New York expanding recycling program with new plant
Before New York Ciity city officials began planning a recycling facility on a vacant field in Travis more than a decade ago, the garbage trucks headed south to the Fresh Kills landfill. But the steady stream of Sanitation trucks lining the entrance of the Pratt Industries paper recycling plant these days is at least one indication of how the facility, and the environmental movement of which it is a part, has grown. Yesterday, a group of city, state and civic leaders, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Borough President James Molinaro and Staten Island's three City Council members, were on hand to announce the grand opening of a new building at the plant, which converts recyclables into corrugated cardboard boxes. The $20 million expansion is the result of a deal in which the city shifted more of its recycling contracts to the Conyers, Ga.-based company two years ago. The Travis facility now recycles about half of the city's 400,000 tons of paper waste every year.
"Despite all of the worrisome news that you read about in the papers about the economy, this is good economic news for Staten Island, and for all New York City. This expansion advances two goals that are essential to our city's future: Creating new jobs and promoting environmental sustainability, which in today's economy go hand-in-hand," Bloomberg said, after touring the plant with an entourage of Pratt Industries executives.
Bloomberg noted that the company's total expenditure of $330 million is the most a manufacturer has invested in the city since World War II. The Travis recycling mill, which opened in 1997, employs 240 people, including 50 new full-time jobs occasioned by the recent expansion. The city also added, for the expansion, a mile-long rail spur to connect the mill to the Staten Island Railroad, which moves freight. The rail operation helps reduce the cost of moving the recyclable material, and has the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion and pollution, the mayor added.
It costs the city $300 to collect a ton of paper material for recycling, which it then sells to the Travis plant for $30. But environmentalists say the long-term benefit of reusing the material far outweighs the initial costs. Studies show that every ton of landfill emits about one ton of harmful greenhouse gas. In more than a decade of operation, the Travis plant has recycled over 3.2 million tons of paper, the equivalent of more than 54.5 million trees. Councilman Michael McMahon (D-North Shore), who heads the Council's Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee, said the growth of the mill is another indicator that recycling is becoming a more lucrative industry. He also referred to a recent spate of thefts from recyclable bins by people looking to cash in on the growing market. In April, the city passed a law that imposed stiff penalties for those offenses.
"Pratt Industries is founded on a simple notion, that there is incredible value in waste," McMahon said. "We realize that this is really just the beginning, and if we expand our horizon on electronic waste and the other waste streams that exist out there, I think this is the beginning of a great, great future."
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