Shanks Waste Management Ltd has recently opened is unique waste treatment facility in South Kirkby for the Wakefield Waste Management Contract, that will process up to 230,000 tonnes a year of residual waste and recycling from homes and businesses in the Wakefield District. Machinex has provided two advanced sorting systems including the latest technologies. This is one of the most sophisticated waste-to-product facilities in the UK and it will increase significantly the recycling rate of Wakefield district while diverting around 95% of the waste away from landfill. The first system is a mixed dry recyclables (MDR) sorting plant that annually segregates approximately 36,000 tonnes of plastic, glass, metal containers, paper and cardboard at a capacity of 19 tonnes per hour. A purity rate of 95% will be achieved by Machinex screens, optical sorting and a glass clean up system, an air capture system for plastic film, ferrous magnets and a non ferrous eddy-current system.
The second system from Machinex segregates a variety of materials from residual waste at 30 tonnes per hour. The main goal of this system is to obtain a final fraction that meets the standards to produce refuse derived fuel (RDF). The priority is to remove RDF contaminants by maximizing organics recovery and ferrous and non-ferrous metals recovery. The organic fraction is segregated from other waste by a vibratory screen and then treated using an autoclave before it is sent to an anaerobic digestion plant. Ferrous, non-ferrous metals, plastic film, paper and plastics can be sorted by a combination of air treatment systems, ballistic separators, optical units, magnets, eddycurrents and other sorting equipment. The solution proposed by Machinex allowing flexibility remains an important aspect since the plant operator can select the most appropriate recyclates to be recovered according to market values and the desired calorific value of the RDF generated.
Jonathan Menard, Project Director at Machinex, says: “I’m extremely proud to say that Machinex admirably distinguished itself in the Shanks Wakefield
project. All the Acceptance Tests have been passed and the two systems were commissioned on time. ”
Nigel Catling, Capital Infrastructure Director at Shanks commenting on the project: “Machinex worked closely with the Shanks team and Wakefield Council to deliver two efficient facilities at South Kirkby. Both of these facilities were swiftly brought into use, delivering good throughputs and quality materials. We are now working on optimising the facilities to fulfill their full potential.”
For more information, visit www.machinex.ca.