Sonoco Upgrades Columbia MRF

Sonoco Recycling LLC, a unit of Sonoco (www.sonoco.com), Hartsville, S.C., has announced the investment of $4 million at its Columbia, S.C., materials recovery facility (MRF). Sonoco says the investment will allow the plant to accept a broader range of materials, including composite cans, glass, magazines and other types of plastic.

Sonoco’s investment includes the addition of three sorting screens for old corrugated containers (OCC) and paper sorting, an optical sorter to retrieve plastic and a glass crusher that will allow the MRF to collect whole and broken glass bottles and jars.

“With this upgrade, we’re now able to recycle even more of the packaging produced by Sonoco, in addition to the other items we collect that aren't produced by us,” says Ray Howard, general manager of Sonoco Recycling, in a news release issued by the company.

Derek Trader, Sonoco’s division marketing manager, Global Rigid Paper and Closures, says, “Sonoco is one of the largest providers of composite can packaging in the world for products such as coffee or Pringles potato crisps. The ability to both produce and recycle this item is exciting for us and further demonstrates the company’s commitment to sustainable business practices.”

Sonoco, with 50 locations throughout world, collects around 3 million tons of recyclables per year. The company operates six MRFs and processes materials from nearly 150 communities where curbside-collected residential and commercial materials are collected.