May 5 2008
Houston-based Greenstar North America, the country's largest private processor of recyclables, today announced with its Irish parent company, NTR, continuing innovations in sustainable environmental services. The overall development program includes $300 million in investments in solar, wind and single stream recycling capabilities.
“These announcements support NTR’s strategy and our commitment to continued investment in renewable energy and recycling businesses with strong future growth potential,” said Jim Barry, Group Chief Executive of NTR plc. “We are excited to be involved at this early stage in taking these businesses forward to the next level.”
Greenstar North America continues to grow its recycling business with significant investment in single stream recycling capacity across the U.S. Currently, Greenstar’s single stream processing capacity is 500,000 tons per year with announced expansions bringing capacity to over 1 million tons per year by the end of 2008.
“We believe that single stream recycling technology is critical to the future of the recycling industry,” said Steve Ragiel, CEO, Greenstar North America. “The process decreases the cost of collection, and increases the convenience of recycling by placing all materials into one bin. However, due to the upfront investment required, only 30 percent of all recyclables in the U.S. are currently processed through single stream. Those markets who have converted have seen recycling rates increase dramatically.”
Greenstar provides single stream services across Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and surrounding areas. It is adding new facilities and upgrading its equipment with automation and optical sort technology currently employed in its European operations. The optical sort and automation technology significantly enhances the efficiency and recovery rates of single stream recycling. “We entered the market through partnerships with some of the most innovative and entrepreneurial recycling companies in North America,” said Ragiel. We are working to introduce both residential and commercial single stream processing across all our facilities, which will be an important component of our service offering to our local municipal and collection company customers.”
Greenstar’s parent company NTR, based in Dublin, Ireland, is a leading international developer and operator in renewable energy and sustainable waste management. On April 17, NTR announced an agreement to invest $100 million for a controlling interest in Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. (SES), a Phoenix, Arizona based developer of utility-scale solar powered electricity generation plants. On April 24, NTR announced an additional renewable energy project with a $150 million investment in Wind Capital Group, a leading wind energy developer in the Midwest.
Industry-Leading Environmental Initiatives
Along with its investments in wind, solar and single stream recycle processing, Greenstar and NTR are actively pursuing industry-leading environmental initiatives. Greenstar North America has recently joined the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Leader Program. Through this program, it is one of the first recycling companies to be recognized as a leader in climate change management and it will be required to report its emissions reductions every year. As a partner in the program, Greenstar has committed to reducing its impact on the global environment by completing a corporate-wide inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions, setting aggressive reduction goals, and annually reporting its progress to the EPA.
In addition to its prestigious EPA designation, Greenstar is currently rolling out a program to help its customers keep track of carbon emissions reductions associated with recycling use. The industry-first Carbon Reporting program, currently under pilot with a sampling of our municipal, hauling company and national customers including Target, Office Depot, Tractor Supply and others, allows customers to monitor Green House Gas emissions and the impact recycling has on the company’s carbon footprint. The program will be available, on request, to all customers by month-end.
“It is extremely important to us that we look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and help our customers do so as well,” added Ragiel. “And, thanks to our company’s industry-leading strides with the EPA as well as the Carbon Reporting program, we are paving the way for our industry to find new and innovative ways to be even greener.”