Curious About How Recycling Works?
The City of Calgary recycles in an automated factory (MRF – Materials Recovery Facility). Here are the most basic steps of how the materials are sorted:
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Workers remove non-recyclable items from a conveyor belt
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Disc screens separate by size to separate cardboard boxes from other items
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Rotating screens break down glass items, where the glass shards are then collected in a bunker
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Optical sorters can sort newspaper and mixed paper. Once seen by the sorter a jet of air is used to knock items onto a separate conveyor belt.
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Magnets are used for metals
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Lastly, optical scanners are used to sort the remaining plastics.
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Workers sort beverage containers by hand
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Eddy current used for aluminium foil, cans and pie plates: Repels items onto another conveyor belt and into a bunker.
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Sorted items are then bundled into bales and sent off to be made into new products
Watch the video below to gain a better understanding on how the City of Calgary serperates its recyclables.
Fun Facts About Calgary Recycling
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Recyclabes are sorted and then sent to manufactures to be remade into new products
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Our facility is one of the largest and most automated plants in all of North Amereica
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Calgarians recycle over 70 000 tons of plastics, cardboard, and other recyclable materials every year
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We recycle enough cardboard and paper to save 1 million trees each year!
Source: City of Calgary (2016)