Balcones starts up newest Texas MRF

Balcones Recycling, a business unit of New York-based Circular Services and Closed Loop Partners, held a mid-June grand opening for its new material recovery facility (MRF) in San Antonio, Texas.

The company welcomed community leaders, industry and municipal partners and other guests June 13 to celebrate both the opening of the new MRF and the 30th anniversary of Balcones.

While Balcones has family business roots, it is now a business unit of Circular Services, one of the largest privately held recycling companies in the United States.

“The inauguration marks a significant milestone in the company’s commitment to revolutionize recycling and increase recycling rates across the country,” Balcones says.

The new facility is equipped with a 50 tons-per-hour sorting system provided by the California-based CP Group. Balcones says the new San Antonio MRF will be the first with a fully automated container line, "making it the most automated facility in the country.”

The facility will process both residential and commercial single-stream materials for the city of San Antonio and surrounding communities, and recovered recyclable materials will be marketed in North America.

In addition to CP Group technology, the new building was designed and constructed by Texas-based contractor KDW.

The 145,000-square-foot facility represents a $68 million investment in the region’s recycling infrastructure. The campus also includes the latest innovations in recycling technology, amenities dedicated to employee wellness and community engagement programs, according to Balcones.

“As we established when we first sought out this project, our goal is to deliver a recycling campus that is without peer anywhere in the country,” Balcones President Adam Vehik says. “This facility is living proof of our commitment to that goal.”

The San Antonio MRF is Balcones’ fourth facility in Texas and hosts drop-off options for recyclable materials for people living outside of cities covered by recycling programs.

The city of San Antonio awarded Balcones with a 15-year municipal recycling contract in April 2022 that begins Aug. 1.

Balcones says the MRF will be one of the first facilities of its kind with the capability to sort hard-to-recycle materials like film and flexible plastics.

“We are excited about the environmental and economic impact that the recycling campus will bring to the community,” Vehik says. “We designed this facility specifically to exceed the city of San Antonio’s diversion goals and to serve the community as environmental stewards for many years.”

The inauguration of the facility brings Balcones Recycling’s total reach to 19 regions in the U.S., serving hundreds of municipalities, 13 million people and processing more than 1 million tons of material annually, according to Circular Services.

In addition to its initial presence in Texas and Arkansas, Balcones now operates in Arizona, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

“Balcones Recycling plays an important role in achieving Circular Services’ mission to provide more communities and companies with solutions to reduce dependence on extraction and landfill,” says Jessica Long, chief strategy officer of Circular Services and Closed Loop Partners.

“The opening of the San Antonio facility is a milestone for advancing circular economy infrastructure in the country. The state-of-the art facility demonstrates best practices for material recovery and is anticipated to have a significant impact on keeping more materials in circulation across the region.”