Dec 17 2010
IESI Corporation ("IESI") announced today the grand opening of the IESI Texas Region's new recycling facility serving the Central Texas area.
The IESI Central Texas Secure Shredding and Recycling Facility has added an automated single-stream recycling system to the Central Texas secure shredding operation.
District Manager Adam Mathews stated, "The greater Austin area is a progressive market and a definite leader in environmental conservation and innovation. The citizens in the Central Texas area can be proud of this new facility, which has the capacity to recycle up to 54,000 tons of material per year. The new facility will process recyclable materials including glass, paper, plastic, aluminum, steel and cardboard, which can all be combined into a single collection container." The facility can annually recycle 108,000,000 pounds of non-hazardous material collected from approximately 32,000 homes within the communities of Pflugerville, Lakeway, Jonestown, Lago Vista, San Leanna, The Hills, Rollingwood, Travis County WCID17, Wells Branch, River Place, and Lost Creek along with materials from other Municipal Utility Districts, Home/Neighborhood Associations and commercial clients from across Central Texas.
One of the outstanding features of the facility, which includes a 20,000 square foot recycling operational area, is the second floor educational community room with an observation deck overlooking the processing area. The deck, and its spectacular view, provides IESI with a way to educate students, youth groups and community organizations such as Scouts, Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce about recycling. All of these community groups can schedule facility tours and/or meetings in the new community room which was built specifically to enhance community education and understanding about the environmental impact of recycling.
The facility also provides secure document destruction service for business and residential customers throughout Texas. IESI is a member of the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID), the entity that sets the professional standards for the industry. The secure shredding process includes collection of documents in locked containers, transportation in locked vehicles, mixing of documents from multiple sources prior to shredding and then shredding, baling and recycling of the material. The entire process is documented and includes a signed Certificate of Destruction.
IESI continues to move forward with environmental initiatives. In September, IESI's Fort Worth District initiated the first publicly-traded Texas company test of a CNG-fueled garbage truck on residential recycling routes in Colleyville and Haltom City. During the pilot period, IESI's team of specialists will analyze a number of critical factors including performance & reliability, cost efficiency and environmental impact. In August 2010, IESI's Seneca Meadows Landfill, in Seneca Falls, New York, opened a 600 plus acre Seneca Meadows Wetlands Preserve – part of the company's 1,100 acre native plant conservation project – which comes complete with seven miles of hiking trails. The gateway to the Seneca Meadows Wetland preserve is a LEED Certified community education center which educates all ages in partnership with the Audubon Society. In October 2009, IESI constructed and opened the United States' first privately-funded LEED Certified single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in McKinney, Texas. The Seneca Meadows Education Center and the McKinney MRF both earned LEED Gold Certification.
"We are very proud of our many environmental and recycling efforts," said Mickey Flood, Vice Chairman of IESI. "These efforts are a testament to our leadership in the environmental industry. At IESI, we believe in educating our communities about the importance of taking care of our environment through recycling, and have always offered learning opportunities for local schools and community organizations."