Eugene company unveils world's largest recycling system
By Christina Williams
Sustainable Business Oregon editor
Courtesy Bulk Handling Systems
The recycling facility unveiled this week at the Newby Island Resource Recovery Park in Northern California is thought to be the world's largest. Bulk Handling Systems of Eugene designed and built the system.
Bulk Handling Systems played a starring role in the grand opening this week of the world's largest material recovery system for recycling in San Jose, Calif. — they built the system.
The Eugene company, which has been specializing in building turnkey recycling systems since 2005, was tapped by Republic Services Inc. to design and build a system that could process 110 tons per hour of waste and sort out items for recycling. The system is calibrated to recover about 80 percent of the material for non-landfill uses.
Republic Services (NYSE: RSG) landed a 15-year contract with the city of San Jose to handle and process waste from more than 8,000 San Jose businesses and recyclables from 85,000 contracts.
Republic turned to Bulk Handling Systems for the machinery to power the Newby Island Resource Recovery Park.
Bulk Handling Systems was founded in the mid-70s and originally manufactured equipment for the wood industry. In 2005 it was acquired by Steve Miller, the company's CEO, who turned the focus to recycling equipment.
"This advanced facility is ahead of the curve," Miller said in a press release. "It’s the first of its kind and is a fantastic example of how the scope of our industry is expanding to recover materials from a wide variety of waste streams."
Bulk Handling Systems does not disclose revenue. Its employee base in Eugene has grown from about 40 employees in 2006 to 220 today. It has installed some 55 recycling systems since 2006. The more complex systems can carry price tags above $20 million.
Earlier this year, Bulk Handling acquired Nashville, Tenn.-based National Recovery Technologies, which makes optical sorting technology for the recycling industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Peter Raschio, a spokesman for the company, said he expects Bulk Handling to build about 11 systems in 2012.
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