Dive Brief:
- Covanta's Fairfax County Resource Recovery Facility, located in Lorton, Virginia, has resumed operations after performance and fire detection upgrades, the company announced Friday.
- Covanta and Fairfax County installed thermal imaging cameras, non-flammable roofing material, an expanded sprinkler system and worked to improve waste storage procedures as well as notification and coordination procedures between the company and the county.
- "We are grateful to Fairfax County and the Fire and Rescue Department for their efforts and cooperation while we worked to repair and enhance our systems at the facility ... We are happy to be getting back to work," said Joey Neuhoff, vice president and general manager of Covanta's mid-Atlantic region.
Dive Insight:
A two-alarm fire in February, burning for multiple days, knocked the facility offline. Initially, the company estimated the facility would be back online within a matter of weeks. The dayslong fire in Virginia came after a similar incident in Maryland, though the company said the incidents were not related.
In a recent earnings call, a Covanta executive said the company would take the lessons from the Fairfax fire and apply it to other Covanta facilities in the country as well as around the globe. And, despite disruptions in operations in Fairfax, Maryland and Ireland, the company had a stronger third quarter in 2017 than it did in 2016.
With facilities operating back at full capacity in the United States and globally, Covanta is entering 2018 from a position of strength and opportunity. The company has also been investing in metals recovery, and is poised to be able to take advantage of the U.S. Mint restarting its mutilated coin program.
