Heart of the operation

When a material recovery facility (MRF) operator is in the market for a baler, many factors should be considered. Some are obvious, such as its speed or the weight of the bales it produces, and some are less obvious.

Jeffrey Nella, regional recycling director at Vaughn, Ontario-based GFL Environmental Inc., spoke with Waste Today about the differences between single- and two-ram balers and some of the other factors buyers ought to consider when purchasing a baler.

Waste Today (WT): What are the differences between single-ram and two-ram balers?

Jeffrey Nella (JN): Primarily, on [a] single ram, you’re going to have an advantage with speed. You’re also going to be able to make a variable-length bale, which helps when you have to make several bale grades and change grades frequently. You gain the ability to finish off a commodity with a little longer bale or a little smaller bale if you’re short of material.

A two-ram is like … a Swiss army knife—you can do all MRF grades with a single machine and not be concerned about making weights. A single ram is a little bit more of a specialized machine, but they have become more flexible.

Historically you avoided baling plastics in a single ram because it was difficult to make bales dense enough to make weight, but they have gotten better in recent years, so that has become less of a concern.

WT: Are there any other advantages of two-ram balers?

JN: The tie system is outside of the chamber, where you are. Single-ram tying is still within the mechanism inside of the … extrusion platform. With the two ram, it is easier to add more wire to hold difficult grades with a lot of memory and also vary your wire pattern to fit grades as well. Additionally, in sites where trash and residue are baled, a two-ram tie system is preferred.

WT: What are the pros and cons to using plastic versus metal wire for baling?

JN: The disadvantage … of the plastic is that it’s slightly slower to throw a strap. It’s fractions of a second, but over time that does add up.

The other thing is that some paper mills don’t want to see anything but wire because wire is easy to remove (usually with magnets at the beginning of their process).

So, getting your end users to accept the plastic strap is a little bit of a challenge. It hasn’t proved impossible, but it’s just something that needs to be addressed before you make that switch.

I can tell you that the plastic’s probably 50 percent of the cost of the wire.

To your question about baled trash to the landfill—neither plastic nor wire really break down, so there’s no environmental advantage to trash bales being strapped with plastic.

WT: How much of a difference do commodities make? Does one handle different commodities better than the other?

JN: Because of the method of compaction and fitting [material] into a finite chamber for a two-ram, you’re going to generally get better overall density and better weight, specifically with materials that have memory, like PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or any of the plastics. So, the two-ram has historically been the preferred method in most MRFs where they’re baling plastics.

Paper products, specifically cardboard, are the overall volume driver in most facilities. The preference a lot of times is to work with a single ram just for speed. Over the last several years, the single rams have started to improve their technology, and they’re getting better densities to the point where you can make weight in the truck, but it’s still a little bit of a struggle.

WT: What are the most important factors to consider when choosing a baler?

JN: Can I afford one of each? Do I have space? What flexibility do I have in my bale storage? What sort of bale schedule do I need with the mix of material that I need to run?

Bale storage is also something to consider. If I choose weight over speed, I can better utilize limited bale storage. I also lower wire usage per ton and have to load fewer bales in a container or on a truck to make weight.

There are a lot of site specific and operationally specific factors to consider when making the investment in a baler—all should be considered and thought through to be confident in your eventual decision.

WT: When choosing a baler, how big of a factor is storage space and the mode and frequency of transporting bales to their final destinations?

JN: It’s everything, right? I mean, how many loading docks do you have? Do you have a train? Do you have a rail spur? Are you loading intermodals? Are you doing 53-foot vans? Are you doing sea containers? Where are you going?

Sea containers get loaded with 54,000 pounds traditionally, whereas a 53-foot van truck is going to get loaded with 44,000 pounds.

You want to be as efficient as you can with transportation. You start looking at what you’re doing and how fast you can go.

You really just have to look at where you’re located. Do I have access to a seaport? Do I have access to a rail spur? Am I looking at over-the-road transportation with 53-foot vans? All of that plays into what [baler] you want.

Certain balers make a specific bale size, which allows you to get one more row and max out of the weight in a rail car. If you have rail spurs, you would want to look at a baler that’s specifically designed to make bales that optimize the loading of a rail car.

If you’re going [to load] a sea container with fiber, you may really like to go with a single ram because you can customize the length of your bale to maximize the cube-out.

Jeffrey Nella is regional recycling director, U.S. North, for GFL Environmental Inc., headquartered in Vaughn, Ontario.