CPR Expanding Florida Plastics Recycling Operation

Commercial Plastics Recycling Inc. (CPR), headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has announced plans to expand its headquarters location by 10,000 square feet, bringing the total size of the location to 62,000 square feet.

The company also announced that it has placed an order for a Zerma pipe shredder that will allow the company to handle plastic pipe up to 48 inches in diameter and 25 feet long. The company says that once the shredder is in place, CPR will be the largest pipe shredder in the United States. CPR expects to have the shredder installed by the middle of December 2010.

“We have been struggling to find the feedstock of pipe we need to satisfy our customers' appetites. This equipment will allow us to handle large diameter pipe that we had been passing on before. Until now, we had only been able to handle pipe that is 8-inch diameter or less as cutting large diameter pipe down to manageable size with chain saws is very dangerous. We feel this will give us the ability to grow as the construction industry returns to Florida in the near future,” says Ben Benvenuti, CPR’s president.

“We have seen a consistent demand for ground plastic pipe, and this new equipment will allow us to meet that demand,” Benvenuti adds. In addition, Benvenuti notes that he has seen an increase in requests by companies wanting to recycle larger diameter pipe, but few recycling facilities have the capability to handle that work. “Too much of this large pipe is being put into landfills. This gives companies an option to recycle that was not there before.”

In addition to its Tampa location, CPR has plastics recycling facilities in West Virginia and North Carolina.