New facility has an annual processing capacity of 330,000 tons.
City of Industry, California-based Athens Services has announced the opening of a new 80,000-square-foot material recovery facility (MRF) in Sun Valley that is designed to process more than 330,000 tons of mixed waste per year.
Construction of the facility began in October 2013, and the facility began accepting materials in mid-October 2014.
The Sun Valley MRF represents a $50 million investment by Athens and features optical sorting and diversion technologies designed to allow the company to divert as much material as possible from area landfills. The facility, which will accept 1,500 tons of material per day, was designed to meet Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) specifications. (The MRF is awaiting certification.) The fully enclosed building will be powered with 200 kilowatts (KW) of rooftop solar power. LEED features include lighting and cooling efficiency measures, bicycle racks and lockers, electric vehicle charging stations and low-volatile-organic-compound (low-VOC) building materials.
The 70-ton-per-hour (tph) mixed-waste MRF was designed, engineered, manufactured and installed by Eugene, Oregon-based Bulk Handling Systems (BHS). Among the equipment used to separate commodities from the waste stream is a BHS disc-screen, Nihot air separation equipment and NRT optical sorting technology.
“Athens Services believes strongly in investing in the latest technologies to improve our processes and ensure the diversion of as much waste as possible from area landfills,” says Greg Loughnane, president, Athens Services. “Whether that be building new ultramodern facilities or upgrading existing ones—we keep our finger on the pulse of the latest advancements in the industry.”
“This facility is an example of a forward-thinking company deploying advanced technology to extract maximum value from the waste stream,” says BHS CEO Steve Miller. “Athens Services should be commended on opening what is one of the most advanced materials recovery facilities in the world.”
Athens says it currently maintains the largest recycling infrastructure of any company operating in the Southern California market. With the addition of this new facility, Athens will have a recycling processing capacity of 2 million tons per year of municipal solid waste (MSW), continuing its commitment, it says, to build the largest municipal solid waste management infrastructure in the greater Los Angeles area.
“Athens’ growth in the region is testament to the city’s commitment to achieve Zero Waste,” Loughnane says. “We don’t own any landfills. Our focus has always been exclusively on responsible waste collection and investing in the newest technologies to recover as much material as possible for other uses.”
