LRS of Rosemont, Ill., has been named Recycling Facility of the Year by the National Waste & Recycling Assn. (NWRA) as part of its 2024 Recycling Awards. The Exchange materials recovery facility (MRF) opened in 2023, and according to LRS, represents a decade-long vision for a facility fueled by conserving natural resources and utilizing the latest technical resources.
The Exchange can process 1 million pounds of recyclables every day. It was designed in partnership with CP Equipment, the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, and LRS team members and aims to help the City of Chicago achieve its residential waste diversion goal of 90% by 2040.
Since its opening last year, the Exchange has accepted and sorted an estimated 438,000 tons of Chicago’s municipal solid waste, processing at a rate of 25 tons per hour, as well as diverted an estimated 224 million pounds of recyclables, resulting in thousands of tons of avoided CO2 emissions. The new facility has also resulted in LRS building relationships with Chicago-based corporate and community partners and conducting numerous tours to lift the veil behind recycling in Chicago. Installed since the 2023 opening is a new RecycleOS sorting robot, which uses AI to ensure quality across the sorting lines.
