Mid Valley Disposal unveils AI recycling line, adds 20 jobs

Three AI-powered robots are now at the center of Mid Valley Disposal’s Fresno recycling push, and the numbers show how much the plant changed. The new line at 2721 S. Elm Ave. was built to sort cardboard, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles faster, pushing throughput from 35 tons of recyclable material an hour to 60 tons while cutting the operating schedule from six days a week at 12 hours a day to five days a week at seven hours a day.

The expansion also adds 20 jobs, mostly in maintenance and line support, giving the modernization a local labor edge as well as an automation one. Mid Valley says the new system uses artificial intelligence and optical sorting to identify materials in real time and physically separate them, a change meant to reduce contamination and keep more residual waste out of the landfill. For Fresno County, that means the debate is not just about efficiency. It is about whether the region can get cleaner recycling streams, lower operating costs and a stronger plant without hollowing out the work force that runs it.

The project came with a $12 million price tag, including $4.5 million in CalRecycle grant funds awarded on March 25, 2026. Mid Valley said that grant represented nearly 10% of all CalRecycle grant dollars awarded in that cycle, underscoring how large the Fresno investment was compared with other state-backed recycling projects.

Joseph Kalpakoff, Mid Valley Disposal’s chief executive, has said the company’s responsibility goes beyond curbside pickup and includes processing the waste stream itself. That approach is visible at the Mid-Valley Recycling Material Recovery Facility, which opened in 2002 and now covers about 50,000 square feet. The company says the site serves 12,000 commercial accounts and 75,000 households, recovers more than 95% of recyclables and employed 61 people at the facility.

The Fresno upgrade also builds on an earlier expansion in the Central Valley. In 2017, Mid Valley had already more than doubled processing ability to 35 tons per hour, and it served 28 communities across Kings, Fresno and Madera counties. Mid Valley also began recycling and organics collection in the City of Clovis on Aug. 1, 2025, widening its footprint just as Fresno County’s waste stream gets more complex. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer praised the investment as a boost to infrastructure, local jobs and the region’s long-term strength.