Inashco to design metals recovery system for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, waste authority

The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has entered into a long-term contract with Inashco North America Inc., Annapolis, Maryland, to site a $14 million facility next to the Frey Farm Landfill in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. The facility is designed to recover a variety of metals from waste-to-energy (WTE) ash.

LCSWMA owns two WTE facilities in Bainbridge and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that burn municipal solid waste (MSW), producing enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 45,000 area homes and businesses. After combustion, the remaining ash from both power plants is transported to LCSWMA's Frey Farm Landfill and used as daily cover at the landfill. 

While LCSWMA's WTE facilities currently use in-line metal recovery systems, the authority says only larger metals are removed. Inashco North America, with its parent company based in the Netherlands, offers an advanced metals recovery system to remove pebble-sized metals present in the ash. This system incorporates the use of proprietary technology, in addition to various screens, magnets and conventional eddy current separators to remove fine ferrous and nonferrous metals from WTE ash for the benefit of bringing these metals back to manufacturers and to avoid primary mining.

"This will be our fourth facility built in the U.S. but our first project as public-private partnership with a county agency," says John Joyner, president of Inashco North America. "We are thrilled the most innovative, well managed and highly respected solid waste authority in the country selected Inashco to build this state-of-the-art metals recovery facility."

Arno LaHaye, CEO of Inashco in Europe, states, "Inashco is proud to be a part of this landmark project in the U.S. solid waste industry and to contribute to an advancement toward sustainability and a circular economy."

The 100,000-square-foot facility is designed to process 165,000 tons of ash generated annually from LCSWMA's two WTE facilities. About 8,000 tons of metals will be recovered each year. The partners anticipate construction to start in spring 2017, with full operations commencing by spring 2018.