NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Greenstar Recycling, one of America’s largest recycling companies, discussed at United Nations Headquarters in New York its role in helping San Antonio, Texas – America’s seventh largest city – create a pathway to zero waste by increasing recycling volume by 300 percent in the past five years. Greenstar has been instrumental in working with San Antonio to build one of the country’s largest, most automated recycling facilities in that city, creating a sustainable program where discarded materials are viewed as resources instead of waste.
Greenstar Recycling Chief Executive Officer Matt Delnick presented the company’s San Antonio case study success story at UNCSD PrepCom 2, a preparatory committee for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as “Rio +20 Earth Summit.” This important, global conference will take place in Rio de Janeiro and is a follow up to the initial conference held in Rio in 1992. Greenstar’s case study demonstrated what can be achieved when public and private entities work together to create successful recycling programs. Mr. Delnick discussed how Greenstar and San Antonio officials, working together to implement a 60 percent residential recycling rate, have created a program that decreases landfill space and energy consumption while removing 600,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually (equal to taking 130,000 cars off San Antonio roads each year) and creating well over 100 green jobs dedicated to recycling programs.
London Business School will take Greenstar’s initial presentation and create a more in-depth case study that others can view in order to learn from San Antonio’s example. Major cities like San Antonio play a strategically important role in the fight against climate change because they are host to half the world population, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the world’s primary energy demand and more than 70 percent of global CO2 emissions. Green infrastructure investment such as that initiated by Greenstar and San Antonio creates jobs, generates incomes, has a high social rate of return, and fosters wider technological and social innovation.
“We were honored to present the success story of the City of San Antonio’s recycling program before the global forum of the United Nations,” Mr. Delnick stated. “We believe that recycling should be at the forefront of all sustainability efforts and that a discussion on green infrastructure should always include recycling. With recycling rates at about 30% nationwide, an accomplishment like San Antonio’s recycling growth rate of 300 percent in the past five years is remarkable. It is uplifting to show how much cities around the world can learn from San Antonio and the pathway we have worked together to follow toward zero waste.”
“Our key recommendations included that all levels of local government and community members need to be engaged in creating a sustainable recycling program and that education is key to building a successful program,” Mr. Delnick added. “It was a message that the assembled audience of diplomats representing member states, local governments, non-government organizations and conference attendees with an interest in the urban space found inspirational, and we believe that enthusiasm will help propel greater efforts at sustainability for the world’s major cities. “
With the information presented by Greenstar at the UNCSD PrepCom 2, along with additional information to be provided in other forums, the “Rio +20 Earth Summit” will be positioned to move toward its vital objectives: to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development, to assess progress toward internationally agreed goals on sustainable development and to address new and emerging challenges. The Summit will also focus on two specific themes: a green economy and an institutional framework for sustainable development.
ABOUT GREENSTAR RECYCLING
Greenstar is one of America’s recycling leaders providing sustainable recycling solutions in the recycle processing, commodity upgrading, managed services and commodity trading sectors of the solid waste market. Greenstar launched its North American operations in 2007, establishing Houston as its headquarters. Greenstar has grown quickly to become one of the largest recycling companies in America. The company handles two million tons of recyclables per year through a network of 14 processing facilities with over 10,000 managed services locations. Greenstar is backed by NTR plc, a diversified renewable energy and sustainable waste management group.
For more information visit www.GreenstarRecycling.com.
About NTR plc
NTR plc, the international renewable energy group, builds and runs green energy and resource-sustaining businesses. Founded in 1978, NTR has evolved from being a developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland to an international developer and operator of renewable energy (wind, solar and ethanol) and sustainable waste management businesses in the USA and Ireland. The Group employs over 2,000 people.