Sparta and Alchemy are proud to announce the award to upgrade/automate the curbside recycling system of the highly progressive PA-based Centre County Recycling and Refuse
Authority (CCRRA).
Passionately committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship, with its vision
statement to be the leader in achieving zero waste, CCRRA runs a model curbside collection
program.
They last year processed over 12,000 tons of recyclables, producing over 11,450 om 2024 high quality bales of plastics, metals, cardboard, and mixed paper, effectively serving over 28,000 curbside customers and over 800 commercial customers.
CCRRA’s source-separated collection programs provide for a high quality/low contamination flow of materials into their facility.
‘You right away notice something special about the CCRRA recycling facility, team, and approach when you walk in,’ notes Howard Fiedler, VP of Sales for Sparta, who has seen hundreds of recycling operations in his 30 years of experience in the recycling industry. ‘Their material streams are
highly organized, signs of innovation are everywhere (from custom-fabricated rollables cages to invitingly designed source-separated collection containers and more), and the CCRRA management and operations teams are passionate about their quest to optimize their recycling efficiency and recovery program.’
CCRRA’s current recycling processing system (seen in the photos below) is effective, but involves the labor-intensive process of manually sorting a continuous stream of PET (water and soda) bottles, HDPE (laundry detergent bottles, milk jugs etc.), Polypropylene (PP – food packaging containers), aluminum cans, and more.
In its mission of ongoing continuous improvement, CCRRA searched for solutions to upgrade and modernize its recycling facility. With an increasing volume and variety of plastics, the Authority was most interested in increasing their efficiency and quality of sortation. A unique solution identified was a multi lane optical sorting system, developed by New-Zealand-based Alchemy Systems, who has partnered with Sparta Manufacturing in North America to bring optical sorting to small and medium size MRFs. ‘Alchemy turned the traditional optical sorting model on its head’, says Fiedler. ‘Instead of dedicating one optical sorter to a single commodity, Alchemy’s game-changing multi-lane SureSort system optically sorts each of the above-mentioned recyclables in each pass. And it’s readily expandable to grow as CCRRA’s volumes grow.’
When this Sparta-Alchemy recycling system upgrade is completed in late 2024, CCRRA’s continuous stream of bottles, cans, and containers will pass through each of the narrow lanes seen below, where the Alchemy AI-based vision system (per lane) will identify all items passing through, and compressed air nozzles will eject targeted commodities when passing by, automatically sorting each of the recyclable streams for later baling of these high purity materials. The Alchemy vision system will also be helpful in providing automated reporting of all sorted materials.” We believe this system will increase the throughput of our facility, lower our processing costs, and increase the market value of many of our commodities, says Ted Onufrak, CCRRA Executive Director. When this facility first opened 36 years ago, we were having to remove the bottle caps from containers to accommodate our downstroke baler. Technology has come a long way, and this is the next step in using the latest technology available to help meet our mission.
As a systems integrator and MRF builder, Sparta engineered the CCRRA system upgrade (in close collaboration with Alchemy), manufactured the conveyors and steel structures, integrated the Alchemy optical sorting system, and will install this recycling line upgrade. The process of optimizing the system upgrade design and configuration was a highly collaborative efforts between the highly involved and extensively experienced CCRRA team, and the Alchemy and Sparta engineering and operations teams. ‘We are honored and excited to be working with the CCRRA team on this operationally transformative project.’
For more information about the project and company, and how the Sparta-Alchemy team can upgrade/automate your single stream MRF or design and build one for you, contact Recycling Equipment Manufacturer – Recycling Machine Supplier – Sparta or contact the Sparta Manufacturing sales team at 1.888.586.6128, ext. 1, sales@spartaway.com
