{"id":258276,"date":"2026-05-28T19:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/mid-valley-disposable-unveils-multi-million-dollar-expansion-with-help-of-ai\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T19:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:55:17","slug":"mid-valley-disposable-unveils-multi-million-dollar-expansion-with-help-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/mid-valley-disposable-unveils-multi-million-dollar-expansion-with-help-of-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Mid Valley Disposable unveils multi-million dollar expansion with help of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mid Valley Disposable unveils multi-million dollar expansion with help of AI<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/abc30.com\/post\/mid-valley-disposable-unveils-multi-million-dollar-expansion-help-ai\/19188650\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-28 19:26:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: abc30.com<\/a><\/p>\n

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — <\/span>A longstanding Fresno business is bringing artificial intelligence into its fight for a cleaner Central California.<\/p>\n

“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,” says CEO Joseph Kalpakoff.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, waste management company Mid Valley Disposal unveiled a new state-of-the-art processing line.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old business now holds the largest and most advanced line of its kind between Los Angeles and San Francisco.<\/p>\n

It’s equipped with three AI-powered robots for sorting valuable recyclables like cardboard, aluminum cans, glass, and plastic bottles.<\/p>\n

“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,” Kalpakoff said.<\/p>\n

The improvement will increase production while reducing operating hours from six days a week at 12 hours a day to five days a week at 7 hours a day.<\/p>\n

The robots will also add 20 jobs, with employees required to perform maintenance on the new line.<\/p>\n

Mid Valley partnered with California-based AI company Glacier to help develop the robots that use optical sorters to improve processing speed and reduce residual waste going to the landfill.<\/p>\n

“Our robots actually 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,” says Rebecca Hu-Thrams.<\/p>\n

Mid Valley began the design process for the expansion in 2024 and received a $4.5 million grant from Cal Recycle in 2025, totaling a $12 million investment.<\/p>\n

The company serves several Central California counties, processing 125,000 tons of recyclables last year.<\/p>\n

“They’re investing not only in infrastructure, but in relationships, in local jobs and the long-term success, really, of this entire region,” says Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer.<\/p>\n

Mid Valley Disposal expects…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mid Valley Disposable unveils multi-million dollar expansion with help of AI https:\/\/abc30.com\/post\/mid-valley-disposable-unveils-multi-million-dollar-expansion-help-ai\/19188650\/ Publish Date: 2026-05-28…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.abcotvs.com\/dip\/images\/19189439_052826-kfsn-mid-valley-upgraded-infrastructure.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258278,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258276\/revisions\/258278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}