Bulk Handling Systems (BHS)

Sophie Leone • December 18, 2023

We are pleased to welcome Bulk Handling Systems as a new Sustaining Advisory Member to Northeast Recycling Council

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) designs, manufactures and installs processing systems that extract recyclables from the waste stream. BHS is a worldwide leader in the innovative design, engineering, manufacturing and installation of sorting systems and components for the solid waste, recycling, waste-to-energy, and construction and demolition industries.


The company’s areas of expertise include the following:

  • Municipal Solid Waste: BHS developed the first Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) recovery system in the U.S. to keep 70% of waste out of the landfill, capturing 90%-99% of high value commodities like PET plastics — on the first pass.
  • Single Stream Recycling: BHS manufactures sorting equipment designed to automatically separate commingled single stream recyclables into valuable commodities.
  • Plastics Recycling: The company’s front-end systems are a vital step in purifying post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) for a variety of uses including bottle-grade flake, pellets, bottle preforms, extruded sheet and thermoform packaging. In addition, these systems recover other recyclables including metals, aluminum & other plastics.
  • Compost and Organics: “Our in-line Tri-Disc screens have successfully refined wood products and green-waste for decades,” the company states. “As our customers dig deeper into the waste stream, we are leading the way with our screening, air separation, anaerobic digestion, and compost solutions.”


Subsidiaries wholly owned by BHS include Nihot (Amsterdam), NRT (Nashville, TN) and Zero Waste Energy (Lafayette, CA). BHS is also the home of Max-AI® technology, a breakthrough artificial intelligence that identifies materials, makes intelligent decisions and directs equipment such as robotic sorters.


“As we look toward the future, we see waste management companies, recyclers, and municipalities around the world facing changing material streams, unprecedented diversion expectations and a new drive toward creating energy from waste,” the company states. “BHS continues to set the pace by developing innovative solutions to these challenges, ensuring our customers will lead the industry now and in the future.”


Regional Sales Manager Todd Rubendall said, “BHS is delighted to become a member of NERC! In addition to enhancing our company presence in the Northeast and exhibiting our full range of capabilities, we are excited to learn from, and collaborate with fellow industry leaders and forward thinkers throughout the region. We look forward to the opportunity to play a key role in achieving the collective aspirations relating to environmental sustainability and a circular economy.”


NERC welcomes BHS to its roster of Sustaining Advisory Members. We look forward to learning more about the company’s efforts to add quantifiable improvements to the recycling process and collaborating to improve the process even more.


For more information about Bulk Handling Systems click here

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Medford Wins ‘Outstanding Community’ at the Northeast Recycling Council’s 2025 Environmental Leadership Awards for its Free Curbside Composting Program

September 17, 2025
The City of Medford won the 2025 Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Community presented by the Northeast Recycling Council, for its innovative work to reduce waste and create a more sustainable waste collection system through the City’s free curbside composting program. “I'm thankful to our team at City Hall, the Solid Waste Taskforce, our consultants Strategy Zero Waste and our volunteers for working so hard to launch our curbside composting program and making it such a meaningful success for our community,” Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said. “This award shows that the work we’re doing in both composting and recycling is having real, transformative effects on how our community thinks about waste and the steps we’re taking to create a more sustainable environment for the future. We are honored to be recognized by the Northeast Recycling Council for these efforts.” Each year, NERC honors a community, an organization, and an individual for their outstanding contributions to recycling education and innovation. This year will mark the 9th annual Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony, recognizing individuals and organizations who help further NERC’s waste and recycling goals. “Our committee is wholeheartedly impressed by the work of the City of Medford, and how important and impactful that work is for the community,” said Sophie Leone, Development and Program Manager at NERC. “It is a perfect representation of NERC’s mission to minimize waste, conserve natural resources, and advance a sustainable economy through facilitated collaboration and action and we are very excited to bestow the City of Medford with this award.” You can read more about the Environmental Leadership Awards here . And if you haven’t signed up for Medford’s free curbside composting program, you can do that at medfordcomposts.com . Read on MedfordMA.org.

Northeast commodity prices continued falling in Q2

By Resource Recycling • September 10, 2025
In the Northeast, recycled commodity prices continued to decline in April-June, with MRFs experiencing an average decrease of nearly 6% compared to the first quarter of 2025, according to the Northeast Recycling Council’s (NERC) second-quarter MRF Values Survey Report. NERC’s 25th quarterly report analyzed data from 19 MRFs across 12 states, excluding two facilities from the average blended value “because they did not market enough commodities within Q2 to provide a representative comparison with other MRFs.” Compared to the previous quarter, the responding MRFs reported average values per ton for blended recyclables with residuals at $82.68, a decrease of 7.74%, or $96.21 per ton, a 5.99% decline without residuals. Thirteen of the 17 MRFs contributing to the weighted average were single-stream, while four operated on a dual-stream/source-separated basis. In the Northeast, dual-stream facilities reported a blended value of $99.74 without residuals and $86.52 including residuals, experiencing decreases of 7% and 7.16% from the previous quarter, respectively. Single-stream MRFs recorded blended values of $95.08 without residuals, down 5.7%, and $81.28,down 8.3%, with residuals. Factors such as tariffs and weak demand have led major waste haulers to adjust their forecasts, anticipating challenges due to economic uncertainty for the remainder of 2025. This dip in commodity prices was reflected in second-quarter earnings reports, with four companies reporting an average year-over-year decrease of 15% in commodity values. Houston-based WM projected a $15 million decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization due to softening demand. However, the emergence of new and upgraded polymer facilities is enhancing processing capabilities, driven by the expectation of high demand for recycled PET. A version of this story appeared in Resource Recycling on Sept 9. Read on Resource Recycling.

Northeast Commodity Values Decline in Q2 2025

August 29, 2025
Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) Publishes 25 th Report Marking Six Years of Quarterly Data