June 7, 2004

Sun Valley opens recycling plant in Tennessee
By Steve Toloken, Plastics News Staff

MORRISTOWN, TENN. (June 7, 12:20 p.m. EDT) -- Recycler Sun Valley Worldwide Inc. has opened a plant to reprocess bags, carpet and other plastic materials in Tennessee, in what the company said is a significant expansion of its capabilities.

Sun Valley opened the 75,000-square-foot plant in Morristown in February, and expects to be reprocessing 100 million pounds of plastic there within two years, said Danny Schrager, president of the Delray Beach, Fla., firm.

The 10-year-old company, which mainly had brokered plastic but also has a small grinding operation in Delray Beach, also is close to reaching agreements with companies to boost its recycling of grocery bags significantly, he said.

“We’re growing both horizontally and vertically, by moving into processing,” Schrager said. “We think the markets are going to evolve and we need to provide the waste generators with the most value.”
The Morristown plant has separate areas to recycle nylon and polyester carpet, grind a variety of plastic and densify plastic grocery bags and a variety of low, linear low and high density polyethylene film and bags. The plant produces clean flake, he said.

The new plant has 25 employees, and required about $500,000 in new equipment, including eight densification lines, Schrager said. It will allow the company to expand its markets, which include construction, automotive, agriculture and household goods, he said.

Besides plastic, the company handles corrugated and metal materials for recycling, provides waste management consulting and sells used gaylord containers. The company has about 55 employees and $30 million in total sales. It reported $23 million in plastics-related sales in the 2004 Plastics News ranking of North American recyclers. He said he expects the new facility, which does business as Mountain Valley Recycling, to generate about $6 million in additional annual sales.