Disabilities groups start styrofoam recycling business
How's this for a business idea? Take a product that almost everyone has, does not want, and has no idea how to get rid of. Turn it into something useful, make money, and create jobs.
That's exactly what they're doing at Buckeye Industries, a new company on Curtis
Boulevard in Eastlake which recycles styrofoam by the ton.
Based on the first month in business, they seem to have a limitless future.
"Environmentally, this is huge," says Kent Coleman, who oversees a crew of four employees, all of them people who have developmental disabilities.
"Most companies now are taking this to the landfill at a cost, not only to the environment, but to themselves as a business."
Although it's light, styrofoam is bulky, and disposing of it can be a time-consuming and expensive proposition. Buckeye Industries aims to solve that problem.
Several Lake County area business, including Lake Business Products and B & B Appliance, have already signed on to deliver their truckloads of leftover packaging styrofoam to Buckeye.
"We're probably five, eight minutes from where your business is," says Eastlake Mayor Ted Andrzejewski, who supports not only the idea of Buckeye Industries, but also the fact that it's providing jobs to people who have disabilities.
He tells any local business with a leftover styrofoam problem to "call the people here. They'll come out and pick it up or you can bring it out over here. This is great for the economy, great for Eastlake, and great for the people."
Nick Marsh is one of the four employees working to recycle styrofoam, which is fed into a shredder, compacted, and then extruded into pallet-length pieces.
The volume of the styrofoam is reduced by a factor of 90 times.
"I like it really a lot," he told WKYC, as he dropped pieces of styrofoam that used to surround new computers into the shredder. "I have all good friends here."
Nick and his co-workers are trained in all steps of the process, with the first emphasis on safety, followed by the quality of the compressed styrofoam blocks and bars they produce.
"First we go through the boxes, sorting out the stuff to make sure it's clean before we put it through the machine," Nick said, as he explained the beginning of the recycling process.
The employees are clients of the local advocacy group New Avenues to Independence, Inc., which provides support and services to people who have disabilities.
"The jobs are simple jobs yet they do provide education and training that could yield jobs beyond the sheltered settings that they are in now," says Connie Oppedal, CEO of Gateway to Special Abilities, a company which searches nationwide to partner business opportunities with people who have special needs.
"Our employees absolutely love their jobs and the opportunity," Oppedal says. Her firm has similar operations in Las Vegas, Iowa, and Arkansas.
Finished pallets of the compressed styrofoam weigh a quarter ton or more, and are shipped by semi-tractor trailer to companies which use the material for consumer products, like picture frames and crown mouldings.
Each of the Buckeye Industries employees received a picture frame made from the material they helped recycle. "My niece's picture is in mine," Nick says, with pride. "It's on my desk at home."
Buckeye Industries already has plans to expand once other local businesses learn they can deliver their styrofoam to them, rather than pay to have it hauled to a landfill. They also plan to process and recycle the cardboard that usually comes with the styrofoam.
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