Midwest Fiber Recycling will celebrate the grand opening of what is being called central Illinois’ first single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) Sept. 16-17.
Business partners and the public will be invited to tour the plant in Normal, Ill., which features a 15-ton-per-hour processing system designed, manufactured and installed by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), Eugene, Ore. The grand opening will feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony, an open house and a community shred day, along with refreshments and giveaways.
The MRF began processing materials in late July and includes new offices and an older commercial processing operation.
The 86,400-square-foot facility serves more than 14 communities within a 100-mile radius, says Todd Shumaker, an owner of Midwest Fiber.
The MRF is a major expansion and investment for the family-owned company, which began processing recyclables 21 years ago with two employees and a small plant in Decatur, Ill. In addition to the Decatur and Normal locations Midwest Fiber Recycling operates a MRF in Peoria, Ill.
Before choosing BHS to supply the system, company officials toured other facilities and considered design proposals from other manufacturers, Shumaker says. “The design of the BHS system really met our needs,” he says. “We especially liked that it had a smaller footprint than other designs.” He adds, “And the equipment is manufactured in the U.S. That was important to us.”
The company configured the building to maximize space and to fit the custom-designed processing equipment layout. “We spent a lot of time with BHS designing the system,” Shumaker says.
The plant was built to accommodate growth, he says, adding that the company plans to add another shift to the one it is currently running. According to company projections, within five years, single-stream recycling will add an estimated 72 million pounds per year to the 201 million pounds of materials Midwest Fiber currently processes, an overall increase of 35 percent.
The BHS system uses the latest in screening, air and optical technologies. Recovered materials include cardboard, newsprint, mixed paper, plastics and metals.
BHS is a supplier of processing systems for the solid waste, recycling, wood products/compost and waste-to-energy industries.