Atlantic Coast Recycling opens region’s largest combined single-stream, dual-stream MRF

Atlantic Coast Recycling, headquartered in Passaic, New Jersey, opened its new combined single-stream and dual-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Passaic this April following a yearlong redevelopment and construction process.

Chief Operating Officer Christian Morgan says the MRF’s processing system has experienced an uptime rate of approximately 90 percent since its startup in April, with excellent commodity quality that consistently exceeds mill specifications.

The investment was made possible with a $47 million capital commitment led by B. Riley Financial Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles, and other strategic investors.

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Coast Recycling

The 125,000-square-foot MRF is sorting and baling more than 16,000 tons of residential and commercial recyclables monthly, producing high-quality paper, plastic and metal grades for domestic and international manufacturers and mills. It recovers old corrugated cardboard, mixed paper, news, multiple commercial fiber grades, natural and mixed-color high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), other plastics, steel, tin and aluminum.

The plant features equipment supplied by Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, Norwalk, Connecticut, including eight Tomra optical sorters equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) that are used to recover paper and plastics, Morgan says.

The system also uses a trommel and shaker screens as well as ballistic separators.

The new, technologically advanced system has allowed the MRF to cut the number of sorters on the line in half, he adds.

Atlantic Coast Recycling serves hundreds of commercial accounts in the New York metropolitan area and more than 80 municipalities primarily in northern New Jersey, a population that exceeds 1 million people.