A shuttered mixed-waste processing facility in Montgomery, Alabama, could open again by summer, according to the city’s Mayor Todd Strange. An article in the Montgomery Advertiser notes the city has started the foreclosure process on the center. An auction is scheduled for Feb. 17, 2016, however, Strange says city officials are negotiating with the facility owners to avoid the action through an “amicable transfer of title.”

The owner of the Infinitus Renewable Energy Park (IREP) Montgomery, Plantation, Florida-based Infinitus Energy, closed the facility in October 2015. 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.”

Strange says that if a title transfer of the property can occur at a minimal cost, the city would be able to issue a request for proposals to find a facility operator.

“We really don’t want to do anything until we have the control,” he says, but he does mention the city “will probably go to a double stream where you would put your garbage in one can and all recyclables in another can.”

Strange notes the mixed waste facility was labor intensive on the front end, by having to remove nonhoushold garbage, such as tires, dead animals and toasters, that would be placed in the bins. “The technology really does work separating plastics and cardboard and plastics,” he said.

Strange says the city hopes to be in a position to put an RFP (request for proposals) out by summer.