The Southeastern Public Service Authority spent the past year looking for a new way to handle the region’s trash as space at the Regional Landfill runs out. The organization that handles trash for the south side of Hampton Roads is finalizing a long-term contract to boost recycling and cut the amount of waste clogging the local landfill.
After a yearlong bidding process, the Southeastern Public Service Authority recently chose a new vendor called Commonwealth Sortation to dispose of the region鈥檚 garbage for at least the next two decades. It鈥檚 a partnership between Colorado-based AMP Robotics Corp. and Recycling and Disposal Solutions of Virginia, which has operated a traditional recycling plant in Portsmouth since 2004.
The company uses artificial intelligence to retrieve recyclable materials directly from the trash stream, plus turn organic materials such as food waste into a reusable charcoal-like substance. Commonwealth Sortation鈥檚 contract with SPSA is still pending negotiations that officials hope to wrap up later this spring.