The Glass Recycling Coalition (GRC) has named Murphy Road Recycling as a recipient of a gold-level certification for its U.S. material recovery facility (MRF) in Berlin, Connecticut. The approximately $40 million single-stream MRF started operations in 2022 and features a processing system that includes optical sorters, artificial intelligence, and robotics supplied by Van Dyk Recycling Solutions.
The MRF utilizes glass cleaning equipment including a glass breaker, vibrating table screen, secondary fines screen, and vacuum system. The MRF sends its clean glass to processors that convert the material into a cullet used for manufacturing glass containers, fine powders that are used in fiberglass insulation, and ground glass used as pozzolan (a cement binder).
The free certification program offered by the GRC recognizes MRFs with additional equipment and operational procedures to clean up glass in both single- and dual-stream systems that produce higher-quality and marketable glass.
Murphy Road Recycling is continuing to improve the technologically advanced facility and plans to add a magnet to remove additional metals and install a paper removal system to further clean the glass stream.
The GRC MRF Glass Certification program launched in the fall of 2019. In 2022, the glass certification criteria were updated to prioritize end-market consistency and more thorough glass cleaning prior to beneficiation. Eligible applications are judged on their current MRF infrastructure and the results of a glass purity test that is aligned with ISRIs Three-Mix Specification. An independent committee scores applications and awards MRFs with either gold, silver, or bronze certification.
