The new plant will be opened by San Antonio’s new mayor, the Honorable Julian Castro and Mike Wynne, chief executive officer (CEO) of Greenstar North America and chairman and CEO of Greenstar Global at a private grand opening event on June 18, 2009.
The City of San Antonio has helped to pioneer recycling in Texas, stated Mike Wynne. Today’s grand opening demonstrates the commitment that has been made to increasing recycling rates – which is the right choice and allows the City to decrease landfill cost, preserve natural resources and reduce carbon emissions.
Greenstar has experienced a rise in recycling rates across Texas, mainly in San Antonio. San Antonio rates have increased as high as 200% over the previous collection approach in some areas. Instant increase is a direct result of the city executing a single stream collection system and also converting their existing 18-gallon collection system to 95 gallon carts. Single stream processing lets participants put recyclables conveniently into one bin, enabling for efficient collection of materials and a decrease in labor.
Greenstar has chosen Texas as its North American headquarters recognizing there is a considerable amount of potential on commercial and municipal side for growth in recycling. Over the last two years, the company has invested over $300m in its US recycling business, of which $50m has been invested in Texas and in total, over this same period, its parent company, NTR, invested over $700 million in its US environmental businesses.
Greenstar is committed to working with our city and commercial partners to invest in technology that brings recycling solutions and reduces program costs, stated John Rabon, southwest regional manager, Greenstar. Greenstar opted to build the facility in San Antonio because it has the largest recycling program in the State and will serve as an excellent hub to collect materials from key regions across Texas.
The new facility employs about 100 people and accepts single stream materials from other recycling programs across the Central and South Texas region.
We applaud those Texas cities that are aggressively looking to implement and improve sustainable programs, added Wynne. We believe recycling should be at the core of all sustainability efforts. The dedication of cities, such as San Antonio, to implementing state-of-the-art recycling programs and technologies has enabled Greenstar to provide cost-saving programs while increasing the amount of materials collected.
Greenstar is a municipal recycler.
