WM opens 45 tph recycling facility, driving sustainability in Colorado

The new $110 million Denver East Recycling Facility & Hauling Site in Aurora has been opened by WM. The occasion was marked with a grand opening event attended by over 250 stakeholders, industry members, and government officials. 

New technologies at the Denver East Facility 

deployed in WM's new recycling facility can process up to 45 tons of material per hour, providing crucial recycling infrastructure to Colorado as the state continues to roll out its free recycling collection program for residents statewide.

The 84,000-square-foot WM Denver East Recycling Facility features nearly 2 miles of conveyors that carry materials through more than 30 advanced automated equipment stations that feature optical sorting and artificial intelligence technology. This operation is expected to process more than 175,000 tons of recyclables per year and produce higher-quality recycled cardboard, paper, metal, plastic, and glass that will go on to be used by manufacturers as feedstock to make sustainably sourced consumer products.

An on-site Recycling Education Center will host group tours of the recycling plant with the goal of fostering a better understanding of how recycling works and why proper recycling habits are important. 

Features driving sustainability at the new site 

Sharing the campus is the Denver East Hauling site. A 30,000-square-foot building houses office space and a 10-bay truck maintenance shop. Outside, the site has 104 compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations to support WM's growing fleet of lower-emission CNG collection trucks. A team of about 100 managers, drivers, and technicians works out of this hauling site, which is the third WM hauling site servicing communities and businesses in the Denver metro area.  

"WM's investment in local recycling infrastructure, lower-emission CNG collection operations, and an adjacent renewable natural gas project here in Colorado further demonstrate our dedication to innovation, improved technology, and creating a more sustainable future for our communities," said David Brannon, area vice president, WM Four Corners.

"The new Denver East Recycling Facility is equipped with the cutting-edge technology needed to process more recyclable material more efficiently and to produce a high-quality product that can be used to create new products. This, in turn, could help to improve the economics of recycling for our Colorado business and our customers." 

Investing in a sustainable future 

WM's most recent local investments include the $73 million new construction of the Denver East Recycling Facility and a $36.4 million investment for the Denver East Hauling Site, which includes the CNG fueling infrastructure. The site's existing fleet of CNG collection trucks is expected to be further expanded next year. WM has also broken ground on a co-located facility for the At Your Door Special Collections program, which collects difficult, sometimes hazardous, and hard-to-recycle materials.

Later this year, WM expects to begin the estimated $67 million construction of a new large-scale renewable natural gas (RNG) facility at the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site (DADS), which is located adjacent to WM's Denver East campus. In addition, WM has invested a total of approximately $8.2 million in the Organics Recycling Facility at DADS, which includes 2026 site improvements and equipment.

"This state-of-the-art WM campus is a major step forward in advancing the future of sustainability in Colorado," said Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who addressed the group at the event. "As Colorado continues to transition to EPR for packaging and paper products, expand recycling to all residents, and work to reduce both waste and greenhouse gas emissions, investments in sustainability infrastructure like WM are making here in Denver, are crucial to supporting the state's aggressive goals for environmental, economic, and public health."

The Denver East Recycling Facility is part of WM's enterprise-wide plans to invest more than $1.4 billion in 39 new and upgraded recycling facilities across North America from 2022 to 2027, which is expected to add approximately 2.8 million tons of incremental annual processing capacity by the end of 2027. These planned investments seek to increase WM's ability to manage more recycled materials and potentially enhance access to recycling for its customers.