Community Recycling Centers
Community recycling centers are popping up all over the country. They provide a convenient and sound solution for those who wish to keep valuable recyclables out of the waste stream. Most of these centers allow for 24/7 drop off of acceptable materials. However, these vital centers offer more than just the opportunity to lessen the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill.
Many of them provide additional educational opportunities, services, and resources that lead to better overall sustainability. They also provide local employment and give back to their greater communities and schools. Many community recycling centers also receive state level recognition and funding in the form of grant awards for their contributions to the environment.
A Progressive Recycling Center At Work In Kentucky
Community Recycling Center in Morehead, KY. (photo attribution MCRC)
One example of these progressive modern recycling centers is the Community Recycling Center in Morehead, KY. The Community Recycling Center, or MCRC, was reformed in 2000 as an “Interlocal Agreement” between Rowan County, the City of Morehead, and Morehead State University. Their mission is to “offer recycling services to the community in an effort to return usable materials to the marketplace and to lessen the amount of waste buried in our landfill.”
MCRC accepts on-site drop-offs on a 24/7 basis, as well as an additional large trailer that moves to various locations throughout their community on different days of the week. Patrons can bring in a wide range of materials, including cardboard, packaging folders, ink and toner cartridges, plastic bottles, grocery bags, clear shrink wrap, computers, printers, fax machines, DVD’s, CD’s, floppy disks, video tapes, phones, cell phones, newspaper, books, shredded paper, junk mail, tin cans, and aluminum.
More Than Just Recycling
MCRC offers more than just recycling. They also provide many free services, including:
- Information on buying recycled products
- Information for local businesses and households on reducing solid waste
- Tours of the MCRC, showing the process, environmental education and native/natural landscaping techniques
- Presentations to schools and civic groups
MCRC’s paid services include:
- Shredding of documents
- Collection services for businesses within Morehead City limits
- Residential curbside pickup in certain areas of Rowan County
Their website also provides helpful resources and links to other local, state, and federal offices related to solid waste and agricultural management.
How do they do it?
Operating a large scale community recycling center is no easy task. MCRC uses a large facility and the most modern and efficient recycling equipment on the market today. Their high volume processes require efficiency and durability to keep up.
Harmony’s T60XDRC with Rear Conveyor arriving at MCRC this January! (photo attribution MCRC)
Recently, MCRC purchased a Harmony Enterprises T60XDRC Automatic Baler with a 48″ Conveyor to help them meet the increased demands of their recycling business. The Ten-Sixty replaces the need for a high cost, bulky, and space consuming horizontal baler. This unique recycling center baler features a 10” bore hydraulic cylinder with twin torque tubes, standard retractable bale dogs, and eight slots to band or tie-off the bale.
Harmony’s T60XDRC doesn’t require any material preconditioning and cycles automatically as the conveyor loads the material into the baler. The dense bales produced are mill-sized and are ejected smoothly with dual hydraulic ejectors.
Harmony’s innovative T60 solution has quickly become the choice of community recycling centers when it comes to large capacity automatic balers. With an immediate ROI and long life expectancy, its easy to understand why.
MCRC plans to incorporate the new baler into use as a #1 and #2 post consumer plastic, aluminum and steel cans, and OCC baler. Depending on the day and flow, the machine will have several uses within their facility.
Although they expect the total savings to be noteworthy, the Harmony T60XDRC is substantially safer than their current operation.
“We chose to go with the automated baling system from Harmony because of recommendation and quality performance. After witnessing the performance of these machines in another local facility in Maysville, Kentucky, it was no doubt that we need the machine in our fleet. After comparing prices, performance, and quality, MCRC chose to go with Harmony on our automated baling needs. We look forward to working with the new machine and hopefully in the future expanding our operations with more automated balers to maintain and keep a competitive advantage in the post consumer recycling environment.”
-Collin Alexander
Manager, Community Recycling
Morehead, Kentucky
Community Recycling Centers Are Grant Eligible
Although Harmony Enterprises manufactures quality recycling equipment at an affordable price, community recycling centers are consistently looking for ways to reduce their capital expenses related to balers and compactors.
MCRC’s T60XDRC set up and ready for operation in Morehead, KY. (photo attribution MCRC)
Many people don’t realize that recycling centers are often eligible for local and state level grant money, set aside for community and civic organizations that demonstrate action geared toward sustainability and environmental stewardship. These grants are often allocated and governed by state energy departments or environmental cabinets.
MCRC was recently awarded the KY Pride Fund Grant that allowed them to purchase their Harmony Autofeed Baling System. You can get to know more about similar opportunities in your area by conducting a simple online search using keywords of “grant opportunities for recycling.”
Get To Know Your Local Recycling Center
Harmony Enterprises recognizes MCRC for their innovative spirit and vision for a greener Earth. We encourage everyone to get to know their local recycling center and how they can help you with recycling and greater sustainability.
Harmony Enterprises manufactures balers, compactors, and beverage extraction equipment for satisfied customers and recycling centers all over the world. If you would like to learn more about quality products and how we provide the Lowest Total Cost of Ownership with our True Partnership Approach, please Contact Us, or call us at 507-866-6666, today!
