BHS Systems win gold and silver excellence awards from SWANA
Zanker Recycling and Athens Services honoured by Solid Waste Association of North America
The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) has announced the 2016 winners of the association’s annual Excellence Awards. San Jose, California-based Zanker Recycling was awarded the Recycling System Gold Award, the top honor, for its Demolition Recycling Operation. Silver was awarded to California-based Athens Services’ Sun Valley Mixed Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Both systems were designed, engineered, manufactured and installed by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS).
According to SWANA, the “Excellence Awards Program recognizes outstanding solid waste programs and facilities with environmentally and economically sound solid waste management practices. Award winners represent the most innovative and dynamic organizations throughout North America as judged by their peers.” SWANA Executive Director and CEO David Biderman said, “The recipients of the SWANA Excellence Awards represent the best solid waste management practices in North America today.”
Zanker Recycling’s 60 tons per hour (tph) Demolition Debris MRF processes a challenging type of material known as Interior Demolition, comprised of only 60 percent wood waste. To best serve its customers’ LEED goals and the State’s diversion goals, Zanker Recycling decided that a highly-automated process was needed to efficiently and effectively recover this material stream. Precise sizing with BHS Debris Roll Screens® provides two consistently sized infeed streams to a total of four Nihot Single Drum Separators. The size fractions allow Nihot’s air classification technology to remove rock and then wood. The advanced system has helped Zanker Recycling increase its recycling rate to 86 percent.
Athens Services’ Sun Valley MRF processes more than 70 tph of mixed commercial and multifamily waste. The system features BHS screen, Nihot air and NRT optical technology to recover more than 95 percent of available recyclables. Technology is in place to maximize the purity of end products, including NRT optical sorters to target fiber and plastic commodities. Athens Services operates in excess of 98% uptime, unmatched in a mixed material environment. According to the company, “With exceptional personnel, cross training and a deep understanding of our waste and equipment, the Sun Valley MRF produces commodities that surpass many Single Stream MRFs.”
“SWANA’s core purpose relates to management of solid waste as a resource,” said BHS Director of Sales Ted Pierpont. “It’s fitting then that they recognize Zanker Recycling and Athens Services, two companies that thoughtfully conceptualize resource recovery applied at a grand scale to diverse material streams. Combining their visions and BHS solutions, we were able to deliver noteworthy projects that positively impact resource management.”
