Monterey Regional Waste Management District unveils new facility

It’s the latest in recycling technology and it’s making a debut in Monterey County.

A new materials recovery facility is ready to go online at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District.

The new recycling facility is said to help the state reach its 75 percent recycling goal by 2020. It’s cutting edge technology with big implications for the future of recycling on the Central Coast.

The 24 million dollar building once called the future of recycling on the Central Coast is now here in the present.

The 100,000 square foot materials recovery facility was built to process more than 70 tons of recycling per hour.

“This facility is designed to sort clean recyclables and mixed trash, as well as construction demolition debris, all of that to a level to get to the goal of 75 percent recycling,” said Tim Flanagan, general manager with the Monterey Regional Waste Management District.

The facility uses state of the art technology like bag breakers and optical sorters to separate material brought from curbside recycling across Monterey County.

“All of that technology really is perhaps the main thing that’s driving the ease of recycling here at the facility,” Flanagan said.

Though the technology is advanced, it’s not eliminating jobs. At least seven new positions have been added, for now.

As the demand for the recycling grows we would need to add extra positions and in fact the facility is designed to run on two shifts and we’ll only be running one shift to start,” Flanagan said, “So the more demand for recycling comes in that will add another shift and that will be a whole other set of employees.”

The debut of the new facility also brought several community leaders.

“I think this is a great example of this community’s commitment not just to sustainability, not just to recycling, but to the protection of our environment.”

Congressman Jimmy Panetta says he hopes this will set an example for other areas, beyond the Central Coast.

“We are basically taking a small step in the protection of our planet right here,” Panetta said, “We should be proud of it.”