2:30
Why not just incinerate all of our garbage would that be a great energy source?
Well, it turns out that we do get
about one half of one percent of our energy in the United States from that.
Half of the quan comes from burning municipal waste.
Municipal waste incineration.
And for some time, this was a growing filed.
Wow, we the garbage anyway.
Let's get energy out of it.
Then people started notice saying that the things people put in
garbage are probably not some of the best things you want to burn.
3:15
And, of course, once it creates air pollution, that then becomes a problem for
the rest of us.
So of course the government steps in and says, hey, clean air act.
Stuff coming out of your smoke stacks.
You can't have this content.
You can't put these things in.
You can't have these carcinogens.
We've got to cut down on it.
4:02
Part of the reason for
that is there are much better things to do with the waste than just burn it.
Those places that needed to honor the clean air act and
not shut down did so predominantly by having sorting systems.
It's very hard to convince the consumers that you don't throw
everything into one garbage can.
I've been in Japan.
People there do it much, much better.
They have little different color bags,
from a different sortable commodities, makes it recycling much easier.
And certainly in the US there's still many beans that sort recyclings.
And that's great.
If you're going to end up burning it all you can't just trust that everyone put
the right thing in the right bean.
8:06
Let's go to our trash sorting station here at the University of Illinois, and
see how they do it.
[NOISE] Here we are at the waste transfer station
at the University of Illinois, with my friend, and
the director of this facility, Tracy Osby.
>> Okay, here at the waste transfer station, we're standing at South bay.
And this is where the process starts for our sorting.
We have the Zskipster that come and actually push the trash, and
the recycle items onto the in feed belt.
And from the in feed belt, it goes up the line through the sorting belt.
>> So all the trash of the university, gets dumped here on your doorstep,
correct?
>> Pretty much. 95% of it.
>> 95% of the trash in the university.
But then I noticed there's like this desk.
There's some things you just pull out because they can be recycled
in a different manner?
>> Yes, such as the copper that you see that's right there to your left there.
>> Okay.
>> A lot of the wooden tools, such as we have a snow shovel, an actual fence.
>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Rake.
We have those items that we pull out of here, so.
>> Okay, okay.
9:28
Now on campus, there's also things that are marked recycling,
like cans here, and bottles here.
Does that just get dumped in here too?
Containers, yep, containers they are actually emptied in here as well.
What happens inside those containers, those items are actually,
they're actually placed in a blue recycle bag, and I don't see any-
>> I see a couple blue.
>> This one right here, here's one right here.
You see that blue recycle bag there?
That bag there, it lets us know, automatic,
that it's actually recycled materials inside of that bag.
>> Okay. >> So that bag there,
it's what's placed inside, like the pop bottle and
a can container, >> Uh-huh.
>> Placed inside it. So we know exactly that's recycle.
>> Go it.
>> Yep, we know off the top, that's recycle.
>> Okay.
So I shouldn't feel too bad if I take my aluminum can, and
just throw it in any trash bin Because chances are it's going to come here and
get pulled out anyway.
>> Yes it will come here and probably get pulled out anyway,
but we have special bins for those, that would like for everyone to place it,
and to recycle in bulk makes it easier.
>> That's right, to make his job, and the people working for
him easier, put your cans and bottles in the proper containers.
>> Yes, makes it easier.
>> [LAUGH] >> All right, so here we are.
The trash comes up through this line.
Now, tell me what happens to it next.
>> This is actually the sorting line,
and we have our staff, the DSC staff which is Developmental Service Center.
They would actually go through and sort that all of our recyclable items.
Such as the paper, the cardboard, the aluminum can, and the plastics.
>> Okay. >> We will get those items sorted
out here, and
they will drop down in the chutes that are pretty much underneath us, okay?
>> So I see some, there's a plastic bottle.
Okay, so that goes in the plastic bin.
>> Yes. >> And there's another plastic.
The one person.
This guy is doing plastic.
Someone else picks out the cans.
Is that how it works?
>> Well you also have plastic that's being done on that side over there, and
he's actually doing aluminum cans as well.
>> And he's doing cans there.
>> Yeah. >> I see.
>> The first two guys at the front here, they're picking out your cardboard.
They're getting whatever plastics they can as well.
>> Okay so down here, you can see ah-ha, we're getting the cardboard,
we're getting the paper.
>> Yes.
11:41
>> Yeah, man, there's lots of paper in there, right?
>> Yeah. >> So that's all going to get picked out,
and thrown in the right bin too?
>> Right. The paper get picked out.
It goes down that way, but right now he's grabbing more of the cardboard,
which is going underneath the bottom here.
>> Now I see some glass going through.
What do you guys do with glass?
>> Glass is not a high commodity item that we recycle here on the campus.
>> Yeah. >> We don't get
a lot of glass on this campus.
The most glass we get is pretty much during possibly tailgating season.
>> Right.
Glass bottles, right?
>> Right. A lot of glass, and beer bottles, and
things of that nature.
But for the most part, we don't get a lot of glass on this campus.
All the vending machines, and things of that nature, pretty much plastic bottles.
>> Right.
And also the economics of glass,
I don't really think that you get any benefit from recycling it, right?
You can make it out of sand just as easily as that.
>> Well you can get it, it's not much of a lot of benefit to it.
But at the same time, it would divert it from going to the landfill.
And that's the whole program,
is to divert everything from going to the landfill as much as we can.
>> Okay. >> Yeah.
12:37
>> So, what you're seeing,
is that the stuff that has already been sorted, is now getting compacted.
Because it's all about the economics and transportation.
And if you can transport this stuff when it's all compressed,
you got less transport costs, right?
>> Exactly.
What you're seeing here pretty much, are in these clear liners that's down here
within this bay, which is this is the North bay.
These items are coming from dining or housing.
13:05
They pre-sort.
>> Okay. >> So at their facility, what they have,
is they have a container for cardboard.
>> Mm-hm. >> And they have extra containers for
their plastic, aluminum cans, and paper.
>> Okay.
>> So we pick those up on an actual routine schedule that we pick up from
dining services, so to speak.
>> So this is almost all just the food waste
trash stuff- >> Excatly.
>> That you can't recycle anyway.
>> Exactly. What's coming out of the compactor.
This is pretty much what's coming through.
All the plastic bottles and aluminum cans that we pick up from housing areas, and
all the housing facilities.
They're already pre-sorted.
>> Okay. >> They're pre-sorted in 90 gallon totes.
>> Great. >> So we pick those items up, and
those items are brought here to the waste transfer station, and
emptied into the South bay.
>> Right. >> Where it goes through the sorting line.
But we don't want to send food material.
>> No. >> Food products,
through the actual sorting line.
>> Makes sense.
>> Yeah.
>> So the line's above us, and the stuff falls through here,
and i see this is the paper.
Are there different kinds of paper that you worry about?
>> Well no. The paper is pretty much okay with this,
except for probably laminate.
>> Okay.
>> The lamination of paper, and things of that nature.
Here we have the two bays, with the two bays and
the paper that falls out between two bays.
The sorting line actually pulls everything that comes down to this portion.
And that goes back to on this side over here.
We have here the plastic bottles.
[INAUDIBLE] to allow the liquid to drain, so
when it's drained out [INAUDIBLE] it compacts it tighter,
with less fluids going through it.
>> Okay. >> Just East of that,
you have the container for the aluminum cans.
And the cans fill up pretty fast as well.
There is no reason to actually perforate the cans.
>> Okay.
>> So the cans are placed in a container as well.
>> And then I see we've got lots, and lots of cardboard.
>> Cardboard, hot tamale.
>> Really? >> Cardboard, we do quite a bit.
You get a lot of cardboard all the time.
>> Okay.
>> It has its peak seasons, where you got a lot of cardboard at times.
And sometimes you don't get a lot of cardboard.
And the peak season determines on the price of the cardboard.
15:36
>> All right, so now, you take the stuff that's sorted,
and you take your nice Zkipster trucks, >> True.
>> And you push it into this pit over here.
So it looks like you're ready to bale some paper next, right?
>> Yes, what the guys are doing right now, they are actually going through this paper
to clean out all the items that shouldn't be here.
I mean, such as right here, you can see the plastic right here.
>> Yeah, yeah.
You see, my guys were normally pull this plastic out of here,
provided they can see it.
So they have to kind of flip the paper.
Okay. >> Using.
So what happens here, they're going to go though this paper and pull out anything
that shouldn't be here such as aluminum cans, plastic bottles, possibly cardboard.
>> Right. >> Maybe even glass.
>> Right, sort of like a last chance sorting, right?
>> Correct.
>> And then the paper falls into this machine, and
then this machine does the compression magic, right?
>> Well actually, the skids are actually pushing aside the conveyor pit,-
>> Okay.
>> And from this conveyor pit, which it takes it on the belt and
takes it straight up to the baler, and once it goes through the baler there,
the baler will take it and compress it to the actual pounds that it should be.
Pretty much the paper is weighing between the average of
12 to 1,400 pounds per bale.
>> 12 to 1,400 pounds per bale?
>> Per bale, that's one bale. >> Wow, wow.
>> Pretty heavy.
>> Yeah, yeah, 500 kilograms.
>> Hey, I can move it.
[LAUGH] >> Okay, so these are the bales.
17:23
>> How much do you get for that?
>> Well that's going to be based on a price.
Right now I'm going to say the paper is actually right
at $120 per ton, I'm going to say.
>> $120 a ton.
>> And a truck load that goes at is about 40,000 pounds.
>> Okay, that's 20 tons so- >> Yeah,so that's 20 that's like
the minimum.
>> $2500, $3000 >> Yeah,
that's the minimum load, you know.
>> Okay.
>> And of course the quality of the paper determines a lot, you know,
the less news print inside the papers mean the higher dollars you get for it.
>> Right so you want this kind of stuff, right?
This is someone's- >> Yeah.
>> Wow. This is applied physics letters.
>> [LAUGH] Pamphlets.
>> Pamphlets, right, and cardboard, cardboard bales.
>> Yep, here are the cardboard bales.
Cardboards right now is roughly going for
probably about 90, I'm going to say about $90 per ton.
>> Okay. >> So it's pretty-
>> So less than the paper, right?
>> Less than a paper, but actually same weight as a paper.
>> Okay. >> So this is still 1,200 to 1,400 pounds,
there we go.
That's what you have, and it takes the same-
>> And how much, how many bales of paper
do you think you get per day and how many cardboard per day?
Do you have an idea?
>> It would vary.
>> Okay. >> Depending on what's taking place on
the campus at times campus is super busy.
>> Right. >> And at times the campus is
not super busy.
18:52
Right about now on average the guys are probably doing
probably about six bales of cardboard per day, if not more.
>> Per day, wow.
>> Per day, if not more.
>> Okay. >> Right now for
paper, paper could be about the same between six.
>> Yeah, and all this thought that we are in some paperless university and
everything's electronic.
Yeah, sure.
>> Yeah, we're trying.
We're trying to get that.
>> [LAUGH] >> I'll tell you what,
back when I first started here over in December 2009.
>> Yeah.
>> We did quite a bit more, paper per day.
>> So maybe the paperless campus is actually working here,
paper is going down.
>> I can guarantee you it's working.
>> Working, that's good.
>> Paper's actually going down.
We don't get as much paper as we used to.
When I first started here December 2009,
paper bales you're talking probably 15, 16 paper bales per day.
>> Wow, and now we're down to five or six.
>> Yeah, between four and six per day that we work here.
>> That's really good.
>> It's actually working.
But at times, it's kind of hard to tell because you get a professor who's been
here for 30 years and he or she is moving out.
>> I've been here for 30 years.
[LAUGH] >> And they decided to clean out their
attic, and they have all these files here, and they have to sort through the files in
the department before they can actually send them to me.
>> So all those papers sitting in my office will eventually end up
in one of these bails?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> [SOUND]
>> Good job.
All right, so this is the real money,
the aluminum cans.
>> Yeah, this is the kind you really watch.
[LAUGH] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> [LAUGH] >> So
how much is a bale of aluminum cans weigh and how much does it cost?
>> Aluminum cans, along with plastic bottles,
their bales are between six to 800 pounds.
>> Okay. >> because they're a lighter in
weight outside of the paper and the cardboard, okay?
>> Got it, got it.
>> Right now, the aluminum cans are actually selling for
roughly around $0.76 per pound.
21:09
>> Yeah this is basically used as a storage trailer to actually store them on
until we actually sell.
We have not sold any more for, it's been a while since I sold all of them.
>> because you wait for the price to go up.
>> That's right, wait for it to rise up. >> Yeah, yeah.
>> We gotta look out for the best interest of the university.
>> Best interest of the university.
How many ton?
How many bales of cans do you got?
>> Well cans, we would have to look at the figures far as those being collected and
sold, so to speak.
Right now with me just collecting them, I haven't sold any in quite some time, so
therefore I can't give you an exact number on the cans as of right now.
>> Okay.
>> It's easy to calculate the figures once you have actually collected the items and
then you sell them- >> Sell them and
you see when the last time you sold them was.
>> But right now I haven't sold any in quite a while, so we're actually sitting
on it waiting for the prices to get a little bit higher, you know.
>> Yeah, yeah, we got like can broker guy here.
Okay.
22:00
So the plastic has gone from something that used to be wow
plastic we can recycle it, and now, this is the cheapest, right?
You get less money from this than you do from the paper, the cardboard, right?
>> Exactly.
Exactly.
>> Okay. >> Although we get quite a bit of it.
We recycle a lot of the plastic that comes through here, and
right now we kind of recycle, I have two choices to
recycle this through Resource Management which is out of Plainfield, Illinois or
we can actually recycle through Midwest Fiber which is out of Plumpton, Illinois.
>> So you have some competition of who you can sell it to?
>> Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
>> Okay.
>> We have competition for the paper to cardboard as well.
>> Yeah.
>> And aluminum cans is about the same, it's no competition.
>> No competition.
>> Yeah, the competition for aluminum cans is pretty much the same.
Coca Cola, and Anheuser-Busch.
>> Okay. [LAUGH] The Borg collective of cans.
>> This is my overflow which is outside here.
>> Well it's not going to rust.
>> Well, well hey.
>> [LAUGH] >> And even though it's aluminum cans, and
it's sitting out here, and it's only 6 to 800 pounds, we can't move this one either.
>> No no, you need a machine.
>> I wouldn't try. I wouldn't try.
>> No.
>> Yeah these are trash trailers and we fill at least one of these per day.
During move in and move out we fill two of these per day and with a few open pans.
But we fill at least one trailer per day, and this is a trash trailer.
Right now it goes over to Brickyard Landfill, which is in Danville, Illinois,
because those are the people that have the contract now for it.
So we contract that service out to actually Allied Waste right now,
which is Republic Waste, same company, so to speak.
23:34
But they sub contract it out to the people who haul the trailers,
which is KRD trucking.
So they haul the trailers over to the Brickyard Landfill, which is in Danville,
Illinois.
>> So now one trailer like this,
trash needs compacted because otherwise you're taking too many trucks.
So they fill this up to like the 22 tons or something right?
>> Correct, correct, correct.
We don't exceed 80,000 pounds.
We can't exceed 80 so that's about where we stand with those.
>> And now unlike the aluminum, and the plastic, and the cardboard, and the paper
which you get money for, Alleging have to pay money to the land fill to take that.
>> Correct.
>> So just what's the economics of that.
How much do they charge for a trailer?
>> Right now you're looking at pretty much about $30 per tonne.
>> $30 per tonne to have them bury it?
>> Correct.
>> Yeah.
So on the economic question,
you're bringing in a lot of things that you then sell.
You have to obviously pay, that's a tremendous service.
But how does it come out in end of the day?
Is this a cash revenue enterprise?
>> It's more of a benefit to the waster transfer station.
To help offset the budget for here.
>> Okay. >> So it's not.
An actual profit that we would make because you have to keep in mind
25:05
>> Sure.
>> And you have to look at the sorting process we go through too.
>> Sure. >> And the capital equipment.
>> And in maintenance and in upkeep of the equipment.
And it's at times when the maintenance can get real tense sometimes.
It's tight spaces to work here.
>> But clearly, doing all this is so much more cost efficient.
And environmentally
efficient than just baring it all.
>> Key word, yes.
Divert it from going to the landfill.
>> Exactly, so there go my thirty years worth of files?
>> Yes, your thirty years worth of files that you chose to hold onto.
>> [LAUGH] >> Now we have them here at the waste
transfer station and as you can see the.
Excuses actually pushing iodine to the conveyor belt here in the pit.
And after they've sorted through to make sure there wasn't any aluminum cans and
plastic bottles in there.
>> Right, right.
>> And this is actually going to be sorted up through the line,
if it goes through the line, he's still sorting as you can see, pickup
>> Yeah, just in case.
>> Just in case anything got missed.
And then as it goes up through the inside here, and
then drop down stuff go to inside here.
As it drops in the baler, the baler drops it down to the bottom top compressed.
>> Okay, so this machine, it crushes it, it compacts everything and
then it actually bales it and puts it in your final form ready for delivery.
>> And in a process of bailing, as it comes out, it puts these straps around it.
It straps it up to hold it in place.
That's what keeps it tight.
Without the straps, there's no bale.
>> Everything falls apart.
>> because it'll fall right apart as soon as it comes out of there.
>> Neat. Neat.
>> There we go.
>> Awesome machines.
>> Excellent machines.
27:49
>> Right here.
>> When you get all that trash, instead of taking it to the landfill,
can you burn it instead?
Can you do it like municipal salad waste?
>> No. >> No.
>> No.
>> Tell me why.
>> I think that's going to damage our Earth.
That's going to be pollution.
[CROSSTALK] You don't want to breathe that.
>> So even though you could get energy content out of burning what's left over
that you don't recycle it's just not worth it in terms of the air quality and
the environmental regulations you'd have to do to burn it cleanly.
>> Why I don't, I don't want to say you can't burn it, so to speak.
But it's going to be a process and
procedures that you would have to follow to actually be able to burn it.
Example, they're plastics.
Do you know that the plastics that we recycle here-
>> You don't want to burn those.
>> You could burn those, and they burn them.
And they use it for fuel.
So, they have a machine that IFCC is kind of working on,
to actually get that in place, so that they can actually burn that for fuel.
>> Right. >> But it's a process you have to follow,
those processes I'm not familiar with at this time, but we are looking in
>> Can't do that.
I'm working with ISTC on a few things.
>> Because clearly the best burnable stuff is paper but
you get much more money from recycling it than you ever would from the energy you
would save or create by actually burning it.
And all the wet waste and the food garbage >> The energy content for
burning that's probably not much because you gotta dry it all first, right?
>> Yeah. >> It's wet.
>> Yeah, that's the process.
I'm not familiar with the entire process, but there's a process for it.
>> That's what you need to know about recycling products
at the waste transfer station.
>> Here at the University of Illinois.
>> There we go.