Understanding the Different Types of Recycling Plants
Due to an increase in environmental awareness, recycling has become more popular in recent years. Recycling plants are facilities where recyclable materials are processed into new products or raw materials. Recently we have seen an increase in recycling businesses choosing to specialize in specific commodities in order to improve their recycling processes and technologies.
There are three different types of recycling plants:
Material recovery facilities (MRFs)
These types of plants focus on sorting recyclable materials by type and preparing them for sale to manufacturers. MRFs typically process mixed recyclables, which are sorted by workers into different commodity types. Common commodities being recycled in mixed recycling facilities include scrap metal, paper & cardboard, plastics, and glass.
Commodity processing facilities (CPFs)
These plants purchase sorted, single-stream recyclables and further process them into new commodities. For example, a CPF might turn sorted aluminum cans into ingots, which can be sold to companies that make aluminum products.
Waste-to-energy facilities (WTEs)
WTEs burn municipal solid waste (MSW) to generate electricity. MSW typically contains a high percentage of organic material, which makes it difficult to recycle. However, some WTEs are able to recover metals from the ash residue left after combustion.
Specialist Recyclers
Specialist recyclers are businesses that focus on recycling a specific type of material, such as electronics or textiles. These businesses often have their own specialized facilities and processes for recycling their chosen commodity with more efficiency than mixed recycling facilities.
Examples of Speciality Recycling Facilities include:
How WeighPay's Hybrid Cloud Software Helps Recycling Companies
WeighPay's Hybrid Cloud Software enables recycling companies to manage their businesses more efficiently by providing them with tools to track inventory, process recycled materials, and generate reports.
Inventory Management
The Inventory Management tool allows businesses to track the quantity of materials they have in stock, as well as the cost of those materials. This information is valuable in helping businesses to make decisions about purchasing new materials, as well as pricing the recycled materials they sell.
Processing Materials
The Processing Materials tool helps businesses to keep track of the different types of materials they are processing and the costs associated with each type of material. This information is valuable in ensuring that businesses are processing materials efficiently and accurately.
Point of Purchase
The Point of Purchase and Sales tool allows businesses to track sales and purchases made by customers and suppliers. This information is valuable in helping businesses to understand customer behavior and make decisions about pricing and marketing.
Hardware Integrations
WeighPay integrates to your recycling facilities' hardware including scales, scanners, ATMs and cameras. This can help to streamline the collection of images and data and increase transaction speed at the point of purchase.
Interested in Learning More About WeighPay?
If you are interested in learning more about WeighPay and how our software can help your recycling business, please contact us today. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have and provide you with a demo of our software. Thanks for reading!
