It Pays to Review Your Overall Recycling Effectiveness
Jim Concannon, Operations Manager & ISO Representative at Orbus Exhibit & Display (photo, left), knows all about paper and polyester for use in display manufacturing. In fact, Orbus, a Woodridge, Ill.-based leading wholesale supplier and manufacturer of displays, trade show exhibits, graphic products and signs and other event solutions is immensely focused on the use of paper and plastics in its growing business. It is also committed to environmental preservation and its impact on Orbus employees, customers and the communities where it operates. The award-winning company recycles polyester fabric, assorted grades of paperboard, paper, aluminum, steel, electronics, and various types of plastic, aiming to demonstrate its best practices, year after year.
But its paper roll and tube recycling processes were “cutting Orbus to the core.”
Concannon met Bill Krafcheck, Mid America Paper Recycling’s Business Development Manager, in 2021 when Orbus needed an outlet for recycling paperboard cores rolled with waste paper. “Bill revisited us soon after our initial meeting, to discuss picking up both the empty paperboard tubes and our paper-rolled cores,” Concannon remembers. “We liked their approach. After the visit, Orbus started using Mid America within a few days.”
Earlier, the Orbus recycling department spent time and labor cutting the display roll cores and tubes into thirds before placing them into a compactor. “That created a slight safety risk,” Concannon says. And after compacting, a recycler picked up the core and paper bundles, at a cost to Orbus.
“Now, the cores and tubes go directly into a MAPR-supplied truck, he points out. “We no longer spend time cutting and compacting the paper-wrapped cores and empty tubes. Mid America takes them as is, secured to skids. The cores and tubes no longer need to be compacted, so there are fewer paperboard hauls, and less expenses. The cores no longer need to be cut, so we are also saving on labor costs.”
Prompt, interactive service, reports
Concannon is also pleased with the communication, record-keeping and check-ins Mid America has provided to Orbus. “Bill visited us twice to see all of the items we recycle. And we communicate with Mid America by phone and email regularly, often responding the same day. They are very transparent with us. Bill met with our team and worked out the logistics of our processes. If there are any concerns, he gets back to us with a solution. He even visited our Las Vegas site to see if Mid America could help us with our recyclable materials there. ”
Unlike Mid America, many companies do not receive regular recycling reports from their vendors about the specific amounts of commercial/industrial waste tonnage they generate, the scrap pickups performed and the revenue generated from the waste. In fact, a 2019 Mid America survey of waste producers showed 50 percent of the participants never get such vendor feedback, while more than 8 percent don’t really know the primary source of their commercial and industrial recycled waste material. Mid America’s services also include providing weekly reports on the tons of waste shipped, and can document the amount of waste baled, loose, skidded and all three.
Concannon says Orbus appreciates the follow-up and Mid America’s continuous recycling improvement services. It is critical to Orbus to receive current and updated information about the status of its recycling processes. “Orbus manages with continuous improvement in mind for all our shop and office processes, including waste and energy reductions. The more useful ideas we get from Mid America, the more we divert from landfills.”
Waste Audit feedback
Mid America’s Waste Audit helps build on the recycling procedures waste buyers and sellers are doing well, and examines steps they may not realize could be improved and put to better use in their recycling operations. Audit takers receive helpful feedback on the “health” of their current recycling programs and ways they can increase their recycling revenue. In fact, the results of a Waste Audit can be readily used to explore various areas of growth, provide recycling tips to reduce labor and separate your recyclable materials for the right buyers at the right price. This helps build your recycling operation into a robust revenue generator that presents the specific value of your waste streams.
“Our recycling system is very effective, but we may want to use the audit to continuously improve our processes,” Concannon adds. “Mid America is the only recycling vendor that provides a quarterly report documenting “by product recycled,” including tonnage, revenue or costs. They also supply an environmental impact statement. Orbus is registered to ISO 14001 for environmental management. These reports provide documented evidence of our progress in reaching our company goals.”
Interested in more details about our Waste Audit survey and program? Visit https://www.midamericapaper.com/waste-reduction-audit.
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