The Team is building a state-of-the-art facility to significantly increase the City’s recycling capacity.
October 12, 2022- San Antonio, TX – Balcones Resources selected industry leader CP Group as the equipment provider of their state-of-the-art Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in San Antonio, TX, set to open in 2024. The equipment represents the latest in automation and technology in the industry, which makes the MRF the most advanced in the country, with only five-to-ten manual sorters. The MRF will have a processing capacity of 50-tons-per-hour and will service both residential and commercial recycling streams in the City of San Antonio. It will be integrated with the ability to receive and bale high volumes of post commercial, postindustrial paper and plastic waste for the benefit of the region’s growing distribution infrastructure.
“CP Group has been a tremendous partner throughout this process,” said Adam Vehik, CEO of Balcones. “Their team worked closely with us to design a best-in-class system that would provide superior recovery rates and economic value to the City of San Antonio, and we knew that their reputation of reliability and consistent performance would serve to strengthen our proposal.”
The Balcones San Antonio facility will contain the latest in MRF technological and processing advancements, including auger screens which eliminate the presort station. The MRF will utilize a Primary CP Auger Screen to scalp 6” minus material, as well as two patented OCC Auger Screens to scalp 8” minus and produce a clean OCC end-product. These three machines are located prior to any sorters, allowing for downstream sorting efficiency of fractionated material streams.
The Auger Screens remove OCC and other large materials from the remainder of the automated recovery process. Material is then sent to a four-deck Glass Breaker Screen and LightsOut™ ADS to remove and clean glass. After the glass is removed, material will convey to two high-volume disc screens, a CP Anti-Wrap Screen™ for the mid-size fraction, and a CPScreen™ for the small fraction material. These screens play an important role in liberating conjoint material and fines. Disc Screens split material by mechanical properties so the downstream automated sorting equipment can achieve the highest efficiencies.
The system will utilize a high-degree of sorting automation. This will include five MSS FiberMax™ optical sorters, which run at 1,000 feet per minute on 112” wide belts. These machines will use different sorting recipes depending on the unit’s position in the MRF to positively sort fiber, OCC and/or contaminants. On the container line, three MSS PlasticMax™ optical sorters will sort PET, HDPE, and PP. A magnet will remove ferrous and an eddy current will remove non-ferrous material. Two MSS AI units will be used to quality control containers, specifically PET and Aluminum.
The system will incorporate CP’s new silo designs which include Leveling Augers and Silo Augers. Utilizing augers in silos provides maximum use of space and an accurate feed to the baling lines to eliminate half bales or bale re-runs. The facility will have three balers, one single ram for cardboard and two Two-Ram balers. Each commodity has the opportunity to reach two balers for redundancy.
“We’ve incorporated the latest and greatest in MRF technology and automation into this design. The system will be operational with as few as five sorters. This exceptionally low headcount comes thanks to material fractionating along with the automated recovery and quality control of nearly every commodity,” states Branden Sidwell, CP Group Design Engineer.
Overall, the San Antonio MRF is designed to best support the City’s recycling needs. “The MRF will enable the City and the business community to make major progress toward their recycling goals,” said Joaquin Mariel, Balcones’ Chief Commercial Officer. “Its advanced technology will enable the City to get the highest possible value out of the recycling stream. This means more of the recoverable plastic, metal, glass, cardboard, etc., that is in recycling bins today will be sent to an end market that will bring value to the City’s program. The same will be true for any hauler or neighboring community that will use the Balcones San Antonio MRF as their recycling partner”.
The Balcones MRF will support the development of a circular economy in San Antonio. It will be able to aggregate significant volumes of high-quality recycled materials, creating quality feedstock for more businesses to enter the circular economy. The site and building design is focused on rapid turnaround time for city collections, haulers, outbound recipients of baled commodities, and businesses.
“This building is not a typical MRF. It is a recycling campus with a Class A-quality office building, a community recycling drop-off center, educational facilities, employee amenities, and a modern and sustainable architectural design that will add to the general building landscape of the city,” Mariel added.
About Balcones Resources
Balcones Resources is a comprehensive environmental services company specializing in recycling and document destruction. Established in Austin, TX in 1994, Balcones is now the largest independent material processor in the Southwest United States. Balcones is deeply committed to diverting recyclables away from the landfill and producing best-in-class quality material for new products. Services extend to education outreach initiatives focused on increasing recycling participation and promoting a circular economy. Balcones operates five recycling facilities in Texas, Arkansas, and Florida.
