WasteExpo 2016: Live and learn

When opening any type of recycling or waste management facility, it is vital to be mindful of the incoming waste composition and recognize what is actually recoverable from that stream. In the session “Single Stream, Mixed Waste, Emerging Technologies and Compositing — How Does this Jive with Reaching Higher Diversion Goals? speakers at WasteExpo 2016, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center June 6-9, 2016, shared how bad business models result in shuttered operations while investing in new technologies and infrastructure is imperative.

Eric Herbert, CEO of Zero Waste Energy, Lafayette, California, said it’s important for facilities to understand the materials they manage. He explained the sudden closure of the mixed waste processing facility Infinitus Renewable Energy Park (IREP) Montgomery, based in Montgomery, Alabama. Plantation Florida-based Infinitus Energy closed the facility in October 2015.

Herbert said the IREP Montgomery project didn’t pan out as a result of a “bad business deal in a bad market.” He said its business model was based on commodity prices.

At the time of the closure, Kyle Mowitz, Infinitus CEO, stated, “One key element of a successful materials recycling program is the ability to sell recovered material at a price that will support the recycling process. While our customers have been satisfied with the material we have reclaimed, unfortunately the market price for these materials have dropped dramatically.”

Herbert said, “The key is to know your waste composition and what is recoverable—just because it’s paper doesn’t mean it’s recoverable.”

Although IREP Montgomery wasn’t making money on materials it sold, the facility “never had a load rejected,” Herbert said. The knock on mixed waste processing facilities “will always be quality,” he said.

To properly run a mixed waste processing facility, Herbert said embracing new markets and technology is key. To maximize recovery, he suggested running a single-stream system along with mixed materials processing.

In the end, IREP Montgomery serves as “a great case study,” said JD Lindeberg, president of sustainability and recycling consultancy Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Ann Arbor, Michigan, and another speaker in the WasteExpo session.

“There’s a lot to be learned from Montgomery—things that worked well and what didn’t,” Lindeberg said.

In the U.S., Lindeberg said mixed waste processing facilities have experienced high risk and closure rates.  Despite limited recovery and commodity issues—quality, quantities and markets—Lindeberg said mixed waste processing can work “for the right reasons.”

The public is demanding more recycling, he said. This demand is one driver of high diversion rates, said speaker Mitch Kessler of Kessler Consulting, Tampa, Florida.

“We like convenience and we like convenience in recycling,” Kessler said.

He added, “The challenge is how do we go further? Nobody is getting 75 percent [diversion rates] by sitting back.”

He suggested creating infrastructure for composting so that organic waste will be collected and not landfilled.

Regarding technology, Kessler said making automation much more viable is valuable.

Another suggestion from Kessler, and one shared by many speakers at WasteExpo 2016, is to move to fee-based funding.

He explained, “We do a horrible job communicating the value we provide to communities. We have to do a better job to communicate to residents that this all comes at a cost.”

Lindeberg agreed. He estimated recycling could cost an additional $2-$4 per household annually. “But what do you pay for cable?” Lindeberg questioned.

“Recycling has never been free. It has always cost something,” he said.

WasteExpo 2016 was June 6-9, 2016, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

He referenced “extremely successful mixed waste processing” that is occurring on the commercial side. That successful model is driven by “really good facility operators,” he said.