Plan to Recycle 6000 tpd of Waste Sent to Dallas Landfill

20 September 2011

Dallas based waste separation and renewable energy company, Organic Energy Corporation (OEC) is seeking permission from the City of Dallas to build a multimillion dollar recycling facility at the McCommas Bluff Landfill. 

The company claims that the privately owned and operated facility would capture up to 95% of the recyclables available from the city's waste, while raising between $5 million and $20 million each year for the city. 

According to OEC, the first facility represents nearly $100 million of investment directly into South Dallas, creating a public/private partnership The City's only commitments would be to provide the garbage and lease some land.

The proposed facility would use a combination of manual labour and machinery to sort the waste straight from the collection vehicle. The company says that the system is modelled on plants in Europe, where recycling and waste minimisation have been necessary for decades. 

According to the company, Dallas sends some 6000 tons (5443 tonne) of garbage every day to the landfill every day, and inspite of Dallas's kerbside recycling scheme over 3500 of those tons (3175 tonnes) are recyclable products which can be captured and sold.

"Kerbside Recycling is a bad joke in this country," says Barney Gorey, vice president of public affairs for OEC. "We love to think we make an impact, but Dallas actually spent $12 million on kerbside last year to resell $2 million worth of recyclables." 

OEC says that its plans to deploy a multi-patent pending mechanical separation system at the facility to homogenise the waste, while separating the recyclables from the food and green waste and inert materials. 

The plastics, papers and metals are baled for resale while the food and green wastes will be utilised to generate bio-methane. 

"The paper, plastic and metals are worth millions and can begin to bring real green jobs to Dallas," adds Gorey.

The company claims that it can finance the entire operation from the waste generated by the city and revenue share its profits on a 50/50 basis with Dallas. Gorey expects the total money the city could receive from the scheme to be between $5 million and $20 million annually for a 20-year contract.

"The extra 5000 tons (4535 tonnes) daily being buried in private landfills has incredible value", says George Gitschel, CEO.  "Millions of dollars of Dallas revenue is being needlessly buried in private landfills, when we can capture that value and give it back to the citizens.  It's their money."

The company currently has a reference facility which it designed in Roseville, California which has been operating for over 17 years.