Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center

The cost of its recycling program has evolved from negligible to eyebrow raising over the last decade, leading the city to rethink recycling.

Section:Gallery

Sun., Nov. 1, 2020

Small materials, mostly paper and glass, that haven’t been removed by other processes bounce down a shaker table as a last ditch way to separate them before they end up in the garbage. Comingled recycling products go through an elaborate system of automated machines and human pickers to separate them into their respective bins.

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As the comingled recycling flies by on a conveyor belt, workers at the first sorting station grab items that could damage the sorting and conveying machinery further down the line at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Boulevard in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. They are focused on removing “wrappables” such as plastic bags, fabrics, wires, rope and carpet which can jam machinery and stop the plant from operating. They are also focused on bulky and heavy objects, like cast iron, golf balls and auto parts.

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As the comingled recycling flies by on a conveyor belt, workers at the first sorting station grab items that could damage the sorting and conveying machinery further down the line at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Boulevard in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. They are focused on removing “wrappables” such as plastic bags, fabrics, wires, rope and carpet which can jam machinery and stop the plant from operating. They are also focused on bulky and heavy objects, like cast iron, golf balls and auto parts.

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Recyling, mostly from private homes in Spokane, runs up one of the many conveyor belts at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Techonology Center in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. The single stream of recycleable goods often has improperly sorted items or items that can damage and shut down the many complicated machines that process the materials into their marketable categories. The difficulty in sorting contaminated recycleables and selling them on the open market has the city of Spokane considering going to recycling pickup every other week rather than every week.

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Among the many items that can jam the machinery and shut down the recycling process at Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Road in Spokane are golf balls. The facility saves examples of what can break machinery and idle dozens of workers at the plant while also driving down the market for recycleable products. Photographed Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.

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Among the many items that can jam the machinery and shut down the recycling process at Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Road in Spokane are bits of plastic, wires, clothing and plastic bags or sheets. These baskets on the sorting line show examples of what can break machinery and idle dozens of workers at the plant while also driving down the market for recycleable products. Photographed Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.

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Cardboard makes its way to the baler at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center while paper and aluminum cans are baled below, shown Friday, Oc. 30, 2020.

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Among the many items that can jam the machinery and shut down the recycling process at Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Road in Spokane are large pieces of plastic, carpet and wood. These baskets on the sorting line show examples of what can break machinery and idle dozens of workers at the plant while also driving down the market for recycleable products. Photographed Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.

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A loader pushes piles of corrugated cardboard together on the floor of the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.

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Recyling from private homes in Spokane runs up one of the many conveyor belts at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Techonology Center in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. The difficulty in sorting contaminated recycleables and selling them on the open market has the city of Spokane considering going to recycling pickup every other week rather than every week.

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On the tipping floor, recycling gathered in Spokane is dumped into a hopper at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Techonology Center in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. Once in the hopper, the material will travel through a maze of processes, both automated and manual, to separate the important products. The difficulty in sorting contaminated recycleables and selling them on the open market has the city of Spokane considering going to recycling pickup every other week rather than every week.

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The comingled recycling is transported around the facility on a maze of conveyor belts, where dozens of workers cull out improperly sorted materials at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Boulevard in Spokane, on Friday.

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As the comingled recycling flies by on a conveyor belt, a worker at the first sorting station snatches a plastic grocery bag which could damage the sorting and conveying machinery further down the line at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center on S. Geiger Boulevard in Spokane, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. They are focused on removing “wrappables” such as plastic bags, fabrics, wires, rope and carpet which can jam machinery and stop the plant from operating. They are also focused on bulky and heavy objects, like cast iron, golf balls and auto parts.

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Three important categories of plastics are seen at the end of the sorting process, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, at the Spokane Materials and Recycling Technology Center in Spokane. They are, from left, natural HDPE, which are mostly gallon milk jugs; colored HDPE; and PET, usually plastic soda and food bottles.

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