Inspiration for new Berkeley recycling plant shut down

Berkeley County will be teaming up with Repower South, a Recycling, Recovery, Reuse Company, to build a facility that sorts garbage and separates the recyclables. This process allows people to put all of their trash into one bin.

Some materials that cannot be recycled will be used to make Bio-Fuel pellets, as previously reported in The Daniel Island News. The new plant, expected to be up and running in the next year, will ensure increased longevity for the local landfill and will bring 70 new jobs to the county, according to Berkeley County Councilman Josh Whitley.

However, the inspiration for the facility — the Montgomery, Ala. recycling center created by Infinitus Renewable Energy— was closed down not long after opening due to monetary reasons.

After becoming operational in May 2014, the Montgomery plant was redirecting more than half the trash from the landfill, but it wasn’t making enough of a profit off the recyclables, said Whitley.

“Montgomery was shut down for financial reasons and did not have the pellet technology, which is what makes the profit margins,” Whitley stated in an email.

“From my perspective, it has not affected us and we knew they shut down prior to our decision to go forward. We want this recycling sorting facility and we want it ASAP.” Infinitus was planning on collecting much more material than it did, said Barry O. Crabb, finance director of the city of Montgomery.

When pitching the idea to the city, Infinitus said it could recycle 85 percent of the waste that was being put into the landfills, added Crabb. But once the plant was operational, it was clear it wouldn’t work.

The market price for the materials being collected dropped drastically, said Kyle Mowitz, Infinitus CEO, in a press release about the closure. Since recycling is an expensive process, it is important that the profit made off the materials being collected can support the process. And in Montgomery it couldn’t.

After a year and half, the plant shut down, and Montgomery has been left with no recycling solution.

Now the facility is being worked through the bankruptcy court in hopes that it could be operational again one day with a better business plan, continued Crabb, although, the city of Montgomery is not planning on investing more money into it.

“It didn’t have the funding or the resources,” Crabb said. “We don’t have the volume of people.”

Crabb said the operation could possibly work in a higher density area. His advice to areas pursuing similar projects is to make sure that the business aspect of this operation is understood.

“The pellet is what makes the difference to help keep the facility profitable,” stated Whitley.