Development
BY AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN
O cials with waste disposal company WM, formerly known as Waste Management, celebrated the grand opening of the Mesquite Creek Recycling Facility, located at 801 Kohlenberg Road, New Braunfels, on April 15. “Not only are we celebrating the hard work and culmination of a very special project, we’re also making signi cant steps toward enabling a more sustainable Texas,” said Domenica Farmer, WM Texas Oklahoma area vice president. In September 2023, the city of New Braunfels entered into an agreement to partner with WM to build a state-of-the-art recycling plant, something the city had previously lacked. The city’s recycling trucks had been driving to material recovery facilities in San Antonio multiple times a day since 2007, according to previous reporting by Community Impact . Construction on the recycling facility began later that year, WM’s chief sustainability o cer Tara Hemmer said. The $72 million recycling facility is equipped with over 16 optical sorters that use cameras and lasers to identify and properly sort materials discarded at the center. “That technology can help us recycle more material, make it cleaner for our customers and really transforms the experience for our employees,” Hemmer said. O cials unveil $72M regional recycling facility
The Mesquite Creek Recycling Facility is located at 801 Kohlenberg Road, New Braunfels.
PHOTOS BY AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN COMMUNITY IMPACT
1
Austin
WM Service areas Mesquite Creek Recycling services the following areas:
130
6
Buda
10
Comal County
35
New Braunfels
7
1 Austin 2 New Braunfels 3 Victoria 4 Live Oak 5 Jourdanton 6 Buda 7 Boerne 8 Universal City 9 Converse
16
Boerne
46
Mesquite Creek Recycling Facility
10
2
1604
8
San Antonio
4
9
410
123
173
87
16
97
35
181
5
Jourdanton
SOURCE: WM COMMUNITY IMPACT
3
N
37
Victoria
85
Some details
Quote of note
New Braunfels recycling trucks will unload all collected material at the recycling facility. From there, those materials will be sent to a large con- veyor belt for sorting. Paper, cans and bottles will be separated before being run through an Eddy current, an electric current that pulls materials with aluminum o the conveyor belt. The sorted materials will then be compacted into bales, as previously reported by Community Impact. Mesquite Creek Recycling can process up to 144,000 tons of material annually and is also equipped with an education center. Cardboard, paper and aluminum cans are among the materi- als that can be recycled at the facility.
As New Braunfels continues to grow, so do needs for thoughtful infrastructure that supports sustainable living, said Andrés Campos, New Braunfels’ Mayor Pro Tem. “By investing in modern solutions like this here in our community, WM is helping our city prolong the life of our land lls, conserve natural resources and strengthen programs that support both the economy and ecology of our city,” he said. “The Mesquite Creek Recycling Facility provides much better access to recycling services making it easier than ever for residents to participate in building a greener, cleaner city.”
Each bale can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and will be shipped to end users or mills to be used again.
15
NEW BRAUNFELS EDITION
Powered by FlippingBook