Casella Drives Innovation in Recycling and Sustainability With Materials Recovery Facility Upgrade – Waste Advantage Magazine
Casella Waste Systems, Inc. opened the doors of its newly renovated Charlestown, Massachusetts materials recovery facility with nearly 100 guests in attendance on Friday, June 9, 2023. The facility upgrade is complete with state-of-the-art equipment aimed to help increase throughput, improve end-product quality, and enhance safety. The event included remarks from Massachusetts State Representative Dan Ryan, State Senator Sal DiDomenico, and Boston’s Green New Deal Director, Oliver Sellers-Garcia. The Charlestown MRF, owned and operated by Casella, is one of the largest recycling facilities in the country and accepts materials from many customers and communities throughout Massachusetts and the greater Boston area. Casella invested approximately $20 million as part of the upgrade at the recycling facility.
“Since opening our first recycling facility in 1977, there has been a significant amount of innovation, technology, and change and we are proud to remain a leader in bringing that innovation to the marketplace,” said Casella Chairman and CEO, John W. Casella. “Today is another important milestone in our pursuit of becoming an even more sustainable business while serving our customers in a way that helps them meet their sustainability goals.”
The upgrades to the facility include some of the most advanced robotics and artificial intelligence technology in the industry from Machinex. The enhancements incorporate more than a dozen new elements for sorting material, including the Samurai® sorting robot. Machinex is an industry leader in engineering, manufacturing, and installing MRFs all around the world, renowned for its innovative, ultra-efficient, and low-maintenance recycling equipment.
“The Charlestown MRF consistently ranks among the top recycling facilities in the country in terms of tons processed annually. Our established partnership from past projects, built on mutual trust and shared values, has laid a solid foundation for success. The business philosophies between Machinex and Casella are very similar, and our goals for the project aligned perfectly, a testament to the strength of our longstanding relationship,” said Rusty Angel, Eastern Region Sales Manager for Machinex.
The facility was previously converted to a single-stream MRF in 2009 and has processed nearly 3 million tons of recyclables since then. The upgrades unveiled come on the heels of more than $30 million in investments by Casella in its Resource Solutions operations over the past two years. “We’re thrilled to continue to grow our operations here in the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Casella said. “With these upgrades we continue to become more efficient, produce cleaner material, and help to move forward the concept of a circular economy. While our sustainability journey is not complete, this is a significant step along that path.”
In 2005 Casella joined the EPA Climate Leaders as a charter member, and in 2012 the company was awarded the EPA’s Climate Leadership Award for Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Emissions after reducing its carbon footprint by more than 45% from 2005 through 2010. Today, Casella estimates for every metric ton of greenhouse gas Casella emits through its operations, the company prevents 4.8 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in society, through the recycling,