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MassDEP Grants to Increase Recycling of Hard-to-recycle Materials
Grants target recycling or reuse of glass, wood, plastics and mixed recyclables.
3 Min Read
Massachusetts’ Baker-Polito administration awarded more than $1 million in grants to six companies under the Recycling Business Development Grant (RBDG) program, which will enable the companies to better process and manage glass, wood, plastics and mixed recyclables.
The grant program, administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), will expand the recycling operations and increase the amount and quality of recycling now occurring at 120 Old Boston Road Recycling Co. of Wilbraham; Aaron Industries Corp. of Leominster; Casella Waste Management of MA, Auburn; J M Equipment Co. of East Freetown; Champion City Recovery of Stoughton; and United Material Management of Millbury.
“Partnering with private businesses and local stakeholders is a vital part of our efforts to increase and improve recycling in Massachusetts to protect our natural resources and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in a statement. “These recycling grants will support local businesses, grow the economy and make the Commonwealth more sustainable.”
“Increasing recycling opportunities for hard-to-recycle materials in communities across the Commonwealth will help significantly reduce our waste stream, while creating jobs and stimulating the economy,” said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito in a statement. “With this grant program, we are investing in infrastructure to better manage those materials that private industry can collect and convert into valuable end products.”
The RBDG program targets difficult-to-recycle materials, including glass, wood, plastics and mixed recyclables. This most recent round of grants will fund projects that promote materials recovery and will build the state’s infrastructure to better manage these materials. As a condition of receiving funding, grant recipients commit to meeting tonnage goals over a two-year period.
“Massachusetts has a goal to reduce our trash disposal by 2 million tons annually by 2020, and under our updated Solid Waste Master Plan for 2020-2030, we will seek to better that goal,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg in a statement. “The businesses receiving these grants will help to keep these valuable materials out of the waste stream and, instead, turn them into new products, valuable compost or a renewable energy source.”
Grant recipients are:
120 Old Boston Road Recycling Company, LLC: Awarded up to $150,000 to purchase new sorting equipment that will enable the company to separate clean wood from incoming construction and demolition material. This processing equipment will enable the facility to separate up to 4,000 tons of wood per year for recycling.
Aaron Industries Corp.: Awarded up to $80,000 to procure an ADG Solutions Automatic Screen Changer for processing post-consumer and post-industrial polypropylene and polystyrene. This machine will increase through-put volume; reduce downtime by continuous extrusion; increase raw material flexibility; and reduce production waste by 96 percent. Further, the new machine will allow Aaron Industries to purchase materials previously determined to be too difficult to process due to high levels of contaminants, such as post-consumer material from municipal recycling facilities, and increase tonnage by 320 tons per year.
Casella Waste Management of MA: Awarded up to $300,000 to fund a facility retrofit to allow for additional processing capacity and to increase the value of existing fiber product lines. The retrofit will increase the tonnage capacity of the facility by 12,000 tons per year.
J M Equipment Co., Inc.: Awarded up to $300,000 to procure a Metso LT 1213 Impact Crusher. This machine will allow the grantee to process container glass into processed glass aggregate (PGA) that meets Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MassDEP specifications for PGA. This equipment will allow the company to process up to 12,000 tons of glass per year into PGA.
Champion City Recovery, LLC: Awarded up to $100,000 to purchase equipment for a quality control line that will enable the company to separate clean wood from incoming construction and demolition material. This processing equipment will enable the facility to separate an additional 1,200 tons of wood per year for recycling.
United Material Management of Millbury, LLC: Awarded up to $100,000 to purchase optical sorting equipment to increase the yield of clean wood the facility produces. This new processing equipment will enable the facility to separate an additional 4,500 tons of wood per year for recycling.
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