Georgia-Pacific’s Juno receives recognition

Juno, a recycling technology pioneered by Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific (GP), has been recognized by three entities for innovation and sustainability and the impact it is having on recycling and landfill diversion.

GP developed the technology to recycle highly contaminated recovered fiber and mixed materials, piloting it at its plant in Savannah, Georgia, starting in 2013. It installed the technology at its Toledo, Oregon, material recovery facility (NRF), which opened in the spring of 2021.

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The Toledo MRF uses autoclaving, which is typically used by hospitals to sterilize waste materials. “We use that technology to cook and sanitize the incoming waste,” Christer Henriksson, president of Juno Technology at GP, told Recycling Today in May 2021 when the MRF opened.

After the autoclave, separation technologies sort materials into different commodity streams, such as paper, plastics and metals. The recovered fiber is used by GP’s containerboard mill in Toledo, which is next to the MRF, to make linerboard for corrugated boxes. Other items, such as metals and plastics, are sold to other consumers.

In the fall of last year, Juno was recognized for its contributions to sustainability and recycling innovation. The American Forest and Paper Association, Washington, honored the technology with its Better Practices, Better Planet 2030 Innovation in Sustainability Award. The technology received the 2022 Makers & Manufacturers Award from the Portland Business Journal, which recognizes the region’s top manufacturing companies that drive the economy with innovation, excellence and productivity. Finally, the Engineering News-Record recognized Juno’s contractor, Greenberry Industrial LLC, as the top Energy/Industrial project in the region with its 2022 Best Projects Award in the Best Energy/Industrial Engineering – ENR Northwest. Juno was one of the 13 best project category winners selected from nearly 100 nominations.

“Juno is a revolutionary and now proven approach to waste diversion that is helping communities reach their sustainability goals,” says Henriksson. “We are grateful for the recognition of what Juno has become—a leader in resource recovery and reuse.”