Former broker turns industrial recycling into growing business

Greenville, S.C. — Maybe Robin Ellenburg kind of fell into plastics recycling by chance, but now that he's there, the owner of ATD Inc. is all in.

And so is his son, Taylor Ellenburg.

With sales growth of about 100 percent annually for the last five years or so, who can blame them?

Robin Ellenburg spent a professional lifetime in the sale of new reusable plastic packaging, the totes and pallets and containers used to transport goods over and over again.

But it was a request by a customer to also find a home for some old, damaged containers that got him into the recycling business.

What started out as a brokerage business about eight years ago has turned into a full-fledged, hands-on recycling operation in Greenville that's expected to handle 15 million pounds this year.

“It was back in '07, right before the bottom fell out,” he remembered. “I had a really good job with Monoflo. I just told my wife I'm tired of this. I've got to do something different.”

With one child just graduated from college and one still in college, it was not an easy decision. “She was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” he remembered.

Using his connections in the reusable plastics container business — he was southeastern sales rep for Monoflo International Inc., a maker of injection molded products, including totes, containers, pallets, trays and crates — he set out on his own.

“I was working out of the house with no space,” he recalled, brokering loads of recycled plastics while also selling new containers as an independent sales rep for different companies on the side to help make ends meet.

Meanwhile, Taylor Ellenburg was working his way through college at nearby Clemson University toward a management degree and an idea.

“I knew what I wanted to do. I knew it from the beginning. I wanted to work with him,” he said about his father. “I had no other thing in my mind of what I was going to do.”

By the time 2011 rolled along, the business had grown to the point where ATD was actually handling its own material instead of working as hands-off middleman between generators and consumers of recycled plastic. A rented 5,000-square-foot building filled up fast with inventory, causing the men to start looking for larger, permanent space they could call their own.

That led to the purchase of a 30,000-square-foot warehouse about four years ago and then another 54,000 square feet of space just a quarter mile up the road last year. The company just recently fired up its first grinder at that newer location.

“We've doubled our business every year for five years,” Robin Ellenburg said. “I know at some point, that's going to be impossible to do. We can't believe how business has taken off.”

The Ellenburgs credit a key account that has helped them establish ATD and its reputation. Automaker BMW Manufacturing Co. has a factory just down the road in Greer, S.C., and recycles its plastics through ATD. Having that business gives the company credibility with other prospective customers, they said.

ATD has grown from only being involved in high density polyethylene in those early years to now accepting about 20 different types of plastics these days. The father in the father-and-son team credits his son for finding new outlets for all the different types of plastics ATD now handles.

It's been a steep learning curve and a lot of cold calls to help build the business, Taylor Ellenburg said.

ATD ships mostly in the Southeast but does reach up into the Midwest just a bit with business in Ohio and Indiana as well.

“I don't want to call us a niche recycler, the only thing we stay away from is post-consumer,” Robin Ellenburg said. “We've been blessed with this business. We've been under everybody's radar. We started with absolutely nothing, BMW has been a godsend.”

Along with handling parts from BMW, the company's business also includes old containers used by suppliers to ship parts to the automaker. Plus the company counts Food Lion, a regional grocery store chain, as one of its other larger customers.

“I think with automotive and with BMW as a core part of our business, if we can grow our business around 20 to 25 percentage points a year, I think it's realistic. We've grown a lot more than that the first five years,” Robin Ellenburg said. “A lot of people many think that's unrealistic.”

The Ellenburg business philosophy is pretty simple. Pay quickly and tell the truth. “That's how our business is growing. We're truthful with people and we work hard for what we do and we work hard for our customers,” Robin Ellenburg said.

Miller Lewis was college friends with Taylor Ellenburg and started working around the warehouse when the company needed an extra pair of hands back in the early days.

He remembers those uncertain times after graduation. “Really didn't know what I wanted to do. And they needed some help in the warehouse and it sounded better than just sitting on my butt,” Lewis remembered.

Indeed.

Lewis eventually became the first full-time employee at the company that now has 10 workers. It's physically demanding work, but ATD tries to compensate by running four 10-hour shifts a week. With Fridays off, employees can enjoy three-day weekends and come back re-energized, Taylor Ellenburg said.

As warehouse manager for one of ATD's buildings, it's Lewis' job to keep all the plastic organized and palletized, sorting all the different resins and shipping them out.

“It's different than working in a corporate environment. But I enjoy it a lot,” he said. “I like what I do and I like the people I work with. I would go stir crazy staring at a computer.

“I like how busy I stay. There is never downtime. Sometimes it does get a little hectic, but I'm always doing something,” Lewis said. “The days, they just fly by,” he said, with a snap of his finger. “I don't have to go to the gym, I'm working out every day.”

Lewis said he enjoys the friendly atmosphere of working for a small, family-owned company where employees are also friends.

That kind of philosophy helps guide ATD, where employees are given the trust and space they need to get their work done.

“We don't get on the back of them every day. Everybody is friends. Everybody understands what they need to do,” Taylor Ellenburg said. “There's never really any complications on what you do. There's some hiccups every once in a while, but everybody's so close that it always stays tight in the company.

“Everybody just gets along,” he said.

Truth be told, even Robin Ellenburg never really thought ATD would be much more than a place for him and his son to earn a living. Now the company is on pace to have $5 million in revenue this year.

“I thought it would be a two- or three-man deal,” he said. “It just grows and grows. If you give people a decent price and good service, you are going to grow unless you are just absolutely stupid. At some point you can't help but grow.”