Republic Services, Inc. and Lab USA unveiled a state-of-the-art ash metal recovery facility today at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Roosevelt, Washington. The advanced process allows for the reclamation of metals found in ash previously lost through traditional methods of resource recovery. The facility is set to process all newly delivered ash to the Roosevelt Landfill as well as systematically process all of the existing ash currently in the landfill. Once recovered, the metals are recycled, shipped to manufacturers and repurposed to make new metal products.
The facility is estimated to recover and recycle over 46,200 tons of ferrous metals and 42,900 tons of non-ferrous metals.
A press release announcing the new facility said the volume of metals recovered and recycled through this facility will have measurable environmental impacts. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the energy consumption of recycling iron is 20 percent lower than that of mining and processing iron from natural resources. The planned recovery of 46,200 tons of ferrous metals from this facility is equivalent to constructing approximately six Eiffel Towers.
As such, reclaiming these metals that were previously lost through traditional methods of resource recovery significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.