Source: City of Broken Arrow
The rebuild of the Tulsa Recycle & Transfer facility continues with the expectation of becoming operational in the second month of 2022.
“We’re in the process of putting a brand new Mr. Murph in, and it’s going to be bigger and better than ever,“ said Robert Pickens, Vice President of Recycling for TRT. “We’re looking at a February 2022 start-up of Mr. Murph 2.0.”
Representatives of the City of Broken Arrow were invited to tour the facility with Pickens on Wednesday, Dec. 29, and see the progress being made.
The Murph is a massive green and yellow structure with robotic arms and conveyer belts that sorts recyclables gathered and collected from several communities including Broken Arrow. The original Murph processed 187 tons every day Monday through Friday. The new Murph is expected to exceed that.
“All the recyclables in your cart that are mixed together, we’re coming in, we’re separating all those out. We’re bailing them up and we’re sending them off to companies to make new products,” said Pickens.
The Murph is being rebuilt because of a fire last April which was started by a single lithium-ion battery that was improperly disposed of as a recyclable.
Pickens said to help eliminate confusion, customers should concentrate their recycling efforts on items generated from the kitchen, the laundry room, and the bathroom. He said items in the garage, shed, or the yard should never be placed in the blue recycling cart.
“Those items coming from there can be hazardous and/or dangerous to our employees.”
What about those plastic bags from the grocery store or the big box retailers? Do not place them in the blue recycling cart. The Murph has a lot of moving parts that are winding and twisting. Those plastic bags can wrap around and get entangled in the parts, causing it to not separate properly.
“Take those plastic bags and those other film plastics and return them to a retailer or a grocer or take it to the Met, the BA recycling depot,” said Pickens.
According to Pickens, 95% of the recyclables that come into the TRT facility stays in the state of Oklahoma.
“We’re supporting the Oklahoma economy and Oklahoma jobs and that’s really, really important.”
For more details about what can and cannot be recycled, visit our website.
As a reminder, City of Broken Arrow Solid Waste and Recycling crews will begin hauling waste and recycling in separate vehicles in January. This is already happening in some neighborhoods as part of a testing program.
“We ask that you loosely place your recyclables like cardboard, plastic bottles, and newspaper in the blue cart. Don’t bag the recyclables,” said Jerry Schuber, Director of Solid Waste and Recycling for the City of Broken Arrow. “Please make sure the blue cart is free of trash. This helps keep our processing fees lower and it reduces contamination. Trash should be bagged and placed in the black cart.”
Carts should be placed at the curb by 7 a.m. on your scheduled pick-up day.
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