Texas Disposal Systems has opened a fully integrated construction and demolition materials recycling facility — the region’s first — at 3016 FM1327 near its existing disposal site in Creedmoor, just southeast of Austin.
The 52,000-square-foot facility cost $5.5 million was specifically designed to increase opportunities for recycling and waste diversion in Central Texas, TDS's Adam Gregory said in a statement.
“Our team saw the rapid expansion happening throughout Central Texas and realized the volume of construction that would be required as our communities and the Greater Austin economy continued to expand. We envisioned this facility as an innovative, tech-driven resource for companies who were laying strong foundations throughout our communities, and who want to do it in the most sustainable way possible.”
The facility can create a greener recycling ecosystem by using automation and processing materials in-house, TDS said in a news release, reducing carbon emission pollution formerly created by having to transport materials to other locations.
The facility is expected to process between 25-50 tons per hour, which could result in the diversion of up to 70 percent of construction and demolition materials from landfills, according to the release. The system can handle concrete, aggregates, untreated wood, cardboard, plastics, and metals, helping keep those materials out of local landfills.
In 2015, Austin approved passed an ordinance requiring construction and demolition projects to recycle or reuse debris requiring projects with building permits for more than 5,000 square feet of new, added, or remodeled floor area to do divert at least 50 percent of the construction and demolition project debris from the landfill and/or dispose of fewer than 2.5 pounds of construction and demolition debris per square foot of permitted floor area in the landfill.
The city recommends reusing construction and demolition material on-site, sending separated materials to reuse facilities, sending mixed materials to construction and demolition processors, or a combination of those actions.
Contractors are also required to report how much debris on a project was recycled and how much was put in landfills; scofflaws face hundreds of dollars in fines per day.
