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L. Knife Opens New Recycling Facility |
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Thursday, 15 April 2010 12:41 |
 L. Knife & Son, Inc. has opened its 27,500-square-foot glass and aluminum recycling facility on Elder Avenue Ext. next to the beverage distributor's headquarters in Kingston, Mass. The new recycling facility employs 21 people.
The new facility features 2,500 square feet of Solarwall transpired collector surface on the south side front of the building to help convert solar energy into heat. The Solarwall system will produce a projected 550 million BTUs of heat per year and prevent nearly 44 metric tons of CO2 greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, according to the beverage distributor. The Solarwall system is a product by Conserval Engineering of Canada and was installed by Shift Energy of Rochester, N.H.
The new facility also includes storm water management advancements to better protect surrounding wetlands and wildlife from runoff pollution and contaminants.
L. Knife & Son recycles approximately 15.3 million pounds of glass and 2.1 million pounds of aluminum per year, which reduces CO2 greenhouse gases by more than 10,930 metric tons per year. The company also recycles about 1 million pounds of cardboard a year. Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., L. Knife's primary product line, reports it recycles 103 percent of the cans that it uses.
"Container recycling is good news for the planet. Today we are taking it to the next level with environmental improvements to our facilities and in transportation," says Brian McGuire, L. Knife & Son's vice president of operations. "While improving our overall efficiency, we have tapped into the renewable energy industry and taken the very important step of significantly reducing our carbon footprint on the planet."
L. Knife's new recycling facility processes bottles and cans on site, which reduces freight volume by 75 percent. This, in turn, also reduces by 75 percent the number of trucks and amount of fossil fuel used to transport the freight out.
According to L. Knife & Son corporate facilities manager and industrial engineer Michael Brophy, the company's reduction in truck traffic will decrease its CO2 emissions by an additional 50 metric tons per year. All C02 emissions figures regarding the new facility are based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines and formulas and were compiled by Brophy.
L. Knife & Son has a long history of stewardship and community-minded philanthropy. The company contributes to many environmental organizations, youth programs and charitable undertakings, including the Jones River Watershed Association, the Plymouth Boys and Girls Club, the Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade, Brockton Children's After-School Programs and the Wildlands Trust, to name a few. L. Knife & Son has also received a number of national and regional awards for recycling, land conservation, wetlands protection and humanitarian efforts.
"In the spirit of Earth Day, L. Knife & Son encourages everyone to strengthen their commitments to recycling," says McGuire. "Together we can make a difference."
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