New recycling center brings technology aimed at minimizing strain on Fort Worth’s landfill

A new recycling center designed to process 144,000 tons of waste a year — or 40 tons an hour — with advanced technology opened recently to meet Fort Worth’s growing demands.

City leaders, staff and community members gained an inside look at Fort Worth’s recycling program Tuesday morning during the grand opening of the new $62.5 million center. 

“Not only are we celebrating the hard work and culmination of a very important project, but we’re also making another step toward enabling a more sustainable future,” said Waste Management’s Texas and Oklahoma vice president Domenica Farmer.

Guests learned about the various technologies — such as optical sorters — aimed at advancing recycling. The south Fort Worth site is the city’s first waste automated center, said Brent Bell, Waste Management’s vice president of recycling.

Aluminum cans, pictured Oct. 28, are sorted and compacted at the south Fort Worth recycling facility. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)

Located at 9600 Hemphill Street, it replaces the center that was located in the Stockyards. 

The project contributes to Fort Worth’s dedication to address waste needs, Mayor Mattie Parker said at the event. 

“This took a tremendous amount of thought to think into the future what a facility like this means,” she said.

So far this year, residents generated 374,000 tons of waste. About 18% of that waste could be recycled, diverting less trash from Fort Worth’s only landfill, environmental services director Cody Whittenburg said during an Oct. 14 council meeting. 

The city’s dump site, located between Kennedale and Forest Hill, has a decade left before it will reach its maximum capacity and close, according to projections. Much of that strain is caused by growth as Fort Worth recently reached 1 million residents.

As a result, Fort Worth solid waste officials are taking action to minimize waste and encourage residents to learn about what can be recycled. 

“We’ll really continue to think about those waste streams as we move forward and advance education,” Whittenburg said in October.

Waste Management vice president of recycling Brent Bell speaks during Fort Worth’s grand opening of its recycling facility Oct. 28. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)

State-of-the-art technology

The new recycling center is one of 39 in North America that the city’s contractor, Waste Management, is investing $1.4 billion to upgrade technology. 

The facility is equipped with advanced machinery such as ballistic separators, eddy currents and magnets for metals, and glass recovery systems. 

The new optical sorters replace outdated processes such as assembly or sorting lines, Farmer said. The technology is designed to separate materials including different types of plastics, paper and cardboard.

As for metals, these items are pulled from recyclables through eddy current separators, creating a magnetic field to either attract or divert the material. For example, aluminum and steel metals are sorted into separate storage bunkers. 

Recyclable materials, pictured Oct. 28, are separated and compacted at the Waste Management recycling center in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)

Ballistic separators help waste officials capture recyclable materials that may have been missed in initial separation processes, mainly paper and cardboard products, explained Sherrell Cordas, a Waste Management community relations manager. 

Glass, another recyclable material, must be sorted by color. Once complete, materials are transferred to a recycling center in Midlothian that repurposes glass, primarily for industrial use, such as road striping and sandblasting fiberglass. 

These technologies support Fort Worth’s economy as upgraded facilities call for advanced employees, Farmer said. 

“I’m really grateful for this because these are elevated positions,” Farmer said. “It’s an elevated pay, and it allows us to upskill our workforce.”

Various members of Waste Management, Fort Worth officials and community members attended Waste Management’s Fort Worth recycling facility ribbon-cutting event Oct. 28. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)

Aside from expanding the local workforce, reducing waste in landfills will help Fort Worth save money in the long haul. 

As of September, it costs Fort Worth $24 for every ton of waste going into the landfill. Recycling cuts that expense by half as it costs just upward of $12 to process a ton of recycled material. 

Residents can expect more recycling efforts in Fort Worth soon. 

The city’s Environmental Services Department plans to bring an update to city leaders by the spring, outlining new strategies to relieve the city’s landfill and growing waste needs. 

Those strategies include the potential for new or expanded landfills, continued implementation of modern technology, consideration of additional waste transfer stations and recycling centers, and fostering partnerships with local governments. 

“We know the (landfill) is going to fill up and reach its capacity. We have to start planning for the future,” Whittenburg said in October.

Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

Fort Worth officials and Waste Management debuted the city’s new recycling facility at an Oct. 28 ribbon cutting event. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)