Covanta Partners with RecycleForce for Jobs to Operate Advanced Recycling Center in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS, April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Covanta, a world leader in sustainable waste management and renewable energy, and RecycleForce, an innovative provider of recycling services for residents and corporate clients, today announced a partnership to staff operations at the Covanta Advanced Recycling Center in Indianapolis set to break ground in 2015 with a planned opening in 2016.

RecycleForce provides electronics recycling along with comprehensive social services to help formerly incarcerated individuals rebuild their lives by breaking down the barriers to employment through transitional jobs and workforce training.

"By partnering with Covanta on the Advanced Recycling Center, we can move the best and most productive of our workers into private sector employment, which then opens up spots for new referrals," said RecycleForce President Gregg Keesling. "Covanta will gain experienced workers who will transition from our program into entry-level and then skilled-level jobs while getting paid living wages to support them and their families. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved."

Approximately 60 permanent, full-time workers will be hired to operate the facility once construction is completed. The exact number of jobs to be filled through RecycleForce has not yet been determined.

Employees hired through RecycleForce are expected to fulfill quality control functions after materials pass through the Covanta Advanced Recycling Center, a state-of-the-art automated materials recovery facility (MRF) modeled after the most modern recycling facilities in the world.

Using the latest mechanical and sensor-based technologies, and supported by skilled operators, the facility will efficiently recover recyclables from mixed waste that will be sold to manufacturing customers throughout the Midwest.

"We're excited about our new partnership with RecycleForce, which will create meaningful employment opportunities for hardworking people who deserve a second chance," said Scott Holkeboer, Covanta market area vice president. "With jobs for workers at a range of levels, including entry level and high-tech positions, the Advanced Recycling Center is an important investment in Indianapolis' future and will ensure real progress is made in dramatically increasing recycling while putting more Hoosiers to work."

In addition to the partnership to staff operations at the Covanta Advanced Recycling Center, the company is exploring other staffing opportunities with RecycleForce.

The Covanta Advanced Recycling Center – Indy's Next-Generation Solution for Recycling

Covanta is investing $45 million to build the Advanced Recycling Center adjacent to its Energy-from-Waste facility. Together, the facilities will create a first-of-its-kind, next-generation system for sustainably managing waste in North America. It will bring recycling to all single family homes in the City of Indianapolis, increase recycling by five times the current rate and recover up to 80-90 percent of valuable resources such as recyclable paper, cardboard, plastics and metals – at no cost to the City or its residents.

Company officials estimate the new technology will reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 40,000 cars from the road every year. When recycled into new products, the materials recovered will save the equivalent of the annual energy use of more than 20,000 homes. The system complements Covanta's existing Energy-from-Waste facility by sharing trucks and maintaining current traffic flow and avoiding additional vehicle emissions and burdens on road infrastructure.

Since 1988, the Covanta Energy-from-Waste facility has diverted 16 million tons of municipal solid waste from Indianapolis landfills by providing the City a safe and sustainable waste disposal method that reduces greenhouse gases and produces clean, renewable steam energy from solid waste. The current facility provides approximately half of the steam used by the Downtown Indianapolis steam loop.

Once the permitting process is completed, Covanta expects the Advanced Recycling Center to be up and running in 2016.

About Covanta
Covanta is a world leader in providing sustainable waste and energy solutions. The Company's 45 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities and businesses around the world environmentally sound solid waste disposal by using waste to generate clean, renewable energy. Annually, Covanta's modern Energy-from-Waste facilities safely and securely convert approximately 20 million tons of waste into clean, renewable electricity to power one million homes and recycle approximately 500,000 tons of metal. Energy-from-Waste facilities reduce greenhouse gases, complement recycling and are a critical component to sustainable solid waste management. For more information, visit www.covanta.com.

About RecycleForce
RecycleForce, a 501(c)3 organization, is a social enterprise offering some of the most comprehensive and innovative recycling services around while providing life-changing workforce training to formerly incarcerated individuals. Taking the electronic waste and other recyclables provided by residents and corporate partners, RecycleForce deconstructs these items, recycles the materials and disposes of the waste safely and cleanly. The scrap metals and other reusable materials collected in this process are then sold to help pay for job training programs and employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated men and women in order to support their re-entry back into society. For more information, visit www.recycleforce.org.

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SOURCE Covanta

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