Houston Reduces Landfilling While Increasing Production

Over the last three years the Houston cold-fill plant has increased their production 25% (from 12mm to 16mm cases/year) but has decreased landfill from 28% (230 tons) in 2011 to 14.6% in 2013 (196 tons). The Houston plant is on track to further reduce landfilling to 4.6% in 2014.

How did they do it?

"One of the first steps we took was to drive to the landfill with the compactor and take pictures of all the recyclable material in the trash," said Plant Director Joe Foist. "This motivated us to remove the trash compactor and replace it with smaller, front end load service." To help change the culture and make it difficult to landfill material that could be recycled, the front end load trash containers were placed at the far end of the yard. So far this year, recycling revenue has increased almost $10,000 compared to 2013. In addition, decreased compactor hauling charges ($148/haul) and reduced landfill from 114 tons to 35 tons in 2014 should save Houston $6,000 per year.

To increase recycling rates, the team added balers in strategic locations to make separating and baling recyclables easier. One was even placed in the batching room to collect and compact HDPE pails. The team placed cardboard balers in the production area as well as in MEM and shrink film balers were placed in the pick areas of warehouse.

Baling recyclables is the key to maximizing recycling revenue since unbaled materials are expensive to transport and handle. Baled recyclables can increase in value by as much as $30 to $40 per ton for cardboard, while PET value can increase substantially more. The cost to transport a trailer of recyclable material is reduced when more material is placed onto a trailer. Properly loaded and managed, trailers with recyclables should weigh 10-12 ton to maximize the revenue.

Pictures from the compactor that were taken at the landfill revealed that many Point of Purchase (POP) displays were being disposed of. The PBC Houston team was able to work with their recycling service provider to allow these displays to be placed on the mixed recyclables trailer and recycled. Although the plant does not receive revenue for this material, it was estimated that 20 roll off boxes of POP was landfilled each year. Now this material is recycled instead. These changes have increased recycled materials from 313 tons in 2013 P1-P5 to 595 tons in 2014 P1-P5.