| In Alberta, the Beverage Container Recycling Regulation (part of the
Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act) requires
consumers to pay a deposit on beverage containers (except dairy
products) as part of the purchase price of the beverage. To get their
refund, consumers hand in their bags of empty containers – containing
a jumble of pop cans, wine bottles, juice containers, beer bottles and
cans - to one of 214 bottle depots.
Operators in these privately run facilities (standalone businesses in
cities and multifaceted outlets in rural areas) hand-sort the bags of
empty bottles/cans by material color and type – aluminum, glass,
cartons, plastic, and PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate, etc.). Operators
prepare them for pickup by the beverage manufacturers (for example,
aluminum cans are packaged 1800 to a “megabag” – a 4’x4’x4’ woven
vinyl bag). After baling or crushing the materials, the manufacturers
ship them to the scrap markets for recycling into products such as
new aluminum cans. In addition to reimbursing the depot operators
the empty bottle/can deposit refunds paid to the consumers, the
manufacturers pay the depots a handling fee.
The depot operators are banded together in the Alberta Bottle Depot
Association (ABDA). “Our mandate is to assist our membership in their
efforts to maximize bottle returns, minimize processing costs and ensure
the convenient availability of bottle refunds to consumers”, says Jeff
Linton, Executive Director, ABDA. Under increasing pressure to become
more efficient and minimize handling fees charged to the bottle
manufacturers, and to reduce the waiting time to process consumer
refunds, the ABDA decided to increase the operating efficiency of
member bottle depots. “This was the only option open to us”, explains
Mr. Linton. “If we had reduced the number of
sites to cut costs, for example, we would have
reduced the convenience to consumers, and
hence the empty can return rate. Although a
priority, densifying the cans at the depots to
minimize transportation costs to the manufacturers’
plants wasn’t yet feasible, because
their quality control counters cannot process
crushed cans. So focusing on the consumer
was the only way to respond to both consumers’
and manufacturers’ concerns.”
In-house assembly of aluminum can
counter, halves machine fabrication costs
Because aluminum cans amount to 56% of
all beverage containers sold in Alberta, Mr.
Linton decided to focus on machinery that
could automatically count empty aluminum
cans at the depots. However, sourcing a
complete, ready-to-operate machine within
his budget proved impossible: the two North
American manufacturers of low cost aluminum
can counters were no longer in business,
and the beverage manufacturers’ larger, sophisticated counting
machinery cost US $25,000. Mr. Linton’s solution : for less than half
the unit cost of the manufacturers’ counters, he could assemble the
machines himself from complete components – a Univeyor conveyor,
an L. Forest Industries count box and a “plug and play” Schneider
Electric control panel and photoelectric sensors.
Sensors and PLC ensure rapid, accurate count while minimizing
equipment damage and power consumption
Univeyor’s incline conveyor carries the cans from the hopper to a
height of 8 feet, cascading them over the top into one of four L. Forest
Industries slide chutes to orient them on their sides. Three hundred
cans per minute fall through L. Forest Industries’ count box into the
megabar for return shipment to the manufacturer. Four pairs of
Schneider Electric Telemecanique XUM thru-beam photoelectric
sensors count the “breaks” between the cans, sending the count
information in real time to the Twido Programmable Logic Controller
(PLC), which is programmed with Twidosoft software. The operator
can verify the can count on the Magelis HMI display. To avoid overfilling
the megabags, the counter automatically shuts off when it reaches
the bag’s capacity of 1800 cans.
Four pairs of Schneider Electric Telemeanique XUM thru-beam photoelectric sensors count the cans.
The next generation of machines include a fifth pair of Telemecanique
XUM retro-reflective photoelectric sensors. This detects jammed cans
at the top of the slide chute, causing the machine to shut down to prevent
equipment damage. If it senses an absence of cans, the sensor
also causes the machine to shut down to reduce power consumption.
Assembled at Schneider Electric’s nearby Edmonton Plant, the
machine’s control panel, features a Telemecanique Twido PLC,
pushbuttons, contactors, mini vario switches and a phaseo DC
power supply, and Square D circuit breakers and selector switches.
It is powered from a standard single phase 120Vac receptacle found
in most commercial buildings. “This allows our machine to have ‘plug
and play’ capabilities in any depot without having to change the
electrical system”, says Mr. Linton.
Assembled at Schneider Electric’s nearby Edmonton plant, the control panel
features a Telemecanique Twido PLC, pushbuttons, contactors, mini vario
switches and a Phaseo DC power supply, and Square D circuit breakers
and selector switches.
Round the clock application engineering expertise ensures
prototype’s success
“I use Schneider Electric components because they represent
cost-effective, leading-edge technology”, says Mr. Linton. He also
relies on Schneider Electric’s local application engineering/technical
support/services expertise and control panel assembly capabilities
from the initial machine design to its fabrication and maintenance.
“Schneider Electric application engineers wrote the software program,
configured the control panel and were available around the clock to
support our prototype machine”, he says. “And the control panel is easy
to install – all we have to do is to connect the sensors and the conveyor
motor. I even have a blueprint telling me where to insert the wires.”
Leading edge control technology reduces
customer wait time by over 10%
Mr. Linton is delighted with his counters :
customers appreciate the estimated 10% to 30%
shorter lead time to process their aluminum can
refunds, and are more confident in the accuracy
of their refund, because they know their bottles
are now counted by machine. The result : higher
returns of used cans to the depots. “The payback
on our counter is less than one year for most
applications”, says Mr. Linton. And the manufacturers’
increased confidence in count accuracy
has resulted in a green light to begin densifying
cans in depots prior to shipment. In response
to this opportunity, Mr. Linton has developed
a prototype of a new machine with a crusher
component mounted next to the count box.
It will be put into production in 2005.
For more information, please contact Jeff Linton, Executive
Director, ALberta Bottle Depot Association. He can be
reached at (780) 962-5227 or abdajeff@telus.net
Other contributors to this article include Terry Grant,
Senior Technical Representative, Schneider Electric.
He can be reached at (780) 447-6612 or
terry.grant@ca.schneider-electric.com
Assembled at Schneider Electric’s nearby Edmonton plant, the control panel
features a Telemecanique Twido PLC, pushbuttons, contactors, mini vario
switches and a Phaseo DC power supply, and Square D circuit breakers
and selector switches.
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