Republic Services Inc. is investing nearly $19 million to upgrade two recycling centers in the St. Louis area.
The Phoenix-based Republic said in a news release it is enhancing the Missouri recycling operations in Hazelwood and Bella Villa with more efficient sorting equipment. The upgrades will allow Republic to triple its recycling capacity to as much as 30 tons per hour. The company said it is the largest recycling technology investment of its kind in Missouri history. The upgrade will add 20 jobs.
The renovation will allow Republic to meet current demand and expand recycling in the future. "We want St. Louis to rethink waste and shift the paradigm to focus first on recycling, and then send the material that remains to the landfill," said Tim Trost, area president for the company. St. Louis recycles only 3 percent of its waste, according to Munich-based Siemens AG’s annual Green City Index in 2011.
Republic serves more than 200,000 households and 27,000 commercial and industrial accounts in the St. Louis region.