What is Positive Sorting?

Positive Sorting is a revolutionary concept that redefines the MRF system.

The main principle of Positive Sorting involves targeting paper early on in the system so as to separate it quickly and cleanly. By positively sorting your paper, you can get its purity down to 0.5%, clean enough to pass China’s strict National Sword policy. Specific machinery from our lineup is tailor-made to achieve these results.

In our eyes, the problem with fiber quality starts with screen upgrades. Due to the amount of film plastics coming into many MRF streams, traditional starscreens suffer severe clogging and wrapping, quickly losing their ability to properly separate fiber and containers. The result is a poor start toward achieving a clean paper grade.

The Non-Wrapping 440 Screen

Enter our Non-Wrapping 440 Screen. This ONP screen has specially designed stars to resist wrapping for an entire shift. It does not clog with film and it does not lose its ability to screen materials. Paper carries over the screen and containers bounce back. The screen comes in extra long and extra wide measurements (for extra capacity) and can be retrofit into any system. It is meant to be the only disc screen in a system for paper and container separation. Many of our customers are choosing to replace their old angled screens with this new style machine. These customers see a drastic improvement in the quality of their paper and containers. And because there is so little to clean, shifts can gain as much as 90 minutes of production time.

The Star of Positive Sorting

The real star of Positive Sorting is our optical sorter. We use the #1 optical sorter in the world to target paper materials within the fall backs of the Non-Wrapping Screen and eject them from the stream. This is in lieu of second and third disc screens traditionally present in MRF designs. Removing paper FROM the prohibitives (rather than the other way around) allows the paper to stay clean and avoid collateral damage. The paper goes one way, and ALL other materials go another. New developments in laser technology allow our opticals to recognize virtually every object on the belt, including film, glass, organics, black plastics, black objects, and random trash items. This means they won’t accidentally end up in the paper line. The result is a cleaner paper grade than ever before, capable of passing China’s 0.5% restriction. Recent plants to adopt this revolutionary concept are SANCO Escondido, CA, Republic Services Plano, TX, and FCC Houston, TX.