Dive Brief:

• Montgomery, AL will likely take over a $35 million mixed-waste processing center owned by Infinitus Energy. Should the title transfer happen, the city would hire an operator to run the facility and probably switch to single-stream collections, as reported in Resource Recycling.
• Infinitus owner Kyle Mowitz said the company would prefer to continue running the facility as it has done, but knows a transfer is likely as the company aims to "do what's right for the municipality."
• The "dirty MRF" site shut down in October 2015, just over a year after launching, leaving 100 people unemployed — with plummeting commodities values responsible for the operation’s demise, according to Montgomery spokesperson Michael Briddell.

Dive Insight:

Mowitz does not feel Infinitus got a fair shake in a tough market. He commented that his business was "100% exposed to the market with the municipality having no exposure ... and these things have to be shared in the future."

Speaking of an amicable transfer, Mowitz said, "I don't love it, but I'd like to see the city continue recycling and, if we can come to the right terms, we're going to do that."

Those in favor of the facility said its sorting capabilities were the most advanced of their kind. But recycling industry critics argued that recyclables from "dirty MRFs" were inferior due to contamination. Similar issues have been seen at various dirty MRF facilities, such as Covanta's site in Indianapolis.