Machinex helps launch MRF at Guantanamo Bay

Machinex, Plessisville, Quebec, has announced the startup of a new single-stream processing system and other various waste processing/baling/shredding equipment for the U.S. naval station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.   

According to a news release from Machinex, this project is a result of a partnership between Machinex; HDR, Omaha, New England; and RQ Construction, Carlsbad, California. HDR recommended, and RQ Construction chose to work with, Machinex because of its expertise in the recycling industry and its ability to offer the most effective solution for the U.S. naval station.     

“As this was a federal bid, it was a new and demanding process that required precision and the highest level of planning,” says Cody Phillips, on-site project manager for RQ Construction. “Machinex not only kept schedules during tumultuous times but also was instrumental in making sure the entire project went as planned.” 

Jerome Lemay, lead project manager for Machinex, says one of the most interesting challenges to this project was access to the island for both the equipment and crews. The size of the project required more than 40 containers. RQ used a barge that traveled every two-to-three weeks for island delivery of the equipment. Two naval planes traveled weekly for crews to enter and leave the island. 

“When I first heard the details of this opportunity in Guantanamo Bay Cuba, it became a Code Red project for Machinex,” says Chris Hawn, CEO of Machinex Technologies, the company's U.S. subsidiary based in North Carolina. “A good friend named Jessup reminded me that our existence in the world of waste, while grotesque and incomprehensible to some, saves the planet."