Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
May 23, 2011 02:00 AM

Manufacturing upswing boon to recyclers

Mike Verespej
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The upswing in manufacturing after the economy's downturn in late 2008 is giving at least two industrial plastic recyclers an opportunity to grow their businesses regionally.

    “Manufacturing has increased. It is coming back. So people are generating scrap,” said David Kaplan, CEO and co-founder of Maine Plastics Inc., a 28-year-old company based in Zion, Ill., where it operates a massive 222,500-square-foot main facility.

    “What we've done to capitalize on that is open more facilities,” said Kaplan. The firm, with just three plants to its name in early 2008, now operates nine facilities.

    “Last year we recycled almost 50 percent more material — 134 million pounds compared to 96 million in 2009. We recognized that there was a need for more capacity,” said Kaplan, who became CEO in January.

    Maine looked for strategic sites, he said, near supplies of manufacturing scrap. In the second half of last year, the firm opened plants in Kearney, Neb., and Kankakee, Ill., both of which became fully operational in December. Those moves fell on the heels of starting up plants in Columbus and Apex, N.C., in September and August, respectively; and plants in Richmond, Va., and Stratford, Conn., in 2009

    “That strategy is allowing us to reduce transportation costs, because not everything has to come back to our main facility in Zion,” Kaplan said.

    And the company isn't finished expanding. “We will possibly open two more plants this year, including one that we will be opening up within the next two quarters,” he said.

    Also in full expansion mode, is relative industry newcomer Coll Materials Exchange LLC of Zanesville, Ohio. The firm opened its second recycling plant, in Waco, Texas, in April, and is expanding its headquarters plant in Zanesville. Coll also is in the process of acquiring industrial plastics recycler Nicos Polymers Group of Nazareth, Pa.

    A largely industrial plastics recycler, Coll Materials was founded by CEO and President Brian Coll in the basement of his home in December 2007. In April 2009, the firm purchased a recycler in Detroit, eventually shutting that plant and merging the operation into the Zanesville location.

    In March, Coll also became president and CEO of Nicos after reaching an agreement to buy the company three months after it emerged from bankruptcy with its debt restructured. That $10.5 million acquisition, expected to close May 31, comprises Nicos' “assets, the book of business, the technology and the 180,000-square-foot plant,” said Coll. Coll Materials will assume roughly $10 million of Nicos' debt.

    Coll Materials' 140,000-square-foot Waco plant is a $7 million investment — at least half of that in equipment, including a wash line, a dry line, three 8-inch pellet extruders, several granulators, and fiber separation operations. In Zanesville, the company is adding another wash line and a dryer to double that plant's capacity, said Coll. It also plans to incorporate Nicos' fiber-removal technology into the Zanesville operation, and to add wash and dry lines to process post-consumer material at the Nicos plant in Nazareth.

    Maine's Kaplan said industrial plastic recycling markets are benefitting from the manufacturing rebound, and from two other trends that “increase our opportunities to collect material.”

    “There is absolutely a desire by people to recoup as many resources as they can in their manufacturing and to find value for those resources, and there are also many corporate mandates to be more green and sustainable,” Kaplan said. “They are working hand-in-hand to bolster recycling.

    “Companies are first saying, 'Let's see if our scrap can be recycled and then what's the best way to handle it.' If they can recycle it, it's a home run, because they are getting paid for it instead of paying someone to haul it away.”

    Kaplan said rising virgin prices also are causing companies to look at substituting recycled resin for prime whenever it's practical, because it reduces their carbon footprint as well as their expense.

    “It is all under the lens of green and sustainability,” he said.

    Going forward, Kaplan expects Maine to stick with its strategy of opening facilities in locations where there is access to manufacturing scrap. “It allows us to add different things and have more capabilities,” Kaplan said.

    “We can also lay out the plants in a way that is more efficient. Often having a lot of capacity is simply having the room. Initially, we custom-design the new plants to meet the needs of one or two cornerstone suppliers. … Then as supply grows, we add more capacity and capabilities.”

    For example, Maine opened its plant in Dover, Del., in 2008 to recycle scrap from a Playtex Products Inc. manufacturing site there. Maine also works with a Schick plant in nearby Milford. That partnership, with Energizer Personal Care Co. — which owns both Playtex and Schick — was put together by Maine's sister company, A Greener Solution LLC, a landfill-avoidance and recycling consulting firm headed by Robert Render. Render, along with Kaplan, co-founded Maine.

    Also growing geographically is Coll Materials, as evidenced by its new plant in Waco.

    “We have some significant material suppliers in the area, and we have customers looking to buy recycled resins,” said Coll, who once worked at Fabri-Form Co. and TriEnda LLC, both thermoforming companies.

    “After we get our three locations operating smoothly, then we will look at additional acquisitions or an expansion in the upper Northwest,” he said. “Recycling is a regional business. This is an industry of opportunity, if managed properly.”

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Plastics treaty must avoid climate mistakes, UNEP leader says
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    2
    Auto suppliers plan for uncertainty amid UAW strike, shift to EVs
    3
    Some resin prices take a hike at the end of summer
    4
    Proposed tax on single-use virgin plastic resurfaces in Congress
    5
    Resin Prices
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified