The City Council could soon be considering a grant application that, if approved, would give the recycling operation greater capacity with fewer workers.
David Koonce, director of Public Works, told a council committee recently that installing a fiber screen would speed up processing of materials because with separates bulkier items from paper and lighter materials.
“Places that have fiber screens, it gave them the ability to process more with major separation at the front end,” he said. “It’s a huge, simple step. We are trying to become more efficient.”
The fiber screen shakes materials, creating separation based of the weight of items, he said.
“With the recycling carts, volume has increased,” Koonce said. The citywide curbside recycling participation is about 70 percent, he said.
The recycling center presently separates about a ton of materials per hour, Koonce said. With the fiber screen, the rate would go to five tons per hour, he said.
The grant application would be to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which has helped Florence pay for several recycling program upgrades.
Koonce said the department still has part of a grant from the current year it has not spent that could be applied toward the purchase of the fiber screen. Combing that amount with the new grant would give the department $205,000, and another $237,000 would be taken from the Solid Waste Fund.
The council’s Finance Committee voted to send the application request to the full council.
Mayor Steve Holt said increasing capacity presents an opportunity to take in materials from other areas, which could get the recycling program closer to breaking even.
“You make money on volume,” he said. “This would quadruple the volume with less people.”
Koonce said Anderson is considering a recycling program that would add materials to the Florence recycling center, and some material comes in from trailers stationed around the county. But there are no immediate plans to accept materials from other areas, he said.
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