WM to Build New Recycling Facility in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  – As the region continues to face a construction and demolition (C&D) waste crisis, WM today announced plans to build a new C&D recycling facility on-site at its Southern Services Eco Park in Nashville. The new recycling facility, expected to be operational by September 2023, is designed to accept up to 1,200 tons per day of C&D material, more than 10 times the site’s current recycling capacity.

“We are excited about this new facility and the opportunity to increase construction and demolition recycling capacity for the area,” said Don Gentilcore, Mid-South Area Director of Disposal Operations for WM. “Along with these infrastructure improvements, policy changes are also needed to address the region’s C&D waste crisis, and we look forward to working with the city as it implements new policies to incentivize C&D recycling and to create end markets for recovered materials.”

WM serves on Metro’s C&D steering committee, which has met quarterly over the last year to help inform the city’s policy response to the C&D waste crisis. Metro provided an update on its plans to phase in C&D recycling requirements at the March Solid Waste Region Board meeting.

Southern Services, located in an industrial area between Briley Parkway and Ashland City Highway, is also home to the only C&D landfill in Davidson County. The development of a new C&D recycling facility on site will allow WM to provide additional disposal options and capacity to its customers, while still utilizing the co-located landfill to dispose of non-recyclable materials.

Southern Services currently accepts a limited amount of C&D material for recycling, primarily from sites seeking LEED certification or to meet diversion goals. For the last several months, students and faculty from Tennessee State University (TSU) have been auditing the incoming C&D waste stream as the first step in a multi-year research engagement to better understand potential diversion/reuse strategies.

In addition to C&D waste management, WM works with Metro Nashville on a number of other initiatives to advance the city’s sustainability goals, including processing the residential recyclables at WM’s River Hills Recycling Facility. In 2022, the River Hills facility processed approximately 26,800 tons of material, 56% of which came from Metro’s residential recycling program. That volume is expected to grow substantially in 2023 now that Metro’s curbside recycling program has moved to every-other-week pick-up.

ABOUT WM

WM (WM.com) is North America's leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions. Previously known as Waste Management and based in Houston, Texas, WM is driven by commitments to put people first and achieve success with integrity. The company, through its subsidiaries, provides collection, recycling, and disposal services to millions of residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. With innovative infrastructure and capabilities in recycling, organics, and renewable energy, WM provides environmental solutions to and collaborates with its customers in helping them achieve their sustainability goals. WM has the largest disposal network and collection fleet in North America, is the largest recycler of post-consumer materials, and is the leader in beneficial use of landfill gas, with a growing network of renewable natural gas plants and the most landfill gas-to-electricity plants in North America. WM's fleet includes nearly 11,000 natural gas trucks – the largest heavy-duty natural gas truck fleet of its kind in North America. To learn more about WM and the company's sustainability progress and solutions, visit Sustainability.WM.com.