December 3, 2010

New State-of-Art Recycling - Now Open in Arlington!

Arlington has something no other city in the world has: A state-of-the-art recycling machine that can store up to 55,000 crushed cans and 18,000 plastic bottles.

The Reimagine Recycling Center was unveiled Nov. 30 at the Kroger store at Pioneer Parkway and Fielder Road.

“I’m an environmentalist and believe in recycling everything we can,” said Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, who was joined by Coca-Cola Recycling President John Burgess, Arlington ISD Superintendent Jerry McCullough and a host of other city and school officials. Students from Hill Elementary had the honor of demonstrating how the machine works.

“This is a terrific project and I can’t tell you how proud I am that the first one in the world is right here in Arlington, Texas,” the Mayor said.
Burgess said Arlington was chosen as the first site for the recycling unit because of its support for recycling.

How does it work? The recycling center verifies, crushes and then sorts aluminum cans and plastic beverage bottles. The items then move through the recycle stream and eventually into the production process to be remade into new products. Burgess said the machine can suck up to 200 items per minute.

A beneficiary of the machine is the Arlington ISD. As containers move through the scanners, the center counts the plastic bottles and aluminum cans and awards points for each recycled item. Recyclers accumulate points that can be translated into dollars and donated to the AISD school of their choice.