Sonoco Recycling Breaks Ground in Charleston, S.C.

Sonoco Recycling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sonoco, Hartsville, S.C., has broken ground on a new material recovery facility (MRF) in Charleston County, S.C. Expected to be complete in February of 2012, the new MRF will handle both residential and commercial/industrial materials.

“We’ve been in Charleston County since 1972, and are excited to continue our growth in this area by offering expanded services to local residents and businesses,” says Jim Brown, vice president, Sonoco Recycling. “Our new facility represents a $1 million investment into the greater Charleston community,” Brown says. “We’ve been in Charleston County since 1972 and are excited to continue our growth in this area by offering expanded services to local residents and businesses.”
 
Sonoco says it expects to hire 15 new employees to work at the MRF. With the new facility, Sonoco Recycling says it will aim to grow its capacity by 25 percent, including by expanding the list of materials accepted for recycling in Charleston County. Additionally, the new MRF will be equipped to process residential single-stream materials.

Sonoco Recycling, which bills itself as one of the largest packaging recyclers in North America, annually collects more than 3 million tons of old corrugated containers, various grades of paper, metals and plastics.

The company currently operates four MRFs and serves more than 125 communities in which curbside-collected residential and commercial materials are processed. The company also provides recycling programs that identify waste reduction opportunities to reduce operating expenses for many of the largest consumer product companies in the U.S.

Sonoco Recycling is a division of Sonoco, founded in 1899 and now a $4.1 billion global manufacturer of industrial and consumer products and provider of packaging services. Sonoco has more than 300 operations in 34 countries. More information on the company can be found at www.sonoco.com/.