June 20, 2016

Roosevelt Landfill starts recycling metals from ash

Photo courtesy of Republic Services [enlarge]

Republic Services and Lab USA held a grand opening last week for an ash metal recovery facility at Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Klickitat County.

The facility will process all newly delivered ash to the Roosevelt Landfill and all the existing ash currently in the landfill. Once recovered, the metals are recycled, shipped to manufacturers and used to make new metal products.

The process allows for the reclamation of metals found in ash — such as steel, cast iron, copper, aluminum, tin and lead — that were previously lost through traditional methods of resource recovery.

According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, the energy consumption of recycling iron is 20 percent lower than that of mining and processing iron from natural resources. The International Copper Association says the energy savings from recycling copper is about 60 percent lower than that of mining copper from natural resources.

“Environmental challenges require innovative solutions,” said Mike Huycke, area president with Republic Services, in a statement. “We are proud to partner with Lab USA and remain committed to identifying advanced technologies and resources that allow us to repurpose valuable commodities to make new products.”

Swaggart Brothers was the general contractor. The project was designed by Lab USA of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lab USA is a subsidiary of Europe-based Lab GmbH and the CNIM Group.

Roosevelt Landfill collects waste from municipalities across Washington and converts the methane gas it generates into a renewable energy source. Working with the Klickitat Public Utility District, the landfill provides enough energy to power up to 30,000 local households a year.