Peña’s Disposal Increases C&D Recycling Rate in California County

Peña’s Disposal Service, based in Cutler, Calif., has increased the recycling rate of construction and demolition material for Tulare County, the company reports. When Peña’s was awarded the contract to handle construction and demolition recycling for Tulare County, the recycling rate was 56 percent. Within the first three months of Peña’s new contract, the rate increased to 82 percent, according to the company.

Anne Magaña, administrator of California’s Consolidated Waste Management Authority (CWMA) attributes the significant increase in recycling to Peña’s Disposal’s aggressive approach to recycling.

CWMA is the agency responsible for providing required recycling reports to CalRecycle. This kind of improvement in recycling is noticed in Sacramento and “really helps us get closer to the state’s overall rate for diverting waste from the waste stream and into recycling,” Magaña says.

“We have been very impressed with what Peña’s has been able to do,” she adds. “We are faced with an overall state goal of 75 percent diversion rate by 2020, and what Peña’s is doing with C&D, and their 20-year plan for expansion, will really help. Their plan puts it on the table as a challenge to others in the industry to plan ahead and be more aggressive.”

The contract has also allowed Peña’s Disposal to add 20 new jobs, according to vice president Art Peña.

Peña’s Disposal’s facility is a material recovery facility (MRF) and a one-stop resource for recycling household hazardous waste, green waste, e-waste and construction and demolition waste, as well as California Redemptive Value (CRV) buy-back, the company says. The family-owned company also provides curbside waste pickup in unincorporated areas of Tulare and Fresno counties.