At the Intermediate Processing Facility (IPF), workers sort recyclables by type to be compacted, baled, and shipped to various manufacturing facilities in the southwest region and beyond. Currently, the IPF processes and markets newspaper, mixed paper, cardboard (OCC), plastics #1 and #2, glass, tin cans, and aluminum. After resale, these materials are used to manufacture a variety of products. Albuquerque's old newspaper is recycled into new newsprint used by the city's own daily, The Albuquerque Journal. Recycled plastic is manufactured into shrink wrap and carpets, to name just a couple of products. Through recycling, more than 60 tons of garbage is saved from Albuquerque's landfill every day to be turned into something new.

An Innovative Working Arrangement

A unique and innovative hiring program at the IPF has received national attention. Through a partnership between the City of Albuquerque and a local homeless shelter, the city's homeless are provided with jobs at the IPF. Every week day, homeless individuals who want to work are bussed from St. Martin's Hospitality Center to the IPF, where they sort recyclables by type. The program provides homeless individuals with the opportunity to earn a reasonable wage, reacquaint themselves with the work world, and perhaps gain some hope for a productive future. The program was featured in an article titled "Will work for Food: Employing the Homeless at Albuquerque's Recycling Center" in the July/August 1998 issue of MSW Management, a national trade publication.

An Industry Leader

The IPF recently celebrated a "Grand Reopening" after an expansion of the facility that puts it on the cutting edge of the industry. The upgrade included the addition of two new automated sorting machines, one for cardboard and one for paper, that will allow the IPF to lower its operating costs substantially while improving production, reducing residue going to the city landfill, and increasing revenues. Completed in April of 1999, the expansion doubles the amount of recyclables that can be processed at the IPF.