Transfer Station Tour

This morning, I took a tour of the North Gateway Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility with Patricia, the other intern. It was led by our coworker Terry. This was my first experience "out in the field," and next time I'll try to take pictures to make a more interesting blog post (I just found some online for this post).

What's a Transfer Station? This is where the garbage trucks dump their trash, so it can be consolidated into semi-trucks and then transported to a landfill.

What's a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)? This is where recycled materials are sorted and "baled" (like hay bales) to be transported and sold.

Terry is very enthusiastic about garbage and recycling and is very knowledgable. We went to a viewing area, where we could view both the area where garbage is dumped and the MRF. This is where they take kids on tours. It is filled with art, which is really cool. I recommend the interactive website: http://phoenixrecyclingproject.org/. Here you can view and interact with this art.



We also went on the floor, out to the areas where trash is dumped and to the MRF (Terry told us this is the VIP tour). Yes, the garbage side smells. They have to constantly be watering everything to avoid dust (AZ has pretty strict regulations about dust- small dust particles can get into the lungs). We saw things such as green waste, which can be sorted and mulched, appliances, metal, tires, and those giant old TVs. Those TVs are a problem because they are huge and no one wants them any more- if anyone has any ideas what to do with them let me know!

The recycling side was pretty interesting. The machinery is used to sort materials into plastic, glass, aluminum, paper, cardboard, etc. There are also workers who sort items as they come through the conveyor- some items could stop up the machinery. Rejected material goes on a conveyor belt to the garbage area.



If you get anything out of my post, remember this: DON'T RECYCLE PLASTIC BAGS! Plastic bags are a lot of the rejected recycling. They get very easily stuck in the machinery. Every couple of hours they have to stop the machines and cut out the plastic bags so the machines don't catch fire. You can turn them in at grocery stores at Bag Central Station, or reuse them as small garbage bags (you can store them in old tissue boxes or Lysol wipe containers).

The MRF is run by Recommunity, a company that contracts with the City of Phoenix. They sell the bales, which are sorted by type of material. Most material that is recycled in the US is actually sold overseas.

A few interesting facts:

• People throw all kinds of crazy stuff in the recycling bin. We saw clothes, propane tanks, and apparently even dead animals have been found in the recycling pile
• You can figure out where piles of recycling material came from by looking at the addresses on the mail in that pile
• Recycled green glass is the hardest to sell. Why? Think of what comes in green glass. Heineken, wine bottles....a lot of foreign imports. It would be expensive to send that stuff back to where it came from.