Republic Services, Inc. announced the opening of the Sacramento area's first organics pre-processing facility, which will help local communities divert food waste from landfills and turn it into renewable energy. A new California state law, SB 1383, aimed at combating climate change takes effect Jan. 1, 2022, and will require the majority of California homes and business to recycle food and yard waste at facilities such as this one. The company's new facility accepts food waste collected from businesses in Sacramento County. The operation removes contamination such as plastic bags and produces clean organic material that is delivered to an anaerobic digestion facility. This facility converts the organic material into renewable energy that is used to power the facility, and, ultimately, could be sold to the public utility grid. The new Sacramento facility is capable of processing 40,000 pounds of food waste per hour. This is the company's third organics pre-processing operation, all of which are in California. The company also owns and operates six composting facilities in the state.