For a second consecutive year, waste hauler Republic Services recovered fewer tons of recyclable materials than in the previous year, according to the company’s 2023 ESG report.
Republic recovered 2.2 million tons of cardboard, metal, organics, paper and plastics – a decrease of 0.2 million tons from the previous year and the lowest level since 2017. In 2017-2022, volumes hovered between 2.4 million and 2.6 million, the report showed.
Contributing factors included renovations and development at major recycling facilities during the year, the company said in the report, adding that “we expect the investments we’re making now to accelerate progress toward our 2030 goals.”
The company has a 2030 goal of 3.4 million tons of key materials recovered.
In 2023, Republic processed 4.3 million tons of recyclable material at its 74 recycling and organics facilities across North America, including cardboard (49%), paper (25%), organics (10%), plastics (6%), metal (4%), glass (3%) and other (3%).
Republic opened the first of its four Polymer Centers in Las Vegas in late 2023 and has started construction on the second in Indianapolis.
The Indiana center will be co-located with the first site for the Blue Polymers polyolefins joint venture with plastics distributor Ravago, and a second Blue Polymers plant is planned for Buckeye, Arizona. Republic plans a total of four Polymer Center and Blue Polymers locations but has not yet announced locations for the remaining two co-located sites.
The Las Vegas center supplies RPET flake to The Coca-Cola Co., which aims to use at least 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030. Other offtake partners include Circularix.
The company’s new Salt River Recycling Center near Phoenix, which opened in fall 2023 and replaced the previous facility that burned down in 2019, has helped increase the city of Mesa’s diversion rate from 30% to 60%, Republic said in the report.
That center services 1.4 million residents and more than 2,000 businesses, with processing capacity of 40 tons per hour, according to the report.
In 2023, the company spent $176 million on recycling infrastructure and technology improvement projects at 11 of its recycling facilities, helping to increase capacity and capabilities.
Republic has deployed robotic arms in nearly 20% of its recycling facilities for tasks such as sorting containers or picking out contaminants, and more robotics are expected to be installed in 2024, the report said.
“While many customers and communities are doing their part to recycle, nationally, the recycling rate is only 32%,” the company said, citing the latest U.S. EPA figures for 2018. “While consumers generally do a good job of recycling at home, we need to improve access to recycling away from home. Single-use packaging is often consumed on the go, which is why we’re innovating ways to increase opportunities for out-of-home collection.”
A company spokesperson told Resource Recycling this statement refers to projects that are in the works, and more details would be coming.
Organics and hard-to-recycle materials
Republic operates 22 organics facilities in North America, including Wasteco in Toronto, Canada, which became part of Republic in 2023.
Wasteco removes unsellable foods and liquids from their packaging and then generates energy using anaerobic digestion. It also repurposes solid foods for animal feed and recycles the containers. In 2023, Wasteco processed more than 13,000 tons of food and beverages and diverted nearly 450 tons of food as animal feed.
In Northern California, Republic’s anaerobic digestion facility processed 28,000 tons of organic waste, creating biogas to generate enough electricity to power the facility. The facility also produced 20,000 gallons daily of digestate, the organic material that remains after anaerobic digestion that is used at compost sites to add moisture and nutrients.
In 2023, Republic partnered with the Indianapolis Colts football team to offer two e-scrap recycling events, resulting in the collection of nearly 90 tons of e-scrap. Republic also recycled 2.2 million pounds of aerosol cans during the year and reached 2.1 million pounds of oil recycled, an increase of more than 9% over 2022.
