HARTSVILLE, S.C., Nov. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonoco Recycling,
LLC, a unit of Sonoco (NYSE: SON), has invested $4 million in its Columbia, S.C., materials recovery facility
(MRF), allowing the facility to accept additional types of
materials. Because of this, Richland
County residents will now be able to recycle more of their
household materials such as composite cans, glass, magazines and
other types of plastics.
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Sonoco Recycling has added three sorting screens for corrugated
cardboard and paper sorting, an optical sorter to retrieve plastic,
and a new glass crusher that allows the facility to collect whole
and broken glass bottles, jugs and jars.
"Sonoco has always prided itself on 'closing the loop,'" said
Ray Howard, general manager, Sonoco
Recycling. "We use recycled materials in our products, which are
then recycled by the consumer and come back to us for processing.
With this upgrade, we're now able to recycle even more of the
packaging produced by Sonoco, in addition to the other items we
collect that aren't produced by us."
Derek Trader, division marketing
manager, Global Rigid Paper and Closures, agreed, "Sonoco is one of
the largest providers of composite can packaging in the world for
products such as coffee or Pringles® potato crisps. The
ability to both produce and recycle this item is exciting for us
and further demonstrates the Company's commitment to sustainable
business practices."
New items accepted:
- Composite cans – cardboard containers with metal bottoms, such
as coffee or Pringles containers
- Paper – office paper, junk mail, magazines, chipboard, wet-pack
boxes and gable-top cartons
- Plastics – most plastics #1-7, including plastic bottles, jugs,
jars and containers like yogurt cups and margarine tubes, milk
crates, curbside recycling bins and carts, laundry baskets, plastic
lawn furniture and toys, and five-gallon buckets
- Glass – whole and broken glass bottles, jugs and jars
The facility is still unable to accept tissue paper, paper
plates and cups, waxed cardboard, plastic bags and films,
containers that have held toxic substances, metal lids on glass or
plastic items, glass cups or plates, window glass or ceramics.
A recycling leader with 50 locations and expertise worldwide,
Sonoco Recycling annually collects approximately 3 million tons of
old corrugated containers, various grades of paper, metals and
plastics. In addition, the Company has experts who provide secure,
reliable and innovative recycling solutions to residential and
commercial customers.
Sonoco Recycling currently operates six material recovery
facilities (MRFs) and serves nearly 150 communities in which
curbside-collected residential and commercial materials are
processed. The Company also provides recycling programs which
identify waste reduction opportunities that reduce operating
expenses for many of the largest consumer product companies in the
U.S.
About Sonoco
Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global
provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products,
protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain
services. With annualized net sales of approximately $4.5 billion, the Company has more than 19,600
employees working in over 340 operations in 34 countries, serving
many of the world's best known brands in some 85 nations. Sonoco is
a proud member of the 2012/2013 Dow Jones Sustainability World
Index. For more information on the Company, visit our website at
http://www.sonoco.com/.
SOURCE Sonoco