Texas Disposal Systems revolutionizes Central Texas recycling

Texas Disposal Systems unveiled its multimillion-dollar Construction and Demolition recycling plant. In 2015, the city of Austin passed an ordinance requiring contractors to recycle at least 50% of their project waste.

Vice President of Sales and Growth, Rick Fraumann, said the system will be able to keep up with the city's rapid growth, processing 25 to 50 tons of waste per hour.

"If we can get more material out, and if we can educate the contractors better, the goal is to get that up to 80% or more," he said.

Fraumann said TDS used to separate recycling by hand. With the new system, they'll be able to recycle construction and demolition waste more efficiently.

"We processed 80,000 tons of construction material before," he said. "This process with the automation can double or even triple the efficiency of that output."

Project waste is put into a pile for excavators to pick up and put into the machine. The waste is then shaken for separation, where 15 people put each material into its respective pile. Fraumann said all the material is processed on-site and sold back into the community.

"It's a part of our unique model of total vertical integration to divert as much as possible from the landfill to make Central Texas greener and cleaner," he said.

TDS's goal is to preserve landfills across central Texas. Fraumann said this new system could divert 60%-70% of waste from landfills.

"It's the right thing to do, and all of the material that's recycled is kept out of the landfill which makes the landfill last longer," he said.