Like many municipalities, Niagara faced a challenge in managing its mixed broken glass (MBG). Historically, the Region used its manually sorted MRF glass in its EcoGlass plant to produce abrasives for sandblasting. Due to changes in MRF processing design resulting in a transition from manual glass sorting to mixed broken glass the plant was unable to process this contaminated MBG feedstock. This forced the Region to ship its MGB to a third party pre-processor and import clean glass for use in its EcoGlass process. When the third-party pre-processing option was no longer viable, the Region was forced to stockpile the MBG and consider disposal if it could not find an alternative market for the material.
into the Glass Clean-up System
With partial funding from the CIF, Niagara upgraded its glass processing system with the addition of a trommel screen, bucket elevator, and aspirator. These equipment modifications allowed the plant to effectively recover approximately 60% of the glass and increase throughput of the operation. The Region is now able to process its curbside-collected MBG and is working through its accumulated MBG stockpile. The investment is projected to save the Region an estimated $143K/yr resulting in a projected payback period of approximately 17 months. Once the stockpile is depleted, the Region expects that it will be able to accept MBG from other jurisdictions.
For more information on this project, please visit the CIF website (http://cif.wdo.ca) to view the CIF Project 821.3.2 – Glass Clean-up System.