Sparta and General Kinematics join forces on Wisconsin C&D recycling system

Dane County expanded and transformed its transfer station into a what has been described as a state-of-the-art construction and demolition (C&D) recycling facility. To provide the engineering, design, manufacturing, integration, installation, and start-up of their turnkey C&D recycling system, Dane County tapped Notre-Dame, New Brunswick-based Sparta Manufacturing, a leading North American supplier of recycling systems for the C&D recycling industry.

In what has been described as an innovative public/private partnership, Dane Country contracted with Landfill Reduction and Recycling Inc. (LRRI), an experienced Wisconsin-based C&D waste management recycling company, to operate the county’s C&D MRF for the next ten years.

As Sparta Manufacturing is first and foremost a system integrator, regularly integrating equipment that they either do not build or which customers like LRRI already utilize elsewhere, Sparta was able to integrate into its Dane County system, General Kinematics’ (GK’s) Finger-Screen and De-stoner air classifier/density separator. Based and manufactured in Crystal Lake, Illinois, this GK advanced vibratory technology equipment is designed to reliably screen and separate the commodities for this C&D processing system.

This synergistic relationship suited all parties involved, and played to the strengths and interests of Sparta and General Kinematics alike, says Howard Fiedler, North American sales manager for Sparta. “The Sparta team likes doing the system-wide engineering; manufacturing all of the conveyors, sort lines, platforms and steelworks package; and installing the system with our own crews. And GK is happy when its Finger-Screens and De-stoners are at the heart of the system.”

This dual-line Sparta recycling system was sized and configured to optimize Dane County’s building configuration/traffic flow, and to maximize product recovery from its up to 350 tons per day of C&D waste. It was designed to capture, through a combination of mechanized equipment and labor, the following products: clean wood, mixed aggregates, metals, cardboard, shingles and fines (alternate daily cover).

By splitting the flows onto 2 main (A & B) processing lines, sorters on the overs ’A Line’ are designed to efficiently pick the desired commodities. Special tipping hoppers are provided behind select sorters on the tip floor side of the sort line, for sorters to additionally pick small volume/valuable commodities like copper, wire, aluminum, stainless steel, etc.

And this allows the ’B’ line to mechanically process the middles fraction, through a combination of mechanical processes, including an in-line magnet to remove ferrous metals; GK finger-screen to remove fines; and GK de-stoner air classifier to help capture mixed aggregates. Sorters after the Air Classifier pick desired recyclables from the “lights”, and a quality control/sorter removes the miscellaneous nonaggregate “heavies” so that clean aggregates directly convey into the aggregates bunker.

Sparta supplied a PLC-based electrical control panel with an Allen Bradley 15-inch HMI (touch-screen) display. This centralized computer touch-screen interface is remotely located in an operator tower, allowing the operator to see the whole system while operating it. Sparta technicians are able to remotely connect (via an Ethernet connection) to the system’s control panel to help trouble-shoot the system.