As a subcontractor to EA Engineering, Science, and Technology Inc., GBB performed a System Review and Recommendations Project for the Baltimore County Central Acceptance Facility (CAF) Comprehensive Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

MRF Inspection

As an initial task, the GBB Project Team expanded on and revised an on-site inspection it had conducted six years prior to the CAF MRF, including a review of operational and maintenance procedures. As such, the team:

• Compared the current facility with previous observations to see implemented changes and how the remaining equipment fared over time.
• Reviewed possible funding opportunities for additional specialized equipment
• Reviewed bale data to identify trends over time

Waste Characterization Study

The GBB project team then conducted a comprehensive, statistically robust 5-day waste characterization study at the CAF facility, collecting samples from individual routes throughout the week and sorting samples from the residue line and bales.

The team took a similar approach described in the MSW sorting protocol ASTM D5231 to ensure proper sample size and randomness and sorted/studied 8 samples per day (5 from incoming route trucks, 2 from bales, and 1 from residue) across 33 material categories spanning most materials of interest.

MRF Benchmarking

Part of the project included benchmarking the Baltimore County MRF against three other similar facilities to include information and data, gathered through in-depth research and interviews, on:

• Annual Tonnage
• Average Daily or Monthly Tonnage
• Tip Floor Size
• Total Building Size
• Throughput
• Commodities Recovered
• Residue
• Information on composition and recovery stats
• Methods of commodity sales
• Facility and equipment age
• Future plans

Analysis and Recommendations

A report was prepared, summarizing the inspection and waste characterization study; analyzing the options of retrofitting or completely rebuilding the MRF at the current location was developed.