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Speaker 1: GreenWaste Recovery is the company that I work for. It’s a privately owned
company that started in 1991 originally to do yard waste collection and processing for
the city of San Jose’s residential sector. One of the things that makes the material
recovery facility that we own and operate here in San Jose particularly unique is that
we’re processing the garbage side-by-side with the recyclables.
What really makes the facility outstanding is the recycling rates that we’re able to
achieve. On our single-string recycling line what we have on average is a 95 to 98% recycling
rate. Of all the tonnage that comes in as recyclable material that’s getting processed
on that line, we’re averaging a 95 to 98% recycling rate.
We’re also processing the garbage. On the garbage line we’re able to achieve a 75
to 78% recycling rate. Before we had our facility constructed, 100% of that material was going
directly to landfill and being buried. When we opened our facility and materials started
getting directed here, overnight we were literally able to increase the recycling and diversion
rate on that garbage from 0% up to 75 to 78%. We are absolutely the industry leader. We’ve
been recognized as really pioneers in the industry, both for our GreenWaste material
recovery facility, as well as our two facilities out at Zanker Road.
At our two Zanker facilities we’re doing outdoor resource recovering operations. We’re
processing mixed waste. We’re processing mixed construction debris. We’re also processing
demolition debris. Mixed processing of waste is going to come from things like building
remodels, whether it’s residential or commercial. We’re also processing demolition debris.
When you think of the wrecking ball actually completely leveling a building in a matter
of minutes, then all of that waste gets scooped up, loaded in a trailer, brought to our facility.
We’re actually able to process the average Silicone Valley home of 2,000 square feet
let’s say, we’re able to take that building and recycle it in about 35 minutes.
I think the thing … I get lots of questions about the industry of whether or not something’s
… you know, is this recyclable or is that recyclable? The take home message that I really
try to emphasize with people is it’s not whether or not it’s recyclable, because
most everything is recyclable. The question really is is it recycled? The question of
whether or not it’s recycled is driven by politics, it’s driven by economics, it’s
driven by environmental pressure, it’s driven by technology.
All of those things have to kind of come together and have a synergy to be able to offer the
kind of solution that GreenWaste has been able to provide in this area where we’re
making the economics make sense to incentivize recycling, to offer opportunities for composting
both for residence as well as clean organic food waste collection for businesses. Those
are things that normally a collection company has a very hard time offering to their customers
because they don’t own and operate facilities to be able to process the materials.
By actually vertically integrating and looking at, okay, we want to recycle so we need to
look at the very end product, which is the recycled product, and then how do we collect
materials in such a way that we can prepare them so that we can generate a commodity that
can ultimately be recycled and turned into an end product. You kind of have to start
at the back end and work your way towards the front end, which is the collection.