The Baker-Polito Administration awarded more than $1 million in grants to six companies under the Recycling Business Development Grant (RBDG) program, which will enable the companies to better process and manage glass, wood, plastics and mixed recyclables. The grant program, administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), will expand the recycling operations and increase the amount and quality of recycling now occurring at 120 Old Boston Road Recycling Co. of Wilbraham; Aaron Industries Corp. of Leominster; Casella Waste Management of MA, Auburn; J M Equipment Co. of East Freetown; Champion City Recovery of Stoughton; and United Material Management of Millbury.
“Partnering with private businesses and local stakeholders is a vital part of our efforts to increase and improve recycling in Massachusetts to protect our natural resources and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “These recycling grants will support local businesses, grow the economy and make the Commonwealth more sustainable.”
“Increasing recycling opportunities for hard-to-recycle materials in communities across the Commonwealth will help significantly reduce our waste stream, while creating jobs and stimulating the economy,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “With this grant program, we are investing in infrastructure to better manage those materials that private industry can collect and convert into valuable end-products.”
The RBDG program targets difficult-to-recycle materials, including glass, wood, plastics, and mixed recyclables. This most-recent round of grants will fund projects that promote materials recovery and will build the state’s infrastructure to better manage these materials. As a condition of receiving funding, grant recipients commit to meeting tonnage goals over a two-year period.
“To reach our waste reduction and recycling goals, we need businesses across the state to join us in our campaign to productively reuse more and more of these valuable materials,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton. “Investments like this support the growth of Massachusetts businesses, while helping to reduce pollution and protecting our environment for future generations.”
“Massachusetts has a goal to reduce our trash disposal by 2 million tons annually by 2020, and under our updated Solid Waste Master Plan for 2020-2030, we will seek to better that goal,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “The businesses receiving these grants will help to keep these valuable materials out of the waste stream and, instead, turn them into new products, valuable compost or a renewable energy source.”
The grant recipients are:
Company: 120 Old Boston Road Recycling Company, LLC
Community: Wilbraham
Amount Awarded: Up to $150,000
Project Description: 120 Old Boston Road Recycling Company, LLC operates a construction and demolition processing facility that accepts and processes mixed construction and demolition debris materials. 120 Old Boston Road Recycling requested funds to purchase new sorting equipment that will enable them to separate clean wood from incoming construction and demolition material. This processing equipment will enable the facility to separate up to 4,000 tons of wood per year for recycling.
Company: Aaron Industries Corp.
Community: Leominster
Amount Awarded: Up to $80,000
Project Description: Aaron Industries Corp. is a manufacturer and distributor of polypropylene, polystyrene and polyethylene. Grant funding will be used, in part, to procure an ADG Solutions Automatic Screen Changer for processing post-consumer and post-industrial polypropylene and polystyrene. This machine will significantly increase through-put volume; reduce downtime by continuous extrusion; increase raw material flexibility; and reduce production waste by 96 percent. Further, the new machine will allow Aaron Industries to purchase materials previously determined to be too difficult to process due to high levels of contaminants, such as post-consumer material from municipal recycling facilities, and increase tonnage by 320 tons per year.
Company: Casella Waste Management of MA
Community: Auburn
Amount Awarded: Up to $300,000
Project Description: Casella Waste Management of MA is a fully integrated, solid waste organization, processing and marketing more than 270,000 tons of traditional recycling material in the state. Grant funding will be used, in part, to fund a facility retrofit to allow for additional processing capacity and to increase the value of existing fiber product lines. The retrofit will increase the tonnage capacity of the facility by 12,000 tons per year.
Company: J M Equipment Co., Inc.
Community: East Freetown
Amount Awarded: Up to $300,000
Project Description: J M Equipment Co., Inc. operates an aggregate and fill business. Grant funding will be used, in part, to procure a Metso LT 1213 Impact Crusher. This machine will allow the grantee to process container glass into processed glass aggregate (PGA) that meets Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MassDEP specifications for PGA. This equipment will allow the company to process up to 12,000 tons of glass per year into PGA.
Company: Champion City Recovery, LLC (d/b/a Stoughton Recycling)
Community: Stoughton
Amount Awarded: Up to $100,000
Project Description: Champion City Recovery, LLC operates a construction and demolition processing facility that accepts and processes mixed construction and demolition debris materials. Stoughton Recycling is requesting funds to purchase equipment for a quality control line that will enable them to separate clean wood from incoming construction and demolition material. This processing equipment will enable the facility to separate an additional 1,200 tons of wood per year for recycling.
Company: United Material Management of Millbury, LLC
Community: Millbury
Amount Awarded: Up to $100,000
Project Description: United Material Management of Millbury operates a construction and demolition processing facility that accepts and processes mixed construction and demolition debris materials. UMM requested funds to purchase optical sorting equipment to increase the yield of clean wood the facility produces. This new processing equipment will enable the facility to separate an additional 4,500 tons of wood per year for recycling.
“This grant funding is critical to supporting new opportunities for sustainability in our Commonwealth,” said State Senator Michael O. Moore (D-Millbury). “As a former Environmental Police Officer, I recognize the importance of actively promoting environmental protection. I commend United Material Management in my hometown of Millbury on receiving this grant and I am confident that this funding will assist with their sustainable recycling efforts.”
“It is vital that we take a hard look at industries with ‘difficult-to-recycle materials’ and find new and innovative ways to remove those barriers,” said State Representative Natalie Higgins (D-Leominster). “I’m proud that Aaron Industries Corp. is a recipient of the RBDG grant program and will be reducing production waste and finding new opportunities to re-use post-consumer materials from our municipal recycling facilities.”
The RDBG program is one of a number of efforts by the Baker-Polito Administration to promote recycling efforts across the Commonwealth. Previous programs have included the awarding of $2.6 million in recycling grants to 247 communities and solid waste districts to help reduce the waste stream and maximize materials reuse and recycling; the announcement of a new “Recycle Smart” initiative and web site to emphasize the importance of putting only the proper materials into the recycling bin; and the unveiling of the Recycling IQ Kit program to help municipalities educate residents on how to better recycle in order to remove contaminants from the recycling stream and make those materials more attractive to the world’s commodity markets.