DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials are moving ahead with a proposed $24 million recycling center in Polk County that they say will ensure paper sorted for recycling is no longer dumped in a landfill. Environmentally aware Des Moines residents were frustrated after learning that nearly 20 tons of recycled paper ended up in the landfill every day last summer after the metro’s recycling company couldn’t find a buyer.

Metro Waste Authority official Michael McCoy says their agency, which runs the landfill, wants to construct the facility to handle, sort and ultimately sell up to 45,000 tons of recyclables annually. The Des Moines Register reports the recycling center could open in 2021.

McCoy noted the facility won’t increase the Metro Waste ratepayers’ trash and recycling fees. But the president of a recycling processor believes otherwise.