My Trip to the Pratt MRF

I was able to tour the Pratt MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) in Conyers, Georgia and it honestly blew my mind! Sure, I’ve read a lot about MRFs and watched plenty of videos online that show what happens at these facilities, but seeing it in person is a whole different thing. This visit truly raised my confidence that our recycling is actually getting recycled.

MRFs are where our single-stream recycling materials are brought to be separated and prepared so they may be sold to buyers. These plants consist of numerous machines, conveyor belts, and individuals who sort our recyclables by material type and eliminate contamination (non-recyclable materials). The materials are then baled and sold to be used to make new products.

The Pratt MRF sorts our paper, cardboard, plastics #1 & #2, cartons, and aluminum & steel cans. At the end, I got to see the baled materials that were ready to be sold, and it was quite a sight. Everything was compacted and sorted by material type to be sold to an end user. Here’s me standing on a mountain of ready-to-be-recycled plastic jugs!

And what happens to those items that get sorted out because they can’t be recycled (a.k.a. contamination)? Pratt uses a lot of that waste as fuel for its paper mill right next door. It made me so happy to see that those items aren’t just being sent to a landfill – they’re serving a purpose by powering the paper-making process.

Now, just because my faith has been restored in our recycling system, that does not give anyone here the green light to slack off on proper recycling practices! Things run so much smoother when we don’t have contaminants in our single-stream recycling. The presence of contaminants in our recycling hauls can cause MAJOR problems for MRFs. Most notably, plastic bags, hoses, batteries, and broken glass cause huge issues to the system. Plastic bags and hoses get caught and clog up the sorting equipment, often leading to the equipment needing to be shut down, which costs time and money and cuts down on efficiency. Batteries – particularly lithium batteries – can cause fires and explosions if they’re punctured during processing. And broken glass gets everywhere and also wears the machinery.

Check out this video to see for yourself how the Pratt MRF works.