Foxborough has contracted American Waste Services, LLC to collect recycling from more than 3,700 households each week. The recycling trucks are divided into two different compartments: one for commingleds (glass, plastic and metal containers) and one for mixed paper and cardboard.
FCR Recycling of New England
When the truck is full, American Waste Services brings the material to FCR Recycling of New England, a processing plant in Charlestown, MA where the material gets weighed, sorted and baled. About 150 recycling trucks dump material at the facility daily from about 50 communities in the Boston area.
At FCR, the processing of recyclables is assisted by advanced sorting technology. In addition, recyclable processing is labor intensive. To keep costs down, it is important that you properly prepare your recycling!
Types of Recyclables
About 500 tons of paper are processed each day. While the paper and cardboard move along the conveyor belt, electronic eyes and then people separate the material into different "grades" and remove contaminants.
On another conveyor, as the commingled containers flow along, metals are yanked out by overhead magnets and propelled into a holding area. Broken glass and bottle caps shake out and fall onto a lower conveyor for further processing.
The remaining material–plastics, aluminum and milk cartons–are blown around by air jets strategically placed to push and draw light materials over to a manual sorting conveyor. Glass containers travel onto another conveyor where the clear containers are separated from the colored glass.
Finishing
Once everything is thoroughly sorted, the material is baled separately. Huge bales of plastics, metals, paper and cardboard are stacked up in the facility and await loading into export containers, trailers and rail cars for direct shipment to companies that use the material to make new products.
Many of your popular board games are made from recycled paper and cardboard. Soda bottles (PETE) can be made into carpets, tee shirts, stuffing for ski jackets and other soft drink bottles. |
