GBaler Two-Ram— Precision performance in every bale

The Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District started in 2020 as a mixed waste processor, then made the switch to curbside recycling in 2022. The 15-tons-per-hour material recovery facility (MRF), which serves 15 cities in Morgan and Davis County, Utah, was even retrofitted in 2024.

Throughout those operational changes, one aspect of the facility has stayed the same: the use of a two-ram baler manufactured by GBaler USA.

Wasatch Integrated has relied on the GB-1575TR auto-tie model to reliably produce bales of plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and both natural and colored high-density polyethylene (HDPE), aluminum, steel and paper—especially old corrugated containers (OCC)—and the results have exceeded expectations since its installation in May 2020.

The machine produces 40 or more bales per day while seamlessly switching between commodities. According to MRF Manager Chad Staples, it also bales refuse-derived fuel (RDF) material, which comes from residue on the MRF line. That material is then sent to a nearby cement plant.

“This two-ram baler has been almost flawless,” MRF Manager Chad Staples says, while also pointing out how important it is to the facility’s daily operation. “If this baler goes down, my whole line’s down. …There’s no redundancy. That says a lot about GBaler, though, because this is one integral part of the system, and if it goes down I’m done for. I’ve been happy with its runtime. It’s been pretty robust.”

Building on success

As the MRF has undergone changes, GBaler’s product and support have stayed consistent.

“If there are issues, and there haven’t been many, we can call the owner directly, and that says something,” Wasatch Integrated Executive Director Preston Lee says.

Adds Staples, “They’ve been good on some parts that we’ve needed. Their inventory seems to be robust. They can overnight parts so they’re here the next day and it keeps us up and running.”

The success of the two-ram baler helped inform Wasatch Integrated’s decision to go back to GBaler during the MRF’s 2024 retrofit. This time, the facility added the single-ram Commander model, which the MRF uses to bale OCC.

Lee and Staples say GBaler had the Commander up and running within three weeks—a timeframe that allowed for minimal downtime as the MRF was rebuilt.

“We were very pleased with GBaler, so when we did the retrofit and added an OCC screen, we needed a dedicated baler,” Staples says. “GBaler was able to get us a single-ram baler in the timeframe where we wouldn’t have to have two shutdowns to get it up and running. That meant a lot to us that they looked at us as a valued customer and moved things around so we could get a single-ram baler.”

Boosting productivity

The single-ram model has already made a big difference in the MRF’s productivity. Before reaching the baler, cardboard is sorted and runs through a trommel that sorts out fractions 9 inches and smaller. Larger pieces then travel to an OCC screen, which has 10-inch voids. Any material that doesn’t fall through the 10-inch screen goes straight to the baler.

“We’re losing the smaller stuff and we’re doing a little bit of hand picking on that, but, overall, we’re doing 90-plus percent on cardboard we pull out of the stream,” Staples says. “We went from a positive sort on cardboard by hand to doing a negative sort with this baler. We have four sort stations that are pulling out plastics. We went from 15 percent recovery to almost 100 percent recovery [on OCC].”

With recycling accessibility growing in its service area, Wasatch Integrated is set up for future success with its balers. Since the Commander is only used for OCC, Staples says he can add runtime and speed down the line if the need arises.

Whether it’s a two-ram or single-ram model, GBaler products have proven themselves to be key components in successful recycling facilities.