PittPenn Recycling takes cardboard by the truckful
Since 2017, paper and paperboard recycling has grown from a $2.2 million to a $2.9 million industry in the United States. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that figure is anticipated to climb to $3.18 million by 2025.
The American Forest and Paper Association reports that box recycling accounts for roughly 93% of the 49.1 million tons of paperboard recycled in 2022.
Fueling the growth is the reliance on doorstep delivery for residential and commercial consumers. Some customers prefer online shopping for their needs — a trend that intensified during the coronavirus pandemic and has remained strong due to convenience.
Manufacturers always have relied on shipments of parts and other materials needed to produce products.
The increase in reliance on paper and paperboard has driven demand for recycling to reduce waste. That’s where PittPenn Recycling comes in. John Stanzione Jr. and his brother, Brad, bought a facility at 426 Freeport Road in Freeport in 2021 and opened a business to handle the recycling of paper, paperboard and scrap metals.
“The business is only two years old, but we have over 20 years of experience in the paper and cardboard business, with a lifetime of experience in steel and metals recycling,” John Stanzione said.
The Stanziones continue a family tradition their great-grandfather started in the 1920s as a scrap dealer. “We have U.S. census data from the 1920s that list him as a scrap dealer,” Stanzione said. “He used to haul scrap with a horse and buggy into the city.”
Their father continued the legacy with a small scrapyard in Clinton Township.
Stanzione said he and his brother are proud to continue protecting the environment with their combination of paper, cardboard and metal scrap recycling services.
While their father, grandfather and great-grandfather managed small-scale scrap recycling, the Stanzione brothers operate the largest facility in Western Pennsylvania for paper recycling. Considered a dual-stream operation, they pick up material separated at the source.
They also handle scrap metals on site, but it’s a small part of their business compared with paper and cardboard recycling.
Unlike curbside recycling with some waste management services, they don’t accept co-mingled paper products because it degrades the paper quality which, in turn, reduces its worth during recycling.
“We’ve seen a shift from brick-and-mortar retailers where we used to pick up cardboard from them to picking up more materials from online retailers’ distribution centers,” Stanzione said. “We’ve also seen an increase of pickups at our municipal customers that have drop-off bins.”
PittPenn Recycling handles some of the largest online retailers and industrial customers in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. They’re versatile enough that they can work with customers that generate a few bales a month or those who generate a load a day.
Stanzione said what makes them a popular choice among paper and paperboard recycling centers in the tri-state region is their ability to pay the highest rebates for recycled materials to their customers.
“We provide a rebate for cardboard and can get businesses any materials they need to bale the materials before pickup,” Stanzione said. “We handle all the dispatching of trucks with our own fleet, so we can keep trucking and recovery costs down.”
PittPenn Recycling handles office waste such as newspapers, magazines, shredded paper, printing-grade paper and even coated books. Pickup is available for clients in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
The recycling center also accepts two other main grades of cardboard for recycling:
- Newspaper mix, consisting of overissue newspaper or old newspaper. These are newspapers already distributed to consumers, read, and in need of recycling.
- Old corrugated cardboard. They pick up cardboard that customers have baled on-site. Depending on the size and regularity of pickup, they can arrange for a tractor-trailer bale route or deliver a drop-and-load trailer that sits on-site until full and ready for pickup.
Customers that produce the most cardboard recyclables often bale on-site and arrange for pickup with PittPenn Recycling, Stanzione said. Cardboard must be kept clean and dry to qualify for recycling. Pickup is available only for commercial customers within a 100-mile radius of the facility.
“Cardboard is very bulky,” Stanzione said. “Baling and recycling it reduces the size of your dumpsters and the number of times you must have it emptied if you’re tossing it out. You can recoup some of the money you’re spending on trash costs by baling and recycling instead.”
Companies can recover upfront costs for installing a baler on-site if they generate enough materials for recycling. Stanzione said his company assists customers with installing a baler at their locations on request because it’s in everyone’s best interest to bale on-site.
Cardboard balers crush thick cardboard materials and turn them into bales of crushed cardboard. Customers don’t have to break down cardboard boxes before feeding them into the baler. They can put whole boxes straight in, close the door, and let the pressing plate do the hard work. Bales are then stacked and collected by PittPenn Recycling.
One of the biggest advantages to cardboard baling and recycling is it allows business and industry to engage in more environmentally friendly waste management practices, Stanzione said. Recycling reduces the need for virgin materials, conserves trees and energy and minimizes greenhouse gas emissions.
“Everybody is pushing for zero waste with the rise of corporate responsibility,” he said. “What we do removes some of this paper and cardboard out of the waste stream, and we have the data to support it.”
Customers can receive monthly, quarterly or annual reports from PittPenn Recycling to show the impact their decision to bale and recycle has on the environment, Stanzione said. “Local branches of larger corporations can use the reports to show the home offices their commitment to recycling.”
“If you’re currently baling your cardboard, then it’s a no-brainer to call us for a quote,” Stanzione said. “We have the strongest pricing in the market by far. Call us to find out what we can do for you.”
This article originally appeared in Butler County Business Matters.
