[COVER STORY] 20 Largest Paperstock Dealers

Many paper recycling companies have modest origins, with several hearkening back to the "rag collector" era of a century ago or solid waste cartage services that started with one pick-up truck.

But the industry has grown to a point where its largest entities now do business across the globe, engaging in complex logistics, processing and supply equations that test the acumen of a staff of executives and managers.

Significantly, most of the companies that ranked among the 20 largest paperstock dealers in North America are either recycling divisions of mill companies or recycling divisions of solid waste hauling firms. The financial backing that comes from being part of a larger corporate base has helped these recycling divisions procure material from the industrial, commercial, office and residential streams.

As with previous Recycling Today "20 Largest" lists, we received replies from some but not all of the companies we contacted. In some cases, we placed companies on the list based on estimates from industry sources, while in other cases we refrained from doing so.

In an effort to receive more information, we decided to keep actual volume figures confidential. The list that has ben created ranks the companies based on processing volume, defined as scrap paper sorted, baled or otherwise handled before being shipped to a broker or consuming mill.

On the following pages, we present brief profiles of these companies, hopefully revealing in part how they got to be among the biggest (and presumably) best in their industry.

The reluctance of some companies to provide information has probably led to their omission from this list, meaning we cannot claim 100 percent accuracy. We hope that some of these companies will reconsider their policy. Listing the largest, most active companies is a way to gain recognition for what a company and its employees have accomplished. It takes hard work by a lot of people to procure, process and ship out paper grades that meet mill quality standards.

If you work for or own a company that you suspect should be on this list but was not contacted (or did not respond), please let us know and we will make sure to let our readers know. Editor Brian Taylor can be contacted via e-mail at btaylor@RecyclingToday.com.

1. RECYCLE AMERICA ALLIANCE LLC

Solid waste and recycling company Waste Management Inc., Houston, has been among the leading balers and shippers of scrap paper for a number of years. This decade the company has been overhauling and regionally centralizing its recycling operations under the auspices of its Recycle America division.

These growth efforts received an important boost this January, when a merger between Recycle America and The Peltz Group, an established recycler based in Wisconsin, was announced.

The newly-merged Recycle America Alliance (RAA) operates more than 80 facilities throughout the country that, combined, bale and ship more recovered paper than any other competitor.

Led by President Steve Ragiel, who comes from the Waste Management side of the business, and Executive Vice President Brian Fielkow, with his background on The Peltz Group side of the business, RAA is now a leader in collecting residential and commercially-generated material, as well as brokering secondary grades to the mill market.

When the Waste Management-Peltz Group alliance was announced, Waste Management Inc. President and CEO A. Maurice Myers implied that the agreement could be the first of several that would further expand the new RAA. "We anticipate welcoming other important recycling processors into the alliance during the coming months, and we are pleased to have The Peltz Group—a company with a long history of integrity and value—as an initial partner."

Beyond handling recovered paper, the RAA also collects, processes and trades scrap metals, glass, plastic, electronics, tires and C&D materials.

2. SMURFIT-STONE RECYCLING

Packaging is the primary business of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., Chicago. But the firm’s production of corrugated containers and other packaging materials has allowed it to move vertically into the collection and processing of scrap paper—to the extent that the company is among the largest-volume shippers in North America.

The recycling operations of Smurfit-Stone include 28 facilities housing some 40 balers providing secondary commodities not only for Smurfit’s own mill infrastructure, but also for other domestic and international destinations.

On its www.smurfitstone.com Web site, the company refers to itself as "the leading U.S. exporter of recycled paper, shipping to more than 30 countries." It notes that secondary fiber grades make up the majority of what it collects and processes, but the firms’ facilities and brokers also deal in aluminum used beverage containers (UBCs), plastic and glass.

The company’s roots can be traced to Ireland. In 1974, Ireland-based Jefferson-Smurfit entered the U.S. market by purchasing an existing company here. Additional acquisitions increased its presence both in the packaging and recycling industries.

In November of 1998, Jefferson Smurfit merged with Chicago-based Stone Container Corp., a corrugated packaging manufacturer with roots tracing back to the 1920s. The combined firm now employs more than 30,000 people worldwide.

3. ALLIED WASTE INDUSTRIES

Another of America’s largest waste handing firms also checks in as a leading paper recycler. The recycling portfolio of Allied Waste Industries, Scottsdale, Ariz., includes the acquired assets of the former Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), considered a pioneer in curbside recycling.

According to Allied’s 2001 annual report, the company’s 67 recycling facilities (found in 39 states) handled approximately 2.5 million tons of recovered fiber that year, with OCC, ONP and mixed paper being the leading grades. The company provides solid waste and/or recycling services to some 10 million residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Allied Waste acquired BFI in 1999, after a Justice Department review required the companies to sell off some assets before the merger could win approval. Recycling industry observers considered BFI to have the stronger commitment to recycling, leading some to question to what extent Allied would focus on recycling. The 2.5 million tons of paper handled in 2001 by Allied actually marked a decrease from the more than 3 million tons handled in 2000.

In its 2001 annual report, Allied admitted to declines in both recycled paper volumes and prices compared to the previous year. With prices rising again in the second half of 2002 and 2003, observers will see whether Allied has renewed its presence in the secondary fiber markets.

4. WEYERHAEUSER RECYCLING

The Pacific Northwest is the home of multi-national forest products company Weyerhaeuser, Federal Way, Wash., a company with timber roots that has embraced paper recycling.

At its more than 20 recycling facilities, Weyerhaeuser handles a significant amount of scrap paper destined for its own mills and other facilities. The company’s recycling division works with large generators of scrap paper to handle the commodity from point of generation until shipment to a consuming mill.

Current services offered include national account services for multiple-location generators; integrated waste and recycling services for manufacturers and retailers; obsolete paper products recycling; secure document destruction; and on-site baling and compacting.

The forest product company’s roots trace back to 1900, with the recycling segment of the business beginning in 1974. By 1995, the recycling operations of Weyerhaeuser included 28 facilities in the U.S. and Canada collecting more than 2 million tons of secondary fiber. (To read a cover profile on The Weyerhaeuser Recycling that appeared in the August, 1995 issue of Recycling Today click on the following link  -- Harvesting the Urban Forest)

5. METRO WASTE PAPER RECOVERY INC.

Metro Waste Paper Recovery Inc., Toronto, combines modest family-owned recycling company origins with the financial backing of a major forest products company.

Just over two decades ago, Al and Anthony Metauro began collecting solid waste and scrap paper in Toronto, working initially from one pick-up truck. The brothers successfully grew their business to become a major supplier of processed scrap paper to Canada’s sizable paper mill industry. (See "Top Billing," Feb. 2003 Recycling Today.)

Eventually, the company’s size and efficiency attracted the attention of Quebec paper maker Cascades Inc., which purchased a share in the company in 1995. Additional swaps and transactions have intertwined Metro Waste Paper ownership with Cascades Inc. as well as paper maker Domtar Inc., Montreal.

Through various joint ventures and ownership agreements, Metro Waste Paper is now managing and operating recycling facilities not only in Ontario, but in Quebec, western Canada and New York state as well. As of 2003, Metro Waste Paper operates 15 recycling plants processing numerous grades of paper for shipment domestically and internationally.

6. ALLAN CO.

The Golden State remains a land of opportunity for the Young family and other officers of Allan Co., Baldwin Park, Calif.

The company has grown steadily in its 40 years of existence, but the curbside recycling revolution has been a major source of growth in the past decade.

Much like the solid waste haulers above them on our list of major paper stock dealers, Allan Co. has been willing to tackle materials collected in the single-stream method, which has become firmly established on the West Coast.

Unlike many of the other companies on this list, little of Allan Co.’s growth has been through acquisition. Rather, the company has established itself as a formidable competitor in Los Angeles and adjoining California markets. And unlike the solid waste firms, Allan Co. has grown strictly on the recycling side of the business, without a landfill side to its operations.

According to Export Manager Jason Young, the company ships about half of what it processes domestically, while taking advantage of its Pacific Coast location to ship the other half to hungry Asian destinations.

While the curbside boom has helped Allan Co. boost its paper volume, the company continues to grow in all directions, serving industrial, commercial and retail accounts; handling commodities beyond paper, such as UBCs and plastic; and growing slowly geographically beyond the Los Angeles market. (See A Humble Beginning, Dec. 2002)

7. PAPER STOCK DEALERS/DIV. OF SONOCO

Another paper mill company that has vertically integrated into paper recycling is Sonoco Products Co., Hartsville, S.C.

The recycling operations of Sonoco include some two dozen recycling facilities or offices located throughout the U.S., many of them operating under the name Paper Stock Dealers Inc. The company has its strongest recycling presence in the Southeast, nearest its consuming mill base.

On its Web site, www.sonoco.com, the company states, "Nearly all of the paper products we manufacture rely on recovered paper as the primary raw material." The company makes composite canisters for snack foods, powdered beverages, juices and cleansers and tubes and cores for rolled paper products.

8. THE NEWARK GROUP/RECYCLED FIBERS DIV.

Based in Cranford, N.J., the Newark Group and its Recycled Fibers Division gather tons of OCC, ONP, residential mixed paper and other grades furnish its dozen North American paper mills.

"For over 80 years, we’ve been an industry leader in the collection of secondary fibers and the manufacturing and converting of 100 percent recycled paperboard," the group announces on the opening page of its Web site, at www.NewarkGroup.com.

The Recycled Fibers Division operates 13 facilities in different parts of the country, administering recycling collection programs for retailers, office buildings, schools, municipalities, printing plants and other scrap paper generators.

The company’s roots in recycling trace to its origins in the 1890s. Company staff members received a patent in 1893 for a process to convert old newspapers into a paperboard product. (To read a cover profile on The Newark Group that appeared in the April, 1995 issue of Recycling Today click on the following link  -- Paper Recycling in the Fast Lane)

9. ROCK-TENN RECYCLING

Rock-Tenn Co., Norcross, Ga., is yet another packaging company that has committed itself to recycling as part of its supply chain.

Through the Rock-Tenn Recycling division that operates a dozen recycling plants and offices, the company handles significant amounts of OCC, mixed office paper and ONP.

Rock-Tenn Recycling operates programs for most types of large-volume generators, including factories and warehouses, retail stores, office complexes and printing plants.

Much of what is collected feeds the Rock-Tenn mills that make 100 percent recycled paperboard and other forms of paper made from secondary fibers.

10. CARAUSTAR RECOVERED FIBER GROUP

The pine forests of the Southeast may have helped create some of the leading paper makers in the U.S., but many of these same mill companies have swiftly adapted to using secondary fiber as a feedstock.

The Caraustar Recovered Fiber Group, Marietta, Ga., is a division of another mill group that has successfully branched into recycling. Like other paperboard or boxboard makers appearing on the "20 Largest Paperstock Dealers" list, Caraustar entered the business to help ensure a steady supply of scrap paper to feed its own machinery.

Today, the company operates eight recycling facilities that process material collected through a variety of different programs. "Early in our history, we recognized the need for a consistent supply of recovered paper," the company states within the corporate history section of its Web site, www.caraustar.com.

Caraustar has been making paperboard and other products since 1938, incorporating initially as Carolina Paper Board Corp. The company has subsequently grown through acquisition and vertical integration, including its expansion into recycling operations.

11. SP RECYCLING

In general, newsprint makers began switching to a high percentage of recycled paper content after boxboard makers and producers of some other grades. But in time, makers of newsprint such as SP Newsprint Co., Atlanta, have become major consumers of ONP and other recycled paper grades.

On its Web site, SP Newsprint calls recycling one of its "core values and beliefs." At its mills in Georgia and Oregon, the company consumes more than 1 million tons of the ONP grade of secondary fiber.

Much of that fiber is procured through its subsidiary, SP Recycling Corp., which concentrates on the ONP grade at its recycling plants, though it also collects and prepares additional materials.

12. CASELLA WASTE SYSTEMS/FCR RECYCLING DIV.

Casella Waste Systems, Rutland, Vt., has grown through acquisition to become one of America’s leading solid waste and recycling companies.

Among the acquisitions that helped it become a leading paper recycler was its purchase of the assets of the former KTI Inc., which included several large-volume material recovery facilities (MRFs), such as the one in Charlestown, Mass., which could be the largest in the U.S.

13. THE SUTTA CO.

Becoming a low-cost provider of processed secondary fiber grades has helped The Sutta Co., Oakland, Calif., become a worthy competitor for West Coast paper grades.

The company now operates five packing plants, concentrating primarily on serving industrial and office generators, which often means installing balers and compactors on site at the point of generation. "We reduce their operating costs and our handling costs," says President Steve Sutta. (See Feature on Sutta Company).

14. CANUSA HERSHMAN RECYCLING CO.

A merger of two paper packing and brokerage firms resulted in the creation of Canusa Hershman Recycling Co. (CHRC), Branford, Conn., earlier this decade.

The former Hershman Recycling and Canusa Corp. are now co-managed by officers of both the former companies (See "Looking Ahead," Recycling Today, June 2003). The company operates four plants and nine sales offices and also sets up processing operations at points of generation. Although the company currently brokers more material than it bales and packs, future strategies could increase its presence on the paper packing side, CHRC CEO Ethan Hershman told Recycling Today. "Because of our size [after the merger], we can make larger investments."

15. VISTA FIBERS

Dallas-based Vista Fibers refers to itself as "the largest independent recycler in the Southwest." Vista operates 17 plants and collection centers in Texas and Louisiana, concentrating on serving a commercial and industrial customer base of some 5,000 companies.

OCC, ONP and ledger grades are among the largest-volume materials handled by Vista, which operates five packing plants as well as a dozen buy back centers to procure material from smaller generators. (To read a cover profile on Vista Fibers that appeared in the July, 1996 issue of Recycling Today click on the following link -- Strong and Steady)

16. J.C. FIBERS INC.

J.C. Fibers Inc., Chambly, Quebec, operates three recycling plants, with the largest being the plant in Chambly that concentrates on fiber generated at printing plants, paper mills and other large generators in the region.

Additionally, plants in Montreal and Rochester, N.Y., process material from a variety of office, commercial and industrial generators.

According to president Joseph Colubriale, the company’s ability to work closely with generating customers has allowed it "to grow by leaps and bounds since its beginning in October 1985 at a small plant in St-Luc, Quebec."

17. ABITIBI-CONSOLIDATED, RECYCLED FIBRE DIV.

The Canadian forest products industry is also the launching pad for the next largest paperstock dealer, the Recycled Fibre division of newsprint maker Abitibi-Consolidated, Montreal.

In the U.S., the company’s recycling division is based in Houston and headed by General Manager Michael Sullivan. While the company is most interested in obtaining ONP for use at its own mills, the company’s efforts to supply its own mill furnish have broadened to include a wider recycling presence. Abitibi now operates recycling plants that accept various recyclables in nine U.S. cities.

18. WESTERN PACIFIC PULP AND PAPER INC.

At its four California plants, Western Pacific Pulp and Paper Inc., Downey, Calif., bales and ships a variety of paper grades, including OCC, old magazines (OMG) and sorted white ledger (SWL).

The company concentrates on larger, corporate accounts, offering such services as on-site processing, solid waste audits and document destruction as ways to tap into the commercial and industrial scrap paper stream.

19. FAR WEST FIBERS GROUP

Portland, Ore., serves as the home base for Far West Fibers Group, a paper recycler with facilities in Oregon, Washington and western Idaho.

The company processes OCC, ONP, high grades and other grades at plants that operate under the Far West Fibers name in Oregon. According to company President John Drew, subsidiaries include Spokane Recycling Products Inc., Spokane, Wash.; Waste Paper Service Inc., Spokane, Wash.; and Bluebird Recycling Inc., Coeur D’Alene, Idaho.

20. CITY CARTON CO.

At seven recycling plants in different parts of Iowa, Iowa City-based City Carton Co. shreds and bales scrap paper and other recyclables generated throughout the Hawkeye State.

Members of the Ockenfels family have guided the company through strategic growth since its inception in 1967. City Carton procures material at all points of generation, serving large-volume industrial generators, office clients (including through a growing document destruction service) and running municipal collection programs. (To read a cover profile on City Carton that appeared in the February, 1998 issue of Recycling Today click on the following link -- Service Oriented)

Recycling Today received replies from a number of other companies that are processing tonnage that puts them near the Top 20.

Among these companies poised to reach the 20 Largest list in the future are Pioneer Industries, Minneapolis; Northstar Recycling Group, Springfield, Mass.; Visy Recycling, Conyers, Ga.; Tri-R Recycling (and affiliates), Denver; Manchester Paper Recycling, Richmond, Va.; Resource Management Companies, Naperville, Ill.; Rumpke Recycling, Cincinnati; Waste Recycling Inc., Montgomery, Ala.; Butler Paper Recycling Inc., Suffolk, Va.; Friedman Recycling Co., Phoenix; Royal Oak Waste Paper & Metal Co., Royal Oak, Mich.; Balcones Recycling, Austin, Texas; and Great Lakes International Recycling, Roseville, Mich.

The author is the editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted via e-mail at btaylor@RecyclingToday.com.