Republic Services and local community leaders in the Salt River Valley, Arizona, have celebrated the opening of a new recycling centre. The Salt River Recycling Center will help improve recycling rates in the area with a higher capacity and more modern technology than its predecessor.
The 51,000-square-foot recycling centre, located in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, will manage recyclables from approximately 1.4 million residents and more than 2,000 businesses throughout the Salt River Valley. The facility will process up to 40 tons, or eight truckloads, of recyclables per hour, including paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and jugs, metal food and beverage cans, and glass bottles and jars.
"The new Salt River Recycling Center reinforces Republic Services' commitment to circularity, sustainability, and the community," said Republic Services Area President Javara Perrilliat. "This facility will help meet growing demand for recycling throughout the Valley and help our customers achieve their sustainability goals."
The facility utilizes five optical sorters that use digital recognition to identify and separate paper or plastic in milliseconds and artificial intelligence to help reduce contamination along with other new sorting technologies. AI system data also enables operators to make real-time adjustments to maximize the volume of materials recycled.
Plastics from the Salt River Recycling Center will be transported to a Republic Services polymer centre in Las Vegas. The polymer centre's processes will grind, sort, and wash the plastics so they can become new bottles, jugs, and containers.
