WM announced that it has opened a new, $48 million recycling facility in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. The Grand Central Recycling Facility is expected to process up to 120,000 tons of material per year by leveraging advanced technology equipped with automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
鈥淲M has invested $48 million in this facility,鈥� said Chris Farley, vice president of WM鈥檚 Greater Mid-Atlantic Area, during a dedication ceremony this morning. 鈥淭his plant can process as much as 120,000 tons of material a year and produce commodities that are more attractive to the mills that turn these materials into new products.鈥�
The facility鈥檚 use of advanced technology, including optical sorters and volumetric scanners is intended to:
- Allow it to collect and sort more types of plastics, including those that it previously could not, such as yogurt containers made of polypropylene.
- Process more material more efficiently, which supports recycling growth in the community.
- Reduce contamination challenges and improve the quality of the end product, providing WM customers with bales of recycled material that can be used as feedstock to create new products, such as backpacks, boxes, water bottles, cans and apparel.
This facility is part of WM鈥檚 enterprise-wide plans to invest more than $1.4 billion in 39 new and upgraded recycling facilities across North America from 2022 to 2026, which is expected to add approximately 2.8 million tons of incremental annual processing capacity by the end of 2026. These planned investments seek to enable WM to increase its ability to manage more recycled materials and potentially enhance access to recycling for its customers.