The Daniel Island News March 20, 2019: New Berkeley County Recycling and Recovery Facility Opening Soon by Elizabeth Bush
Berkeley County residents will soon have a new, free recycling option thanks to the county’s partnership with RePower South. The newly constructed RePower South facility, located at the Berkeley County landfill, will take 100 percent of the residential and commercial waste delivered to the site and process it into recycled commodities, as well as a coal alternative which is co-fired with coal.
According to Plant Manager Karl Stechmesser, the plant was originally scheduled to commence processing services in February but the opening date has shifted to the first week in April.
“We are able to extract approximately 25-30 percent recycled commodities from the waste stream. This includes cardboard (OCC), mixed papers, PET (water bottles, soft drink bottles, etc.), HDPE (milk jugs, laundry detergent containers, etc.), and both ferrous and non-ferrous (aluminum) metals. Additionally, the company has developed a process that can convert plastics 3-7 on the ‘recycling spectrum’ along with mixed papers into a bio-fuel called ReEngineered Feedstock.”
Combined (recycled commodities and biofuel), RePower South will be extracting more than 60 percent of the overall waste stream, which will no longer go to the landfill, added Stechmesser.
“One caveat – we do not convert glass as it is not economically feasible to process,” he said. “Should residents like to recycle glass, they will need to seek other alternatives.”
There is no cost to residents of Berkeley County to recycle.
“So, whether a family wants to recycle or not, everyone in Berkeley County will be recycling with no effort, other than rolling your garbage can to the street,” added Stechmesser.
Look for more details in upcoming issues of The Daniel Island News. Additional information can be obtained at https://www.repowersouth.com/.