Waste management company begins construction of ash facility in Fairless Hills

Covanta Holding Corp., a sustainable waste management and renewable energy company, began construction earlier this month on a Total Ash Processing System (TAPS) in Fairless Hills.

The unique TAPS technology separates the combined ash into its component parts. The ash is from Covanta Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facilities. TAPS is forecasted to reduce the volume of ash in landfills by as much as 65 percent.

The ash’s component parts make it easier to remove small metal fractions and aggregate for reuse as construction material.

The system, the company’s first, is expected to be operational during the second half of the year. It has been designed to process more than 400,000 tons of ash from multiple Covanta EfW facilities.

“We have long viewed ash reuse as a major opportunity to enhance our EfW plant operations while simultaneously opening new markets,” Stephen J. Jones, Covanta’s president and CEO, said. “TAPS has tremendous potential to increase the sustainability and economics of our facilities while generating an attractive return on capital invested in the system. I am excited about this first project and look forward to its success, which we see paving the way for additional TAPS facilities to complement our EfW portfolio.”

The Fairless Hills facility is adjacent to Covanta’s existing metals processing facility.