Athens Services Opens MRF for Southern CaliforniaAthens Services Opens MRF for Southern California

Waste and recycling firm Athens Services has opened a material recovery facility (MRF) in Sun Valley, Calif., designed to process more than 330,000 tons of mixed waste annually.

The City of Industry, Calif.-based Athens Services opened the 80,000-sq.-ft. MRF with a $50 million investment. Eugene, Ore.-based Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) designed and built the 70-ton per hour MRF featuring commodity separation equipment such the BHS disc screen, Nihot air and NRT optical sorting technology, according to a BHS news release. Construction began last October.

The facility was designed to meet Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) specifications and includes a 200-kilowatt rooftop solar operation that will power the building.

With the new facility Athens Services will have recycling processing capacity of 2 million tons per year of municipal solid waste (MSW), continuing its commitment to building the largest municipal solid waste management infrastructure in the greater Los Angeles area.

“Athens’ growth in the region is testament to the city’s commitment to achieve zero waste,” said Athens Services President Greg Loughnane. “We don’t own any landfills. Our focus has always been exclusively on responsible waste collection and investing in the newest technologies to recover as much material as possible for other uses.”