Republic Services’ Seattle MRF receives top glass recycling certification
The Seattle material recovery facility received recognition for its clean, high-value recycled glass
The Glass Recycling Foundation (GRF) shared that the Republic Services' Seattle Recycling Center has been awarded Gold Certification. The facility has qualified for gold status due to its robust glass clean-up system.
Republic Services' Seattle MRF
Republic Services' Seattle facility began operations in 1989 and currently processes 200 thousand tons of material per year, serving residential and commercial customers across Seattle, the greater Puget Sound, and distant communities in Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. The facility utilizes a glass breaker, vibrating table screen, an air separator, secondary fines screen, vacuum system, magnets/eddy current system, and lights removal equipment to sort incoming glass bottles and jars into a clean, marketable material stream. The clean glass is sent to a beneficiation facility, where it is further sorted and cleaned to produce glass cullet used for manufacturing new bottles, fibreglass, and other products.
GRF MRF Glass Certification program
The free certification program offered by the GRF recognizes material recovery facilities (MRFs) that utilize additional equipment and operational procedures to clean up glass in both single- and dual-stream systems, resulting in the production of higher-quality, marketable glass.
The GRF MRF Glass Certification program was originally launched by the Glass Recycling Coalition 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 ISRI's Three-Mix Specification. An independent committee scores blind applications and awards MRFs with either gold, silver, or bronze certification. MRFs holding this certification will have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
"At Republic Services, we're committed to partnering with customers to create a more sustainable world," said Michael Alvarez, Republic Services general manager. "By keeping valuable materials like glass in the circular economy for the long-term, we're preserving natural resources, supporting a circular economy, and helping Seattle-area residents and businesses meet their diversion goals."
"Republic Services' Seattle Recycling Center is the first facility in Washington state to receive glass certification," says David Marcouiller, executive vice-president of sales engineering at Machinex and a member of the Glass Recycling Foundation's MRF Certification Committee. "We congratulate Republic on their leadership and dedication to recycling glass and hope they serve as an inspiration to other MRFs to improve their glass recycling processes and increase the amount of glass recycled into new products."
