Dive Brief:
- A luncheon on Tuesday in Indianapolis, which was hosted by the Indiana Recycling Coalition, recirculated concerns on a $120 million city contract for waste and recycling that was won by Covanta. IRC executive director Corey Hamilton said at the luncheon that the contract was "not a done deal", and that the matter is being litigated.
- Rock-Tenn Converting Company, Cathy Weinmann, and Graphic Packaging International recently sued the city over the contract in Marion Superior Court, but the group lost. The two paper companies and Weinmann, a citizen, have appealed the decision in Indiana Court of Appeals.
- Covanta Energy operates a waste processing facility in the South Side of Indianapolis. The company plans to build a recycling plant there that would enable residents to discard garbage and recyclables at the same time. But certain items will not be recycled, such as glass and some plastics. Critics of the plan don’t like the fact that trash and recyclables are comingled, and have called it "dirty recycling."
Dive Insight:
The firm plans to recycle all materials that are economically feasible to recycle, said Scott Holkeboer, Covanta market area vice-president. "Quite frankly, if someone would take glass for free off my hands, we would (recycle) it right away," he said.
