Sonoco's Chicago Rigid Paper Plant Goes Landfill Free
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Sonoco Recycling Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sonoco, Hartsville, S.C., USA, and one of the largest packaging recyclers in North America, this week announced that Sonoco's Chicago-Dupage rigid paper facility has received a gold-tier Sonoco Sustainability Star Award for going landfill free. The facility has actually been landfill free since October 2011, according to Ron Camp, plant manager, who noted that "we've maintained 100% landfill diversion since then and are very excited to receive this prestigious sustainability award."
Ray Howard, GM, Sonoco Recycling, said that "in 2011, we committed to taking 10% of our plants landfill free by 2015. The Chicago-Dupage facility is the next step towards achieving our goal, and we applaud them for their efforts."
While the Chicago plant had been recycling for many years, employees worked with Sonoco Sustainability Solutions (S3) to achieve landfill-free status. All plant waste streams were audited and evaluated for potential opportunities, using reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery to determine the best solution for diversion of all landfill waste. The facility created a team focused on reaching 100% landfill diversion while remaining cost neutral, or better than its existing cost of disposal.
Together with S3, the facility developed a thorough plant recycling program that includes all paper, corrugate, wood pallets, metal, stretch film, plastic banding, aluminum cans and plastic bottles. All other waste is sent to an alternative waste-to-energy (WTE) facility, and all material is compacted, sorted, shredded, and baled.
Created to recognize customer and Sonoco facilities for achieving significant milestones in landfill diversion and waste stream reduction, the program is composed of three tiers:
- Gold Star Awards that recognize facilities achieving 99% landfill diversion
- Silver Star Recognition awarded to facilities achieving 95% landfill diversion
Bronze Awards that recognize facilities achieving significant waste reduction.
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