THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190335
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 52 lines
When a storage company was left holding tons of empty tea jars, company officials wanted to avoid dumping them in the landfill but didn't know a use for them.
David Horne, recycling program manager at Southeastern Public Service Authority, offered the perfect solution. He agreed to recycle the unused jars - good, clean glass - for a fraction of the cost of trashing them. He hopes the effort will be the first of many business recycling projects.
``There is no reason to fill up the landfill if they can be recycled,'' said John P. Sims, vice president of Commonwealth Storage Corp.
For more than a month, the company had been storing the empty jars, which had been made for Thomas J. Lipton Inc. The tea importing company and producing plant on Holland Road in Suffolk had changed its design for its instant tea containers, but the manufacturer had already overproduced.
Sims, who was charged with disposing of the surplus jars for the manufacturer, checked prices. Taking them to the regional landfill could cost thousands of dollars; recycling would cost a fraction of that.
``It was really a win-win,'' Sims said.
SPSA finished loading the jars Wednesday and got 66 tons of glass, saving nearly $4,000 for the manufacturer, Bell Foster Glass Container of Illinois.
The work was done on a per-container basis. First, shrink-wrap has to be removed from the jars. Cardboard dividers between layers must be taken out. Then the pallets supporting them must be removed.
``We're not really set up to accommodate the business sector yet,'' Horne said Monday. ``But we have the equipment to do this kind of simple, large project.''
If there is enough need, he said, SPSA will try to find a way to meet it.
``If other businesses have similar type of needs, they can call us, and we'll be glad to accommodate them,'' he said.
Recycling is cheaper as well as environmentally friendly, he said.
``It's always cheaper to collect and recycle a ton of recyclables than to collect and dispose of the same ton as garbage,'' Horne said.
This project just made sense, he said. ``It's just a no-brainer.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot
Brian Diprima, operations manager for Commonwealth Storage Corp.,
shows off one of the jars headed for recycling with the help of the
Southeastern Public Service Authority.
Graphic
TO GET DETAILS
For information on business recycling, call David Horne at
548-2256.
KEYWORDS: RECYCLING SPSA by CNB