, and being able to locate equipment without hassle is important. Both the BACKHUS A60 turner and the Doppstadt SM 720K trommel come on tracks, and Kerry is glad they made that decision.
Painting on a Blank Canvas For more than 40 years, prior to taking on his role at the City of Lexington compost site, Kerry worked in the construction industry, and spent six years of service in the military. When the opportunity arose to lead the effort to build this compost operation, he says he was thrilled.
“When this first opened, they told me I had a blank slate and to just go make it work,” he recalls. “It was fantastic. I got to chart the course and the town supported us greatly. “There were some slow times and some hard times, but looking back on what we’ve built is tremendously rewarding. This is a resource that the residents cherish, and I’m so pleased to have been able to play a part and looking forward to all the new ideas we have planned.”
This article was provided by Ecoverse Industries, and was originally published in Recycling Product News, Volume 26, Number 8.
Frontline Machinery hosted their annual Demo Days & Open House event today at the company’s headquarters in Chilliwack B.C.. About 200 customers, industry partners, OEMs and staff were in attendance to see the latest innovations from Frontline equipment partners, including global crusher/screener manufacturer Keestrack, Optical Belt Scale manufacturer Sensortechnik and screen/shredder and mobile conveyor manufacturer EDGE Innovate. Also in attendance was Langley-based Shearforce Equipment which demonstrated their latest hydraulic pulverizer attachment.
At the start of 2019, Kleemann was awarded two international design prizes: the iF DESIGN AWARD and the GOOD DESIGN Award for the jaw crusher MOBICAT MC 120 Z PRO and the screening plants of the EVO line. Innovative details for safe operation and simple handling impressed the jury members.
Rotochopper, Inc. has appointed Tosh Brinkerhoff as the company’s next chief executive officer, effective immediately. Brinkerhoff has more than 20 years of industry leadership experience with an impressive track record in heavy equipment manufacturing.
Refuse and recyclable material collectors rank fifth on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of most dangerous jobs. In 2017, the National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries identified 30 fatalities among these collectors. This year, in January alone, 17 fatal incidents have occurred in the solid waste industry in the United States and Canada, with two taking place in New York.
Telia, Ericsson and Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) have launched Sweden’s first 5G network for industrial use at Volvo CE’s facility in Eskilstuna. Volvo CE will then become one of the first in the world to use 5G technology to test remote-controlled machines and autonomous solutions.
Philippi-Hagenbuch Inc., (PHIL) a specialist in off-highway truck customization, has invented a new version of their Autogate Tailgate specifically for off-highway trucks and roll-off containers that require a 100 percent positive seal. This new design can be paired with PHIL’s proprietary fluidic seal material to create a water-tight seal that contains liquid materials within an off-highway truck body or roll-off container when environmental regulations or local laws make even slight spillage undesirable.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) recently completed negotiations to purchase Resource Recycling, Inc., the publication and conference management firm that has been in operation for over three decades.
The 2019 edition of the National Heavy Equipment Show is quickly approaching this March 28 and 29 at the International Centre in Mississauga. With a sold-out show floor and thousands of visitors pre-registered, the key trade event is ready to mark its 22nd year in just three weeks’ time.
The Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has amended the country’s Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules to include a prohibition of solid plastic waste import into the country. According to a statement from the Indian government, the move, announced March 6th, was enacted “In order to strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound management of hazardous waste in the country.”
Since its founding in 2004, ROCKSTER has developed two patented systems for mobile crushers. At bauma 2019, the mobile impact crusher R1100DS will be displayed in the open area in front of the B2 Hall / Gate 7 (Booth No. 12B/2). The machine combines both innovative systems (DUPLEX and double-functional return / stockpile belt) and as of 2019, it will be equipped with a CAT C9.3B EUR5 engine. This will offer customers the latest state-of-the-art technology.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the recycling industry, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) will award its 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award to Jerry Simms of Atlas Metal & Iron Corp. of Denver (shown left). Simms’ career in the recycling industry spanned more than four decades, during which he successfully led a number of key regulatory and legislative victories for the industry through his involvement with ISRI.
Terex has announced a new manufacturing facility for its materials processing range in Derry, Northern Ireland, at an investment of £12 million. The new 105,000 square foot manufacturing facility will focus on the design, manufacture and development of Terex Ecotec (waste management and recycling) and Terex Conveying Systems (TCS) (mobile conveying) product lines.
MAXAM Tire North America is pleased to announce that Caterpillar Inc. has validated and approved the MAXAM MS302 L3 tire for use on specific Cat ® Medium Wheel Loaders. The MAXAM 23.5R25 MS302 is currently available as a factory fitment option on Cat 950GC, 950L, 950M, 962L, and 962M in certain regions. Additional MAXAM MS302 tire sizes have also been validated and approved for future factory fitment on additional Cat Medium Wheel Loaders.
BioHiTech Global, Inc. has initiated operations at the first HEBioT renewable resource recovery facility in the U.S., located in Martinsburg, West Virginia. BioHiTech has successfully completed the first phase of plant commissioning including the facility’s reception area, overhead bridge cranes, and its primary mechanical sorting equipment. The company has begun the next phase of plant commissioning and progressing operations, which includes receiving limited amounts of waste and beginning runs of its HEBioT Process, a patented high efficiency mechanical and biological treatment process for producing an EPA recognized solid recovered fuel (SRF).
A consortium of world-leading companies comprising Montreal-based Enerkem, Air Liquide, Nouryon and the Port of Rotterdam, has announced that Shell will join as a partner in Europe’s first advanced waste-to-chemicals facility in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. According to Enerkem, Shell will become an equal equity partner in the proposed commercial-scale waste-to-chemicals (W2C) project, which will be the first of its kind in Europe to make valuable chemicals and bio-fuels out of non-recyclable waste materials.
Atlanta-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solutions provider Rubicon Global and Odakyu Group, a leading transportation, retail and real estate company in Japan, have signed a partnership agreement for a pilot program in Japan focused on supporting the Japanese waste and recycling industry towards a more integrated Circular Economy.
Canada Fibers Ltd. (CFL) and Enviroplast are entering into an exclusive supply agreement to recover and recycle plastic film. According to CFL, the strategic partnership between the two industry leaders is a game changer as the requirement for more Canadian-based plastic recycling solutions has increased following the implementation of China’s National Sword policy in 2018 which banned imports of 24 types of waste material, including plastic film.
The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is collaborating with BrandArmor to provide an important new safety decal for the back of waste and recycling collection trucks. BrandArmor has created large, SafetyFirst™ Prismatic Reflective caution decals, which include the familiar warning to Slow Down to Get Around. The reflective decals will be visible up to a distance of 1,800 feet at night.
Effective March 1, 2019,Screen Machine Industries, LLC has become the parent company of Diamond Z . According to the two companies, this will create a strong partnership of two material processing pros – Screen Machine in crushing and screening, Diamond Z in chipping and grinding. Together, both companies will be able to service the growing need for mobile equipment across a number of industries.
The new EC750E HR high-reach excavator from Volvo Construction Equipment offers exceptional reach, with a maximum pin height of 118 feet, and can also be easily reconfigured using extensions and different boom sets to become a multi-use demolition tool.
Post time: Mar-14-2019