Have you ever ordered something tiny, only for it to arrive at your door in a huge box? The rise of next-day shipping and Amazon Prime has simplified holiday gift buying and errand-running for most of us – but it sure has added to our consumption of cardboard and paper products. Clearly, online shopping is...Continue Reading
The closing of a glass manufacturing plant in Milford probably didn’t much interest the average Massachusetts consumer, but that closure marked the end of an era – and exemplified the way the glass recycling market has changed. Ardagh, which manufactured glass bottles, closed its plant in March. It was the major customer of the Strategic...Continue Reading
Anyone who has substituted those tubes of cookie dough for Mom’s homemade recipe knows that taking the easiest route isn’t always worth the effort it saves. That’s the case with single-stream recycling – but unfortunately, the people who take the shortcuts often don’t realize the consequences. What Works About Single-Stream Single-stream recycling (the practice of throwing...Continue Reading
April 22nd is Earth Day and the focus this year is “End Plastic Pollution.” You can follow the conversation with the hashtags: #EarthDay2018 and #EndPlasticPollution. How much plastic is in our oceans? For a number of years we have been reading articles about the “garbage patch,” a vast area located in the Pacific Ocean with a high concentration...Continue Reading
As a recycling and solid waste disposal services provider we are constantly getting asked, “How can we reduce our handling and disposal costs?” Here is case study of a happy new customer. Miller Recycling recently received a call from a warehouse manager of a large pharmaceutical distributor in Massachusetts. They had a problem handling the...Continue Reading
At Miller Recycling, we service numerous facilities generating a wide list of commodities. The majority of these materials are recycled. Unfortunately, some – due to their makeup and combination of incompatible products – cannot be recycled. One of those products is used or scrap furniture. Used furniture contains a combination of fabric, wood, foam, metal,...Continue Reading
There are a number of “costs” associated with recyclables that are sometimes overlooked by the average person. Consider the range of costs for picking up and transporting material to the recycling facility end market. If a trailer load of baled paper is being picked up and shipped directly to a paper mill, the transportation cost per...Continue Reading
Do you find yourself confused about the various descriptions used to define terms in relation to the environment and recycling as a business? There are many terms and tag lines used to define the various factors affecting our environment and how we treat it. In order to build an environmentally friendly space that practices recycling...Continue Reading
Corrugated cardboard recycling has been on a consistent rise for the past few decades. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) recently released a report stating that Old Corrugated Container (OCC) recovery has been climbing at a steady velocity since the 1990’s. The Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) also recently announced recovery of cardboard (OCC) recycling...Continue Reading
Safety is and should be the #1 priority for any recycling facility. Lockout / Tagout is one way to ensure safety of all workers in recycling operations. There are many moving parts within a recycling operation – and each one can and does present a potential hazard to employees. Trucks, forklifts, loaders, balers, shredders, guillotines,...Continue Reading
