Phoenix MRF reopens

The Phoenix Public Works Department has reopened the 27th Avenue Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), operated by Austin, Texas-based Balcones Recycling, after a four-year renovation process to modernize its sorting equipment.

“This is a major investment in sustainability,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego says. “This beautiful facility will help make sure that we can recycle more of what you put in your blue bin and that we can make a higher profit from selling those items because they’ll be able to be reused more efficiently.”

Phoenix Public Works says the new machinery will increase sorting accuracy and decrease material contamination, which will make the resulting bales of cardboard, paper, plastics and aluminum more valuable to buyers who remanufacture the materials into new products. The facility processes approximately 30 tons of material per hour.

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“Our state-of-the-art MRF features a front-end trommel, two ballistic separators, a sorting robot—we actually have a robot—and 11 optical sorters,” Assistant Public Works Director Lorizelda Stoeller says. “This upgraded machinery significantly increases our recovery compared to the previous system. It’s our city’s commitment to critical infrastructure to ensure that we can provide MRF operations for a growing city.”

Housed within Phoenix’s 27th Avenue Transfer Station, the MRF originally opened in 1998 and began processing recyclables. By 2000, the curbside collection of recyclables had expanded citywide, which led to the need for a second MRF, and the North Gateway Transfer Station (NGTS) and MRF began operating in 2006.

In 2011, the 27th Avenue MRF was retrofitted with new equipment after 13 years of operation. Then, in 2020, the MRF at NGTS also got a retrofit.

In 2021, the 27th Avenue MRF closed for a complete rebuild. During the four-year renovation, all residential recyclables were processed at the North Gateway MRF. The reconstruction involved the assembly and installation of Machinex equipment in the same footprint of the 27th Avenue facility space.