At The Threshold

The work force at Recovery1, Tacoma, Wash., is dedicated to the concept of processing all of the non-hazardous material generated during typical construction and demolition activities, says Terry Gillis, the company’s general manager.

Gillis, who started with the company in 1995, and his team of employees have recycled a staggering 98 percent of the material accepted for processing during the company’s 16-year existence.

The recycling rate has been achieved through not only capital investments in processing equipment, but also through a combination of dedication to the cause of recycling, trial and error, innovation and invention, and other time-consuming and tiring tasks and projects that add up to what Gillis calls the "sweat equity" the team has invested in Recovery1.

ATTRACTIVE RATES
At the Recovery1 site in Tacoma, two dozen employees are kept busy on a five-acre parcel where a wide range of materials are received, sorted, processed and subsequently shipped out as one of several types of finished products.

Gillis says the company has tracked inbound material closely since its founding in 1993, and can stand behind the following recycling statistics and rates (in tons):

• Total Products Shipped 1,271,846
• ADC Shipped 126,316
• Non-Recyclable Residuals Shipped 20,727
• Landfill Diversion (excluding ADC) 1,124,803
• Recycling Rate (excluding ADC) 88.44 percent
• Recycling Rate (including ADC) 98.37 percent

There is little to indicate that achieving such high recycling rates is easy, or that it can be done without significant capital investments and sweat equity.

Recovery1’s initial focus, says Gillis, was on the recycling of clean wood and land clearing debris. "I saw a need for mixed C&D recycling and went from there," he says of the significant amount of time and energy he and others have put into turning Recovery1 into a more comprehensive C&D materials recycler during the past 16 years.

The investments of time, effort and money have resulted in the preparation of several recycled wood products; a gypsum processing system to handle that portion of the stream; equipment to sort and process metals, plastics, cardboard and numerous other materials and analyzing equipment that keeps contaminants out of the finished products streams.

Recovery1 load checkers pay close attention to the materials that stream into the Recovery1 facility, and reject loads that do not qualify for recycling. Gillis says that tracking non-hazardous materials that resulted in rejected loads has enabled the company to detmerine where to focus on new process development. Additionally, the company seems to enjoy the challenge of finding a new end market for a material.

"Some new things we have going on in the experimental mode include baling ceiling tiles and fiberglass insulation for use by Armstrong Industries," says Gillis. "We also have shipped 2.3 million pounds of plastic during the first 10 months of 2009, and we work closely with carpet manufacturers to try to find the best solutions for those materials."

Recovery1’s Pacific Northwest location can be problematic for effective carpet recycling, notes Gillis, since that industry is largely based in Georgia. "We’re about as far away from there as you can get, so freight becomes a real factor," he comments. "Carpet manufacturers lke Shaw, Mohawk and Tandus have been very helpful along with industry representatives from CARE [Carpet America Recovery Effort] and local government officials from King County, Seattle and Tacoma. Everyone understands the need for a regional solution to the waste carpet problem."

There is little question that Recovery1 will keep trying, with its track record of the past 16 years pointing to the traits of persistence and perseverance.

AN ACTIVE SITE
There is a wide array of technology deployed on the five-acre Recovery1 site, and as the company’s volume figures show, this equipment is busy achieving impressive results.

A partial abstract of Recovery1’s investment in processing technology (see the "At a Glance" box on page 25) shows that the two dozen employees of the company are well-supported by automation to enhance productivity and end product quality.

One of the end results: "We’re currently shipping more than 20 products extracted from the mixed C&D stream," says Gillis.

To make such order out of chaos, Recovery1 deploys materials testing and analyzing equipment (see "More than a Wall Sign" sidebar on page 26); automated screening and sorting equipment; sorting stations for manual picking; conveyors that can also sizeclassify materials while moving them; shredders and grinders; balers; a fleet of mobile material handling equipment; and some specialty machines designed by Recovery1 itself.

"Our maintenance and production teams enjoy working with equipment and developing ways to process materials," Gillis says of the company’s commitment to new process development.

Gillis lists a 12-sided flat screen trommel, a gypsum crusher, a shear-grapple, a mag-bucket, a mulch colorizer and a soil processor as among the machines the company has designed in-house.

The soil processor is among the technology that has helped Recovery1 reduce its production of ADC (alternative daily landfill cover) market, which Gillis has a difficult time accepting as actual recycling.

To Gillis’ way of thinking, the market for ADC is not a sustainable recycling end market since it can only exist for as long as there are nearby landfills to use it.

Equipping Recovery1 to go above and beyond standard practices has not been easy, Gillis acknowledges, but he says it is imperative to building a truly "green" company. "We have installed equipment and modified structures to gain and retain compliance with air, land and water regulations," says Gillis. "It is important that processors go above and beyond what is expected, since we are all selling ourselves as being ‘green’ and there is nothing ‘green’ about polluting the air, water and soil."

Investing in technology does not mean borrowing large sums of money, Gillis points out. "Pay cash," he advises. "Don’t get into big-time debt—this is an industry in which you can’t afford a lot of debt, because it will eat your lunch."

MORE TO DO
When asked to identify what sets Recovery1 apart from other recycling companies, Gillis answers simply, "We have survived."

That answer is very much in line with what Gillis identifies as his business philosophy: "Keep on keeping on."

Along with the tempered realism, however, Gillis also points to some of the more optimistic things about being a recycling company general manager in 2009.

"The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program of USGBC (the United States Green Building Council) has had a huge positive impact on our business," he states. "I think LEED, some of the residential green building programs and Washington state’s commitment to ‘green building’ have created positive motivators to recycle—much more so than any regulatory mandates for recycling that have come about."

This combination of materials recycling making sense in the long-run coupled with challenges and market interruptions at any given time, help keep Gillis engaged as a recycling company manager.

Markets for materials are "consistently unpredictable," he notes. But the changes, keep Gillis motivated, rather than getting him down.

Of Recovery1’s future, he says, "We are in a constant state of change, which results in the continuous quest for the next best innovation. Expansion and growth are imminent." C&DR