Industry investment supports Balcones equipment purchase

A $3 million loan will facilitate additional sorting machinery to be installed at Balcones Recycling’s new MRF in San Antonio, Texas. Funding partners offered details on the recently-opened MRF’s total equipment capabilities.

American Beverage, an industry group of beverage company giants, on Aug. 1 announced it would provide the loan for equipment purchases at the facility. The MRF opened in June after two years in development.

Funding the MRF falls into American Beverage’s purview because it will expand capture of bottles and cans, which is a core mission of the group’s Every Bottle Back initiative. In a statement, the industry group said its financing supports “the installation of new equipment to improve the processing and recycling of materials and add recycling capacity at the facility.”

Balcones is part of the Circular Services arm of Closed Loop Partners, which was also involved in facilitating the loan.

An American Beverage spokesperson told Resource Recycling the loan will go toward financing a variety of equipment. All told, the MRF will include eight optical sorters, three auger screens, two high-volume disc screens, an anti-wrap screen, an eddy current separator, a drum magnet, a four-deck glass breaker and three balers. Resource Recycling previously spoke with Balcones executives about their equipment choices for the facility. 

The American Beverage spokesperson added that the sorting equipment will “enable a 95% capture rate on PET, HDPE and PP, a significant improvement compared to the 47% capture rate of the current processor.” That capture rate increase will translate to an estimated initial increase of 14,000 additional tons of recyclables per year, the spokesperson added.

Balcones began developing the MRF in 2022 after winning a bid to process residential and commercial recyclables for the city of San Antonio, which has about 1.5 million residents. Balcones won out over WM, FCC Environmental and Republic Services, which held the previous contract. 

Balcones’ contract took effect Aug. 1, the same day the loan was announced.