Waste Pro to build bigger Manatee reycling facility

TALLEVAST -- Waste Pro, one of two companies with franchises to haul Manatee County's solid waste, is putting $10.2 million into a new recycling processing center at its local facility $8.76 at a time.

Last week, the regional waste hauler filed permitting documents with the county to add a 15,000-square foot materials recovery facility to its current building near Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. It also plans to install $2.4 million in recyclables sorting equipment, to purchase $4.8 million in natural gas-powered recycling trucks and to install a natural gas refueling plan.

All of it, says Keith Banasiak, Waste Pro's Southwest Florida regional vice president, is designed to make his company a little leaner and a little greener.

The company is paid $8.76 per month per household by the county to pick up garbage, recycling and yard waste from about 70,000 homes located in western Manatee County. It also serves commercial customers.

That amount, Banasiak said, leaves narrow margins, particularly now. Under the terms of its contract, Waste Pro must put the recyclables it collects into the recycling market. It is allowed to keep all profits from those sales but must also absorb any losses.

Recyclables pricing has been low since the Great Recession. Until now, Waste Pro has been paying a competitor to process the materials it collects. Its expanded facility, which is planned to open as soon as June 1, will reduce those processing costs by keeping the work in house.

"Today, we pay more to get rid of it than to put it into landfill," Banasiak said. "What we can do, though, is not have a processor."

The timing of the addition coincides with the start of single-stream recycling in Manatee County. Waste Pro and the county's other garbage hauler, Waste Management, will start distributing 64-gallon carts to all Manatee County homes beginning in July. Currently, county

residents use a two-stream system that separates paper from all other recyclables. The material goes into small, plastic bins that are placed curbside on recycling days.

Banasiak said sorting, baling and hauling the recyclables from those carts at its local facility will allow it to control the quality of what it sells on the recycling market and to cut expenses. Right now, it is only processing cardboard in its current, 32,700-square-foot building that comes from commercial customers.

The new sorting process will separate glass, metals, plastics, paper and cardboard. Even with the new machines, much of the detail work will be done by an expanded workforce of human sorters. Banasiak said people are still better at sorting many recyclables than machines. For example, sorters will know plastic types just looking at them.

"They'll learn to visualize the different types of plastic by manufacturer," he said.

The system isn't perfect. Banasiak said Waste Pro expects about 10 percent of the recycling stream will still have to go to the landfill because it is contaminated or otherwise not recyclable. That compares to a non-recyclable rate of 3 to 5 percent in dual stream.

However, the company is expecting the overall amount of recyclables to increase due to the larger capacity of the new carts. Currently, Banasiak said, county residents and businesses often throw recyclables in the trash when they don't fit into the bins. Waste Pro estimates that it will collect around 2,000 tons of recyclables every month.

The company is on a short timeline. Its construction plan is on an express track through the county's planning and building departments. Construction could start within a few weeks.

The rest of Waste Pro's plans are also in rush mode. By the time single-stream recycling starts, the company will have a dozen natural gas-powered recycling trucks on the road.

They will replace diesel powered dual-stream trucks currently in the company's local 55-vehicle fleet. Banasiak said the new trucks will have lower carbon emissions than the old ones.

Waste Pro has owned its facility at 7921 15th St. E. since 2008. The building is a former lumber yard.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Waste Pro to build bigger Manatee reycling facility ."