The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County have selected Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) to design, manufacture and install a new materials recovery system at the districts’ Puente Hills Materials Recovery Facility. The system will process both commercial and residential streams—including dry commercial waste, commercial municipal solid waste (MSW), multifamily MSW and single stream recyclables—and increase the districts’ processing capacity to 600 tons per day (tpd).

The system provides the flexibility to process various input streams. The equipment is highlighted by the inclusion of a Max-AI Autonomous QC (AQC) in a quality control role on the PET that is recovered by the system’s NRT SpydIR-T optical sorter. Max-AI is an artificial intelligence developed with deep learning neural network technology, and is able to recognize materials similar to the way a person does. Max targets non-PET items, including non-California Refund Value PET, which the AQC’s robotic sorter removes at levels that consistently outperform manual sorting. The demand to increase the quality of fiber will be addressed through optical sorting technology, including a NRT FiberPure optical sorter that recovers clean mixed paper. Another FiberPure optical sorter recovers the smaller and increasingly prevalent cardboard in the system.

The latest AI, robotic and fiber optical technologies add to BHS’ mixed waste recovery capabilities. The process includes BHS metering and bag opening technologies, Tri-Disc screens, Nihot air density classification and NRT In-Flight Sorting optical technology. The Puente Hills MRF design includes the built in flexibility to run several material types on the same line, from dry single stream to organics-rich MSW and features the technology mix that has proven to deliver high rates of throughput, recovery and uptime.

“The BHS system will cost-effectively improve our recycling efforts, which will help our member cities meet recycling requirements,” Habib Kharrat, supervising engineer for the districts, said in a statement. “We wanted a system to increase recovery from both mixed-waste and single streams by capturing a high percentage of the available recyclables using state-of-the-art technology.”

The Puente Hills MRF assists the metropolitan area in meeting its waste diversion requirements under California law. It is permitted to accept a maximum of 4,400 tpd and a maximum of 24,000 tons per week of waste. The PHMRF is permitted to receive, process and transfer waste and recyclable materials 24 hours per day, Monday through Saturday. Currently, however, the PHMRF only receives waste from 4:00am to 5:00pm on Monday through Saturday and operates 24 hours per day, Monday through Saturday.