More than half of the recyclable collected curbside or at centers around the state ends up at a big green building in a Williston industrial park. That’s 40,000 tons a year.
It’s called The Materials Recovery Facility. It’s owned by Chittenden Solid Waste District and run by Casella Waste Systems. Five days a week, seven hours a day big tractor trailers full of trash chug into the building past tiny piles of clear and opaque pellets dotted with color.
VPR recently spent some time at the facility getting a first hand look at how different recyclables are separated and processed.