The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), Boston, has awarded nearly $1 million in grants to six companies under the MassDEP’s Recycling Business Development Grant (RBDG) program, which has the goal of enabling companies to better process and manage food material, wood and bulky plastics. The grant program will expand the recycling operations occurring at Ag-Grid Energy LLC, Granville; Charles George Fitchburg, Fitchburg; Martin’s Farm Compost, Greenfield; ReEnergy Roxbury LLC, Boston; United Material Management of Millbury LLC, Millbury; and Houston-based Waste Management’s (WM’s) Boston CORe, Boston.
“Protecting the environment is a fundamental responsibility of state government, public institutions, private businesses and other stakeholders,” Gov. Charlie Baker says. “Our administration is pleased to support these companies as they grow in their local communities and implement innovative methods and practices that allow us all to achieve our common goal.”
The RBDG program targets difficult-to-recycle materials, including food with contaminants such as plastic, rubber gloves and cutlery, wood and bulky, rigid plastics. This round of grants is designed to fund projects that promote materials recovery and will build the state’s infrastructure to better manage these materials. As a condition of receiving funding, grant recipients commit to meeting tonnage goals over a two-year period.
“Through our solid waste master plan, Massachusetts has a goal to reduce our trash by 2 million tons annually by 2020,” MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg says. “Instead of dumping or burning these valuable materials, businesses like these help turn them into new products, valuable compost or a renewable energy source through the anaerobic digestion process.”
Ag-Grid Energy received $250,000 to form Rockwood Ag-Grid Organics LLC, together with Rockwood Farm in Granville. The farm will be the site of an anaerobic digestion facility that will codigest manure from its dairy cows and food materials from off-site sources. Ag-Grid Energy is requesting funds to purchase a depackaging unit to accept food contaminated with other materials and separate materials to produce a feedstock for the anaerobic digestion facility. Initially, the facility will be able to accept about 20,000 tons of food material annually, with the potential to increase to 60,000 tons per year over time.
Charles George Fitchburg, a construction and demolition (C&D) processing facility, received $200,000 to purchase a five-bin sorting line designed to increase the facility’s ability to separate wood, bulky rigid plastics and other recyclables. The requested equipment would enable the facility to divert as much as 26,000 tons of additional materials for recycling annually, including about 10,500 tons of wood and about 600 tons of bulky rigid plastics.
Martin’s Farm Compost received $146,000 to purchase a screener that will remove small pieces of plastic, metal, glass and other inorganics from compost. This is designed to improve the quality and increase the value of its compost products and allow the company to process as much as 9,000 tons of food material annually.
ReEnergy Roxbury, a C&D processing facility, received $50,000 to purchase recycling storage bunkers and a vertical baler for bulky rigid plastics. The investment is designed to increase separation and processing by 15,000 tons of material per year for recycling, including 3,000 tons per year of wood and 1,500 tons per year of bulky rigid plastics.
United Material Management of Millbury received $250,000 to purchase new sorting equipment, including split bins, wood conveyors, a vibratory screener, a wood picking line and a wood fines vibratory screener for its new C&D processing facility. The equipment is designed to increase separation by 29,000 tons of wood per year for recycling.
WM Boston CORe is a facility that takes in contaminated food material and creates a slurry for anaerobic digestion. It received $100,000 for a blending and storage tank, along with associated piping and pumping infrastructure. The grant is designed to increase the facility’s capacity to accept and manage contaminated food waste.