FCC Environmental opens Dallas MRF

FCC Environmental Services, the U.S. subsidiary of the Madrid-based global environmental services company FCC, has announced the opening of a single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Dallas. 

During the last two weeks of December 2016, the state-of-the-art MRF located on the McCommas Bluff Landfill site in southern Dallas successfully processed more than 1,000 tons of single-stream materials from the city. The performance test, carried out in the presence of city representatives, met and exceeded expectations, according to the company. 

FCC Environmental says it will operate the plant for 15 years, with a possible extension for a further 10 years. 

FCC officially commenced operations at the plant Jan. 2, 2017, receiving single-stream material from the city of Dallas as well as from the city of University Park, Texas, which in November 2016 awarded FCC a five-year service contract for the treatment and marketing of all the city recyclables. 

The turnover volume for the MRF will be $300 million over the course of its lifetime, the company says. It will use the latest sorting and classification techniques, including artificial vision, as well as optical and gravimetric sorting machines. All of the material collected in the single recycling container will be sorted into different categories. It will recycle and give thousands of tons of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metals produced by the citizens of Dallas, back to the market, thereby following the circular economy principles, says FCC.

The contract to build and operate a plant to manage all of the recyclables in the Texas city was awarded to FCC in November 2015. Construction on the MRF began at the start of 2016. The design was based on helping the city to meet goals to increase waste diversion to 40 percent by 2020; 60 percent by 2030; and 80 percent (“zero waste”) by 2040. Processing equipment for the facility was provided by Van Dyk Recycling Solutions (VDRS) of Stamford, Connecticut. 

FCC Group has more than 100 years of experience in environmental services. It currently serves more than 53 million people in 13 countries, with a network of more than 120 recycling facilities and 10 existing waste-to-energy projects with a capacity of more than 2.6 million tons and 300 megawatts of power output.

In recent months, FCC says it has secured several contracts in the U.S., including the municipal solid waste (MSW) collection in Polk County, Florida, and a solid waste collection contract in Orange County, Florida. 

In the U.K., the company has started construction on the Edinburgh & Midlothian Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre, as well as officially opening a waste-to-energy facility in Buckinghamshire.