Ribbon-cutting ceremony marks completion of $12M facility investment; new commercial line engineered, manufactured, and installed by CP Group
FRESNO, Calif., June 3, 2026 – Mid-Valley Recycling (MVR) celebrated the grand re-opening of its Fresno Commercial Material Recovery Facility (MRF) on May 28, 2026, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by elected officials, state agency representatives, industry partners, and community members. The event marked the completion of a more than $12 million facility upgrade centered on a brand-new 25 TPH commercial processing line — engineered, manufactured, installed, and integrated by San Diego-based CP Group in close collaboration with the MVR operations team.
Guests were treated to facility tours showcasing the new line in operation, alongside Mid Valley’s existing 35 TPH single stream system, which CP Group designed and installed at the same facility in 2017. Together, the two lines process 60 tph and represent a modernized dual-line MRF capable of processing both residential curbside and commercial recyclables for communities across the Central Valley.
The project was partially funded by a $4,595,898 Beverage Container Quality Infrastructure Grant from CalRecycle. The program drew 37 applications requesting a combined $207 million; nearly six months after the grant was announced, nine projects across eight counties were selected to share $46 million in awards — with MVR’s allocation representing nearly 10 percent of all funds distributed.
“These communities rely on us to not just collect it, the waste at the curbside or at the businesses, but they rely on us to process it and be a steward of the sustainability market here. With the AI technology, with the optical sorters, we can process faster, we can have cleaner streams and reduce the residual that’s going back to the landfill,” said Joseph Kalpakoff, President & CEO, Mid-Valley Disposal
“They’re investing not only in infrastructure, but in relationships, in local jobs and the long-term success, really, of this entire region,” said Mayor Jerry Dyer, City of Fresno
The grand re-opening marks the latest chapter in a nearly three-decade relationship between Mid-Valley Disposal and CP Group. When MVR first engaged CP Group to replace its original 2001-era system in 2017, the result was a new 35 TPH single-stream facility that significantly expanded the MRF’s capacity and recovery performance. The new 2026 commercial line completes the facility’s transformation — replacing the aging commercial sort line with a purpose-built 25 TPH system designed from the ground up for the material composition and operational demands of commercial collection routes in the San Joaquin Valley.
In 2025, the MVR facility processed more than 130,000 tons of material. The upgraded infrastructure positions the facility to handle continued growth in volume while improving purity and recovery rates across both residential and commercial streams.
“We are humbled to have almost a quarter century of partnership with Mid-Valley, and the opportunity to bring some of our latest technology to bear in this most recent project will ensure that they obtain maximum value from their operations and continue to create a high-quality product,” said Richard Coupland, SVP Strategy & Growth, CP Group
CP Group’s scope on the new commercial line was end-to-end: system engineering and layout, equipment manufacturing, on-site installation, and full commissioning. The line is built around CP Group’s proprietary screening and sorting technologies, configured for commercial-grade material.
Material enters through a CP Drum Feeder, which conditions and meters the infeed stream for consistent flow into the sort line. From there, CP Group’s patented OCC Auger Screen™ separates corrugated cardboard with high efficiency using a helical auger design — a patented technology that outperforms traditional disc screens on commercial fiber by improving OCC recovery and purity without a presort needed. A CP Glass Breaker Screen liberates and removes glass early in the process, protecting downstream equipment and improving recovered material quality. CP Group’s proprietary CPScreen™ disc screen platform manages mid-line size classification and material conditioning and a Drum Magnet handles ferrous metal extraction.
Optical sorting is handled by two units from CP Group’s MSS optics division: the CIRRUS® FiberMax™ NIR sorter targets mixed paper and fiber fractions, and the CIRRUS® PlasticMax™ NIR sorter identifies and separates PET, HDPE, and mixed plastics by resin type using near-infrared spectroscopy across the full belt width. An Eddy Current Separator (ECS) recovers non-ferrous metals — primarily aluminum — from the residue stream. Six AI-powered robotic QC units supplied by Glacier were integrated into the line by CP Group to support quality control. Glacier’s robots use computer vision and AI to identify recyclable materials in real time, helping MRF operators improve recovery, reduce contamination, and adapt to changing material streams.
“Our robots use AI-powered cameras that can detect, in real time, all of the materials coming down that line, and then the robots are able to physically sort those materials,” saidRebecca Hu-Thrams, Co-Founder, Glacier
“This is the future of how we manage materials- utilizing technologies to get the most out of our streams and put it back into circulation, and that is really what we are focused on in California,” said Cara Morgan, Deputy Director, CalRecycle
