Eureka Recycling receives gold MRF glass certification

The Glass Recycling Coalition (GRC) has announced Eureka Recycling is the recipient of a gold-level certification for its material recovery facility (MRF) in Minneapolis. The MRF’s glass sortation and cleaning equipment qualifies it for gold status, allowing it to provide high-quality recycled glass to processors and manufacturers.

Eureka Recycling is a nonprofit zero-waste organization and mission-based recycler that advocates for waste reduction, reuse and recycling policy changes and provides education and resources to the community and legislators. It also runs recycling operations that serve the Twin Cities and surrounding communities.

According to Eureka Recycling, the facility sorts 400 to 450 tons of materials daily and uses glass cleaning equipment including a glass breaker, trommel screen for size separation and vacuum system. The MRF sends its clean glass to a beneficiation facility, which further sorts and cleans the material to produce glass cullet used for manufacturing new bottles, fiberglass and other products.

“At Eureka Recycling, we believe glass is a critical part of the recycling stream due to its inert nature and infinite recyclability," Co-President and Chief Operating Officer of Eureka Recycling Miriam Holsinger says. Each time glass is recycled, it provides significant benefits to the environment and to our community, especially here in Minnesota, where we have a local glass producer and beneficiator. To support glass recycling, we invest in equipment and continue to provide education aimed at maintaining the highest possible glass quality.”

The GRC MRF Glass Certification program’s criteria were updated to prioritize end-market consistency and more thorough glass cleaning prior to beneficiation. With gold, silver or bronze certification awards available, MRF holding this gold certification may bring a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

According to GRC, the free certification program recognizes MRFs with additional equipment and operational procedures to clean up glass in from single- and dual-stream systems, resulting in production of higher-quality and marketable glass.

“Eureka Recycling’s achievement of the Glass Recycling Coalition’s gold certification is yet another example of its continued leadership in recycling,” The Recycling Partnership Senior Advisor of Strategy and Research Scott Mouw says. “Through its smart, innovative investments in glass cleaning equipment, Eureka demonstrates that keeping glass in curbside is highly feasible and can improve the circularity of the material. We congratulate Eureka on its certification and hope other MRFs follow their great example."