Athens Services welcomed representatives from several Southern California cities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the company’s first materials recovery facility (MRF) on Thursday, May 27. The City of Industry MRF opened in 1996. It was the first mixed-materials recovery facility in the San Gabriel Valley and the largest mixed-waste processing site in Los Angeles County. More than 240 elected officials, public works directors, Los Angeles County Sanitation District representatives, and Athens employees attended the event and toured the plant.
“When this facility opened, it introduced a new way of recycling to the San Gabriel Valley,” said Greg Loughnane, Executive Director. Athens now operates three MRFs in Los Angeles County. In total, they receive and process nearly 1.7 million tons of waste and recyclables every year from 300,000 truckloads. We are proud of the design of our MRFs. But we are more proud of thehundreds who work at the MRFs every day to safely and responsibly manage such an enormous volume of material.”
South El Monte Mayor Gloria Olmos presented a certificate from the City Council recognizing the milestone to Executive Vice President Gary Clifford. “Three cities took a chance on Athens Services 25 years ago. They believed in our ability to provide them with outstanding diversion through a mixed-waste processing plant,” Clifford told the crowd. Today, the MRF serves more than 30 communities. This plant exemplifies our landfill avoidance strategy and continues to keep the San Gabriel Valley on the cutting edge of technology.”
Loughnane gave the crowd an overview of Athens’ fourth MRF, planned for Irwindale. It will feature more enhanced automation, including optical sorting equipment, artificial intelligence, and cutting-edge robotics. “The Irwindale MRF will be a testimony of the company’s commitment to helping customers increase diversion from landfills while abetting pollution and climate change.” He concluded that the capabilities of the City of Industry and Irwindale MRFs will complement each other, maximizing recovery of organics and commodities for years to come.