North Carolina county looks to boost C&D recovery efforts

The board of commissioners for New Hanover County, North Carolina, have voted in favor of issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for equipment that would allow the county to increase the amount of construction and demolition debris it can recycle.

Joe Suleyman, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Management, says the county has been pulling out around 6,000 tons of C&D material for the past decade in a labor-intensive method. Materials being recovered include pallets and lumber, asphalt shingles, carpet, sheetrock, metals and old corrugated containers. Local markets exist for all the material the county is recovering.

A recent waste audit has found that  an estimated 60,000 tons of C&D debris are delivered to the county landfill every year   roughly one-third of all the material that is delivered to the facility.

The county has ready end markets for the C&D material that will be extracted after the new processing equipment is installed, Suleyman says. Additionally, he points out, pulling out more C&D will extend the life of the county’s landfill.

Following the county’s Board of Commissioners voting 4-1 in favor of issuing the RFP, Suleyman says the county hopes to have the winning bid by the end of April, with the new system operational before the end of the year.

A key reason for putting in equipment at the landfill is to extend the life. “We need to preserve the landfill as long as possible,” Suleyman says. “For every five years of operation, the site will gain 1.3 years of site life.”

The system being considered includes a primary sorting system that could be expanded to take in additional materials; a feed hopper; a screen with a 11/2 to 2-inch opening; a take-off conveyor; four picking stations; a sorting platform with a canopy; and a discharge conveyor.

The installation is estimated at $1.52 million—an amount already budgeted in the county’s annual fiscal plan.

Suleyman adds that if the expanded processing facility is a success, the county could expand the operations to pull in materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping, film plastic and vinyl sidings.