Solid Waste: Material recovery facilities (MRF)

Material recovery facilities (MRF)

MRF  (pronounced  'murf')  is  a  centralised  facility  that  receives,  separates,  processes  and markets recyclable material. It can be operated with both drop off and curbside programmes.

The primary advantage of MRF is that it allows materials  directly  from  the municipalities  and processes   them   uniformly.   It  is  generally  designed  to  handle  all  type  of  recyclables.

Implementation of MRF in a municipality depends upon a number of factors as follows:

Market  demand:  When  additional  processing  is  required,  MRF is  more useful as buyers may have certain material specifications.

Separate  collection:  In  systems  that  require  residents  to  separate their recyclables, intermediate separation and proc essing is required.

Number of different recyclables: In general, a MRF will be more benefi cial when a large number of different recyclables  are collected.

Quantities  of  materials:  Because  MRF  involves  substantial  capital  and operating costs (e.g., buildings, equipment and l abour), it is expected to handle a significant am ount of materials to justify its operation.

Motion time measurement (MTM) technique

MTM also helps  i n deciding  the best  combination  of equipmen

Motion time measurement (MTM) studies are now an integral part of the standard procedure in the development of solid waste collection systems. MTM is a tech and estimate the movement of the collection crew with the help of stopwatches. Sophisticated  MTM studies  involve  hidden  or  open  video  cameras  at  different collection  stops  to  record,  replay  and  study the  operation  sequence  of  the collection  crew.

If the crew is conscious  of being observed, they tend to work faster and reduce time wastage in unauthorised salvaging and other non- scheduled activities. Once the crew is familiar with the person(s) observing them, it begins to perform more credibly. In studies involving video cameras, therefore, the first two or three hours of observation are often neglected.