Let's look at how municipal solid waste is handled at the
Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant.
The refuse of an entire county is deposited in a room with a 16,000 square foot concrete floor (called the "tipping floor") and a ceiling 30 feet high. All municipal solid waste is accepted with the exception of demolition materials, animal carcasses, hazardous products, and yard waste. The waste is sorted on the tipping floor for processing in the following ways:
Garbage trucks enter the tipping room, driving onto a scale.
The driver steps out of the truck and
runs his/her card through a reader, which automatically
subtracts the weight of the empty vehicle
from the total weight on the scale. The resulting figure is the
weight of the refuse. This number
is used to determine the tonnage (or mass flow) of refuse that
must be processed.
Refuse from automobiles is tossed over a concrete wall.
Items such as furniture, rolls of carpeting and mattresses are pulled out for rehandling or landfilling.
Bulky metal items and motorized appliances are separated into a bin and, along with processed metal, are sold to area scrap dealers for recycling.
Lead acid batteries are separated out and taken to a local recycler.
Used motor oil is poured into storage tanks and later collected by a licensed dealer.