Becoming a zero-waste manufacturing facility was no small task for Accumold and required a strategic partner.
Unlike residential programmes, where you toss an item into a bin, large scalable manufacturing companies such as Accumold require large-scale companies willing to buy the materials. This was the topic of a recent article in Plastics News alongside the company’s recycling partner Mega Recycling in Illinois.
Mega Recycling is a division of Mega Polymers that was founded in 2008 by Bret Garrison who serves as its CEO today. The company is a resin and plastic supplier traditionally, but after working strategically with Accumold, it made its way into the recycling business and it did so in a big way.
In 2013, Mega Recycling was processing 16,000lbs of plastic for Accumold, but just last year that amount had grown to more than 230,000lbs. Today, Mega Recycling operates five simultaneous grinders to keep up with not just Accumold’s demand, but other clients as well.
Matt Iverson is the one who championed Accumold’s zero-waste manufacturing initiative, but it was a tall order as he tried to find a partner to help.
Iverson said: “We were encouraged to get into recycling, but I was leery about it.”
It’s not easy to recycle plastic or resin in bulk, because you need to find an entity to actually buy it. But that puzzle becomes even more difficult when you deal with the highly specialised resins and plastics Accumold deals with every day.
Luckily, Iverson was able to develop a sorting method at Accumold that made the product desirable for Mega Recycling. It worked. Brandon Walker of Mega Recycling noticed the quality of materials that came from Accumold and it all made sense.
Walker said: ”The quality of the first load certainly helped me make my case in favour of recycling.”
Starting out as a division of Mega Polymers, Mega Recycling has seen Accumold’s collaboration pay off in a big way. Mega Recycling has operated as a separate entity alongside Mega Polymers since 2016, and with the desire for zero-waste manufacturing and need for quality recycling growing, it is looking to do its own compounding work soon.
When you do business with Accumold, you’re also doing business with Mega Recycling and making our planet a cleaner place.