Advanced material recovery facility opens in Alabama

Infinitus Energy, based in Plantation, Fla., has announced the launch of residential recycling in the city of Montgomery, Ala., and the opening of the company's "advanced" mixed material recovery facility (MRF). The IREP (Infinitus Renewable Energy Park) at Montgomery is expected to create 110 local jobs and divert up to 80 percent of waste from landfill.

Infinitus Energy says innovative technology, a progressive collection model and a partnership with the capital city helped to bring residential recycling to Montgomery.

Residents will use only one bin for waste and recyclables, an approach that is gaining popularity because of advances in technology, increased collection efficiencies and participation advantages, the company says. The system—designed, manufactured and installed by Eugene, Ore.-based Bulk Handling Systems (BHS)—features BHS screens and Nihot air and NRT optical separation technology desgined to recover up to 95 percent of available recyclables at a rate of 30 tons per hour. The system also will recover organic waste for composting.

“The Infinitus Energy team has delivered a facility that far exceeds the expectations we had upon originally issuing an RFP (request for proposal) to help us revive our recycling efforts,” said Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange at the April 14, 2014, grand opening.

Strange continued, “They have delivered the most sophisticated technology available in the world today to process our MSW (municipal solid waste) and reduce our operating costs—savings that we estimate could be as high as $1.8 million annually. In addition, this facility will help us achieve recycling rates that will be amongst the highest nationally and put the city of Montgomery at the leading edge of managing solid waste.”

“The delivery of the Montgomery advanced mixed materials recovery facility is an example of how our company is redefining waste through this decade and beyond,” said Infinitus CEO Kyle Mowitz. “Our mission is to deliver an integrated waste model that benefits the residents of a community in two very important ways. First, we bring overall waste programming costs down with no capital investment required from the community. Secondly, we increase overall recovery rates, which in turn dramatically boosts landfill diversion rates.”

Mowitz said Infinitus plans to make future investments in various technologies at the MRF.

“Our company is committed to additional investment in technologies to benefit the community both economically and environmentally," he said. "Future phases of this project will include further maximization of the organic waste stream through anaerobic digestion (AD) to create a compressed natural gas (CNG) and compost. The citizens of Montgomery should applaud the vision of their government leaders that have contributed to this project’s benefits—benefits that will be realized for years to come. Along with this leadership, we will continue to deploy advanced technologies to ensure that IREP at Montgomery continues to maximize diversion and value for this community,” Mowitz continued.

“Recycling has never been more efficient than it is today,” said BHS CEO Steve Miller. “Infinitus is on the leading edge with its one-bin model, lowering collection costs while raising participation rates to 100 percent, allowing our equipment the opportunity to recover these valuable commodities that have previously gone to landfill.”

Miller added, “This is an excellent example of a community ‘closing the loop’ on recovery, by embracing technology to recover not only recyclables, but organic waste as well. The city of Montgomery deserves a lot of credit as an early adopter and environmental leader, an example we project other forward-thinking communities will follow."