Three years after it was destroyed by fire, Atlantic Coast Recycling reopens in Passaic

PASSAIC — More than three years after a fire burned it to the ground in January 2021, Atlantic Coast Recycling is officially back in business.

The "state-of-the-art" $20 million, 128,000-square-foot recycling center on the banks of the Passaic River reopened on Friday to much fanfare, with many officials representing the city, area and state on hand.

It is the premier facility on the East Coast, said Janine MacGregor, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection Sustainable Waste Management division.

"New technologies mean more efficient and more profitable recycling," she said. Coupled with state initiatives such as the 2022 ban on single-use plastic bags, which removed 5.5 billion single-use bags, the state has been able to cut down on the amount of plastic finding its way into landfills.

The fire that razed the recycling facility on 7th Street was considered a disaster in many ways. It burned for days and cost the city jobs while driving up recycling costs to dozens of municipalities in North Jersey, local officials said.

With the facility able to process 50 tons of municipal waste per hour, and as much as 20,000 tons per month, the three-year hiatus was costly and painful as recycling haulers had to travel farther, increasing the cost of recycling for taxpayers, according to municipal officials including Woodridge's Paul Sarlo.

The newly installed equipment can sort paper, plastic and metal. Partner Rick Ramsey said new technologies such as the optical sorter can discern the various types of plastic and magnets that can remove metals from the waste stream. The new plant is a significant upgrade from the 100,000-square-foot plant that opened in 1989, he said.

More: Passaic agrees to tax abatement deals to bring businesses to its downtown

Business partner Chris Riviello said the facility is capable of processing 20,000 tons of recycling a month.

Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said the reopening is beneficial to the city in numerous ways.

The city granted Atlantic Coast a tax rebate for the site and will get full property values for acreage and a percentage of money the company makes in recycling or a percentage of what the property would be assessed normally.

Lora also said the city welcomes good-paying jobs as well. Riviello said the company has 125 employees. Once the new plant is fully opened, probably around May 1, it may hire a few dozen more.

Since the 1930s, the company has seen an almost continuous stream of trucks hauling bales of newspapers, bins of glass jars and sheets of metal into its 5-acre property at 7th and Lodi streets in Passaic.

A rebirth for the city

The return of Atlantic Coast is among several projects to spring up following fires on the city's east side, Lora said.

"We are far too familiar with devastating fires," Lora said on Friday at the grand reopening, looking out over the crowd and toward 8th Street, where a 300,000-square-foot warehouse is under construction on the site of the city's 1985 Labor Day fire.

More recently the city averted disaster when 200 firefighters successfully knocked out a fire in a chlorine plant a few blocks away in 2022. Projects like Atlantic Coast and the Eighth Street warehouse represent an economic rebirth, he said.

"This Phoenix-like rise has become a beacon of hope and opportunity for the city of Passaic," Lora said.

Before the fire

Before the fire, Atlantic Coast was paying about $122,000 in property taxes. The 5.2 acres of land are assessed at $1.79 million and bring in $67,000 in property taxes without a building.

PILOTs are meant to foster redevelopment in the state. In the city, about six properties have been granted such deals, Business Administrator Rick Fernandez said.

Under PILOT deals, municipalities give developers exemptions from traditional property taxes for a specific time to encourage improvements to properties that are considered blighted.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Atlantic Coast Recycling reopens in Passaic 3 years after fire