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
February 05, 2014 01:00 AM

Plastics recycler offers landfill-free program for scrap

Jim Johnson
Senior Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Green Innovations LLC
    Green Innovations founders David Sweeney, left, and Donald Resh.

    It's rare for a business to succeed right out of the gate, and such was the case for Green Innovations LLC.

    But the plastics recycler has turned a corner and is looking to continue a success that was born, partially, from being laughed off by a potential customer years ago.

    The Solon, Ohio-based firm offers what the firm calls a landfill-free program to manufacturing companies generating plastic scrap.

    The company, located near Cleveland, will go into a site and agree to divert all waste and recyclables from landfills. Every single pound.

    "Five years ago, we had people laughing at this concept because no one believed it was real. And now it is and we have companies calling us," said David Sweeney, co-founder of the firm.

    While Sweeney handles the sales and marketing side of the company, co-founder Donald Resh is in charge of the financial and administrative end of the business.

    He was there when laughter came early on. "You feel a little defeated I guess. … Defeated but inspired, too. For us, being rejected makes us want it even more," Resh said.

    "We knew we had a vision. It was just how are we going to get there? We didn't have a timeline, and we just knew we wanted this landfill-free concept to work," Sweeney said.

    It's called working out the details, and the partners say they've done just that.

    Green Innovations has a multi-pronged approach to handle a variety of waste streams at dozens of client locations. That includes categories the company calls plant debris, single-stream recyclables and food waste.

    Those three streams are shipped in gaylord containers — those large, heavy duty cardboard boxes — to Green Innovations along with scrap plastic the company receives from the clients.

    The company makes its money by reprocessing the recycled plastic, about 97 percent of all of the material the company receives.

    Compostables and single-stream recyclables are sent off to partners in the Cleveland area for processing. Any waste that can't be salvaged is sent off to be made into an engineered fuel, Sweeney said. Nothing goes to a landfill.

    Green Innovations, which specializes in non-wovens and films, ships plastic down to Somerset, Ky., where it has a processing line located near one of its major customers. The resulting pellets are then sold.

    Green Innovations handled about 33 million pounds of materials last year from 32 separate manufacturing locations and returned what Sweeney called "a good profit."

    That was welcome news for the 5-year-old company that struggled establishing itself for its first three years in the midst of the economic downturn.

    The company needed the time to figure out a successful path. An early attempt at handling post-consumer recyclables was unsuccessful after Green Innovations did not win a contact from a local consortium of municipalities.

    And, early on, the company also learned that rejection is part of the business.

    "A big company, during a meeting, two guys laughed at us. I don't know if they laughed at us or laughed at the concept because they didn't believe it was a reality," Sweeney remembered. "It was demoralizing, but we knew what we could bring to the table."

    Sweeny also has learned to accept the value of the word "no."

    "I like to pride ourselves in not taking no for an answer. But sometimes you have to take no for an answer. And I'm not the person who likes to give up or say no. But I've learned that over the course of our five years sometimes you've got to know when to walk away.

    "Sometimes a bad deal is a bad deal. Sometimes what you think is a great idea is not a good idea. While we've had some good ideas, we've also had some failures at the same time," he said.

    These days, Sweeney is looking up and believes his company, which is expected to do about $15 million in revenue this year, can grow to $20 million to $30 million during the next five years. Resh voiced a similar goal.

    "I think we stuck to the game plan and stuck to our philosophy. I think we always knew what the end result was going to be. It was going to be successful. It was just a matter of time. You've got to lay the foundation and get the right pieces and parts in place," Resh said.

    "We feel we have a lot offer with our concept," Sweeney said.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Italy-based packaging maker Omnia expands to Ontario
    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
    Greif adds to blow molding business with acquisition
    2
    Stratasys back on the block after $1.8B merger falls through
    3
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    4
    Documentary looks at how ‘we love to hate' packaging
    5
    How reshoring went from fringe idea to strategic vision
    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