Balancing the scale

As organizations seek to work more efficiently and become more environmentally friendly, it pays to optimize material recovery. Companies looking to do their parts to conserve resources focus on reducing, reusing and recycling their byproducts, including cardboard, plastic, glass, paper and scrap metal. Advanced scales and weighing systems play a critical role in optimizing material recovery within the waste management industry.

By employing the latest technologies and best weighing practices, professionals can work to meet their goals to enhance efficiency in recycling operations, improve how they use resources and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Companies require accurate, calibrated scales to understand the volume of waste and recyclables processed at their facilities. An initial weigh-in is conducted as materials arrive and, after processing, the recycled load is weighed again.

Using modern industrial scale systems enables organizations to obtain precise numbers when selling materials recycled out of the waste stream.

Having those accurate numbers ensures the buyer and seller get a fair deal when selling recycled products.

Types of industrial scales

A variety of industrial scales is available, and each has its own benefits.

Pallet truck scales: When items are already on pallets, a pallet truck scale is often employed in high-capacity weighing operations. These portable scales can be brought directly to the load in question rather than hauling the products to a centrally located scale. The main reason for using portable, high-capacity pallet truck scales is to reduce labor costs and save time by eliminating the need for transporting material to the scales.

Floor and bench scales: Recyclers use bench scales to weigh smaller amounts of material that require a smaller footprint during their recycling processes. A facility typically will set up a floor scale in a centralized location convenient for sorters. Floor scales are suitable for recovering valuable materials, such as in electronic recycling efforts. They can be operated in harsh environments at massive scales.

Axle weigh pads: Axle weigh pads can be used to get precise measurements of vehicles to verify they are not being overloaded. Overloaded trucks can endanger drivers and waste money on fuel. Trucks are driven over the axle weigh pads, where they stop to obtain a static reading. To avoid scheduling full stops during this assessment period, companies sometimes weigh trucks while still in motion.

Chief benefits

Using industrial scales at recycling operations offers a number of benefits.

Avoiding fines: Industrial scales play a role in reducing the total cost of ownership of trucks, from maintenance to repairs to fines. Using rugged industrial scales to work in harsh environments can help prevent overweight vehicle fines. An overloaded vehicle is unsafe to operate and costs more to run because of higher fuel costs. Overloading also can factor into higher repair costs for trucks.

Verifying weights: Using industrial scales allows businesses to avoid accepting unverified weights of materials entering their facilities, which can help eliminate potential lost revenue.

Using calibrated scales that are maintained and repaired regularly, either in-house or by third-party experts, will provide a more accurate sense of the operator’s current inventory.

Quantifying volumes: Manufacturers need large scales to accommodate heavy loads of materials and to keep track of how much material is being generated. For companies selling recovered materials from recycling operations, data from weighing with industrial scales is crucial for estimating the value of these products and better predicting the flow of revenue they create.

Today’s industrial scales integrate with computer systems to gather precise data on the products being processed. The scales connect through a USB and send the results to printers at the scale house.

It’s possible to set up these scales to transfer the measurements straight into a spreadsheet, enabling teams to see how much product they are working with over time. The data from these scales must be accurate to allow buyers and sellers of recycled materials to get fair prices.

Scales by material

Organizations typically sort and separate recyclables to facilitate accurate measurements of these goods. This allows them to learn how much they are processing and to estimate the profits of selling recycled goods in bulk, focusing on paper, metal, glass and plastic.

Paper accounts for a significant percentage of products destined for recycling. Companies rely on accurate scales capable of processing large, heavy loads to count and weigh paper products as they come in.

Operators at recycling facilities sort paper according to grade and measure the results. The paper’s cellulose fibers are then converted into pulp. Knowing the volume of recovered paper helps in sorting it correctly based on its quality and suitability for reuse. Data from weighing the paper provides an idea of how much it will cost to process and how much it can be sold for.

Deploying accurate, well-calibrated and maintained industrial scales can help move glass bottles and other recyclable containers through systems faster for sorting and recycling.

As with other material streams, it pays to have a clear idea of how much glass has been received before processing. Accurate numbers enable companies to estimate the cost of dealing with glass and what they can expect to sell it for.

Addressing scrap metals for recycling typically requires weighing items such as tin cans and aluminum cans. Those in the electronics recycling business will weigh items such as old computers, appliances and mobile devices, as well as the lithium-ion batteries commonly used to power these products.

How much plastic is moving through a facility? Industrial scales provide reliable, accurate measurements of plastic in massive quantities, allowing for quick estimation as to how much time and labor it will take to process these materials.

Boosting efficiency

Using reliable scales is crucial to minimizing waste while keeping companies compliant with legal obligations.

Referring to these weights can help gauge just how effective a company is at minimizing waste and what kind of a job it’s doing at reclaiming valuable material in its recycling processes.

Using modern, advanced scales and associated weighing systems can help improve the recycling of materials by helping organizations meet ambitious goals to work more efficiently. They also play a big role in conserving resources by optimizing material recovery.

As a result, using scales can help companies improve their public image in terms of going green.

Rick Parsons is the director of marketing at Kanawha Scales & Systems Inc., a Poca, West Virginia-based provider of weighing and total industrial control solutions. Learn more at www.kanawhascales.com.