Paper Recycling Systems — Waste Not, Want Money

February 2007 By Erik Cagle, Senior Editor

multipage

FOR COMMERCIAL printers, some aspects of the overall operation don’t command as much attention in the grand scheme of things. Every business has a pecking order, from the web press that crowds the pressroom to the stapler on the CFO’s desk that insists on spitting out two at the same time.

Then there’s the paper recycling system. Some printers don’t have proper capabilities for dealing with trim waste and other dirty scraps. So they have these inelegant, often clunky, systems in place for gathering waste for delivery to a recycling facility. There are two major flaws that result in short-arming your paper recycling habits:

A. You’re not going to maximize ROI if your paper is not handled properly.

B. The patchwork system can prove to be a real pain when it needs attention, which is generally the time that you’re most busy because—ta da!—you’re producing a lot of trim and scrap waste.

Oftentimes, a paper recycling system needs to be kept as simple as possible in order to allow the company to maintain its sanity. Take American Spirit Graphics’ Des Moines, IA, facility, for example, which had several recycling solutions. The main trim vacuum system entailed waste removal from the press, which was sent to the baler.

Also, all slab waste, light waste and some press waste were tossed into Gaylord boxes. And sometimes, large light waste was deposited into a downstroke baler. Doug Hall, whose many hats at American Spirit Graphics include paper inventory controller, was not fond of the Gaylord box system.

“It took a lot of space to store them along with the skids. And you always run the risk of a broken box, or just a big mess on the floor,” Hall says. “We would fill these boxes, run them back to the truck, and then have to come back and set up another box and run them out to the pressroom. So it was very labor-intensive to keep that system going, along with tying off the bales and getting them on the truck. It was also a very confusing system.”

Dealing with boxes, junk skids and physically intervening with the equipment weren’t the only strikes against the old system. The direct mail and commercial printer wasn’t getting as much return on unbaled paper; recyclers will pay less on materials that need processing. What the company needed was a solution with a short ROI.

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