Designing the Right Recycling Plant: Insights from an Experienced Plant Builder

When it comes to recycling operations, the most successful facilities are designed around the materials they process and the collection systems in place, not just the equipment they use. CRS NI, a trusted waste recycling plant manufacturer and plant builder, specialises in creating mobile and static waste systems, including mobile picking stations, picking stations, trommel screens, air separators/windshifters and screens, conveyors, and full waste recycling systems tailored to C&D, C&I, gypsum, ASR, WEE or MDR. 

Types of Recycling Plants: Matching Your System to the Material

Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for Mixed Recyclables

 

Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) process mixed dry recyclables (MDR) collected from residential, commercial and industrial sources. While often associated with household recycling, MRFs handle a wide range of recyclable materials and require carefully designed, fully integrated static waste systems.

These facilities rely on conveyors, screening equipment, optical sorters, magnets, eddy current separators, and quality control picking stations to separate paper, plastics, metals, and other recyclables into clean, saleable fractions. Screen selection plays a critical role in controlling material flow and preparing streams for downstream separation technologies.

CRS NI designs and supplies complete static MRF waste separation and material recovery systems, engineered to optimise throughput, maximise recovery rates and deliver consistent, high-quality output.

 

Specialised Plants

Some operations handle specific waste streams such as:

• Paper, cardboard, or plastics 
• Gypsum, construction & demolition (C&D) materials 
• Commercial and industrial (C&I) recyclables 

Specialised plants allow for higher-purity output, improving recovery rates and resale value. CRS NI designs and delivers static waste systems tailored to specific material streams, incorporating flip flow screens, recycling combi screens, and other advanced screening solutions to achieve consistent, high-quality separation.

 

Collection Systems and Plant Considerations

• Dirty MRFs: Accept mixed materials and rely heavily on mobile picking stations, trommel screens, and recycling conveyors. 
• Source-separated streams: Dual-stream or single-stream collections provide cleaner inputs, allowing waste screening equipment to maximise recovery efficiency. 

By selecting the right combination of automated screening, separation, and sorting technologies within static waste systems, CRS NI ensures each plant efficiently converts waste into marketable commodities such as flakes, pellets, or fuel-derived outputs.

 

Key Components of a Modern Recycling Plant

Every CRS NI plant integrates high-performance equipment designed to maximise throughput and recovery:

• Picking Stations: Manual or automated sorting for C&D, MDR, and C&I materials.
• Trommel Screens: Provide reliable size separation for coarse and mid-size materials.
• Flip Flow Screens: Handle fine, wet, or sticky fractions where conventional screening struggles.
• Recycling Conveyors & Feeders: Maintain smooth material flow across the plant.
• Air Separators: Separate light and heavy fractions efficiently.
• Screening Equipment & Recycling Combi Screens: Provide flexible solutions for temporary or modular installations, handling mixed waste streams efficiently and maintaining consistent material flow.
• Optical Sorters (AI or NIR): Identify and separate materials based on composition, colour, or reflectivity, improving purity and recovery rates across mixed waste streams.
• Robotic Pickers: Automate complex manual sorting tasks, ensuring consistent performance, reducing contamination, and increasing efficiency on high-variability lines.
• Eddy Currents and Magnets: Recover non-ferrous and ferrous metals efficiently, protecting downstream equipment and maximising the value of recycled fractions.

With CRS NI, every component is tailored to your waste type, plant layout, and throughput requirements.

 

Why Choose CRS NI as Your Plant Builder

As a leading waste recycling plant manufacturer and plant builder, CRS NI delivers:

• Custom waste systems for C&D, C&I, and MDR materials 
• Expert design and integration of picking stations, trommel screens and recycling conveyors 
• Optimisation for maximum throughput, efficiency, and output quality 
• Support for mobile recycling plant manufacturers, mobile recycling equipment, and static waste systems 

Partnering with CRS NI ensures your plant is future-ready, reliable, and efficient, whether it’s a full MRF, specialised single-stream facility, or advanced recycling operation.

Get in touch today to discuss how CRS NI can help design or upgrade your recycling plant with the right waste recycling systems, mobile screening equipment, and material recovery systems.