How to keep your recycling plant running smoothly

Recycling plants and waste sorting stations are highly complex facilities where the smallest detail could have a profound effect on its performance. If machinery breaks down or isn't functioning properly, the entire site's operations could be thrown into jeopardy. For instance, a U.S.-based recycling centre was forced to shut down in 2018 after its baler stopped working. The region's recyclables were diverted to a local landfill while the facility waited for a replacement, discarding a large number of reusable materials.

Follow these steps to avoid such catastrophic failure and ensure your plant is running at peak levels throughout the year.

Correctly calibrate belt scales and weightometers

Belt scales, weightometers and other measuring equipment are essential to recycling centre operations, helping facility stakeholders monitor throughput and keep tabs on the materials processed on the site.

Recycling stations and waste sorting facilities handle a wide variety of materials, including paper, plastic, steel, concrete and asphalt, and equipment like belt scales enable site operators to efficiently organise incoming refuse and maintain total visibility over the site's productivity.

A lot of materials pass through recycling plants, and belt scales help keep track of it all.

This machinery should be audited on a regular basis to check that it is performing properly and, if not, have it recalibrated. By doing so, facility operators can be certain that the readouts they receive from belt scales and other equipment is completely accurate.

Check that level measurement equipment is always accurate

Materials pile up very quickly in recycling plants and waste sorting stations, and if operators lose track of how much refuse and byproducts are accumulating at their site, they could run into problems that inhibit productivity or even affect worker safety.

Level measurement instruments help prevent such scenarios by using laser, radar, gravemetric or ultrasonic technology to calculate the volume of different materials held in vats and silos. If these readings are off in any way, site operators could be working with faulty information and make poor decisions as a result.

Reviewing level measurement performance and checking their accuracy flags malfunctioning equipment and ensures that your facility always has the most precise readouts available to guide decision-making.

Measure facility byproducts to reduce your plant's carbon emissions.

Reduce carbon emissions with reliable incineration and denitrification systems

Recycling plants produce some amount of carbon emissions during their course of operations, but facility managers can minimise that output with accurate and reliable incineration and denitrification systems.

Gas analysers measure the concentration of gases during incineration, enabling workers to optimally regulate them and make the entire process as efficient as possible. Denitrification systems, meanwhile, use catalytic convertors to remove gases from certain facility procedures, reducing recycling plant emissions. Maintain the smallest environmental footprint possible by keeping a close eye on any byproducts your facility generates and installing equipment to consistently analyse those emissions.

SRO Technology's expert auditors can help ensure your recycling or waste sorting station performs at the highest level while leaving behind the smallest environmental footprint possible. Contact our team today.