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Balcones Resources, Austin, Texas, and Houston-based Strategic Materials have renewed their glass supply contract for an additional 10 years. Through this contract Strategic Materials will continue to process 100 percent of the glass recovered at Balcones’ material recovery facility (MRF) in Austin.
Balcones Resources has the most significant recycling contract in central Texas, and this partnership with Strategic Materials is an integral part in making the city of Austin’s recycling program successful, the material recovery facility (MRF) operator says.
Glass currently makes up 27 percent of the city of Austin’s residential stream, which is approximately twice the national average, Balcones says. According to the recently commissioned “Texas Recycling Data Initiative,” Balcones Austin recycles approximately 10 percent of all glass in the state of Texas. This contract allows Balcones to provide a dependable outlet to manage the commodity appropriately, according to the company. When Balcones built its facility in 2012, the company incorporated what it describes as “a state-of the art glass recovery and cleaning system.”
Strategic Materials is the largest glass processor in North America and has more than 30 plants across the country. The glass that comes from Balcones’ Austin facility is sent to Strategic Material’s plant in Midlothian, Texas.
Anticipating future Austin glass volume growth, Strategic Materials recently wrote a letter to the city of Austin expressing interest in building a satellite processing facility at the proposed city of Austin (RE)manufacturing Hub.