GREAT LAKES RECYCLING

Single-stream processor in New Boston, Michigan

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Hint: Take a look at the photos first (below) and the videos may make more sense.

                  YouTube Video A 27 seconds

                  YouTube Video B 2 minutes 14 seconds

                  YouTube Video C 42 seconds

                  YouTube Video D 30 seconds

                  YouTube Video E 28 seconds

                  YouTube Video F 41 seconds

                  YouTube Video G 1 minute 3 seconds

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                  Photo above: Incoming mixed material is brought to this area of the building. Paper, aluminum, tin, corrugated cardboard, box board, electrical wiring, plastic grocery bags, trash bags, plastic package wrap and #1 thru #7 plastics are all brought in together. Sometimes it is bailed by the collector and sometimes it is not. Great Lakes Recycling will accept it either way and they pay the collector by the ton. Great Lakes Recycling is not a hauling company. They rely on companies such as Waste Management, Marcotte or municipal collectors to bring the material in.

                  Photos above and below: Unsorted recyclable material.

                  Photos above and below: The building is about 3 stories tall, but only about as wide as you see in the picture (maybe 150 feet wide). What you see in this photo is most of the operation. It is surprisingly compact. It takes about 14 people to operate the plant. The facility in Roseville is not this automated and requires many more people. The New Boston facility runs 2 shifts of 10 hours a day (20 hours a day). They can process 16-17 tons an hour.

                  Photo above: Incoming material is moving upward. Metal piping is actually a vacuum where plastic bags and plastic wrap run down to a separate bailer. Food residue is not a problem (ketchup, mustard, etc.), but larger food items should be thrown in the garbage.

                  Photo above: This conveyor carries hard plastic to a bailing machine.

                  Photo above: Bailing machine.

                  Photo above: Sorted material exits the bailing machine and is ready for shipment to whoever can use it. Great Lakes Recycling can get a high price for this material because of the high quality sorting that they perform.

                  Photo above: Clear PETE plastic.

                  Photos above and below: White LDPE milk jugs.

                  Photo above: Colored HDPE plastic.

                  Photo above: Paper materials.

                  Glass is also processed at this facility, but it does not come mixed in with the other materials.

                  Photo above: Their classroom is ready for the SC4 Green Team and SC4 students to come for a tour. They are happy to lead a tour for groups as small as 5 people.