The Benefits of High Density Compaction

When looking into purchasing a compactor there are many things to consider.  Simply understanding that these machines are designed to compact waste materials into a container is just the beginning.  It is important to look for a compactor that not only reduces volume, but also saves you money.  Oftentimes, taking into consideration the benefits of a compactor can make the purchasing decision an easy one. 

First and foremost, high density compaction reduces the costs associated with hauling waste.  Simply put, the more waste that gets squeezed into your container equates to fewer trips that need to be made to the landfill.  Moreover, these fewer trips to the landfill reduce the potential for property damage to black top or concrete loading areas.  As you can imagine, over time the traffic from 50 ton waste trucks can produce significant wear and tear on your lot.  Compactors also reduce the risk of fire at a facility.   Because compaction revolves around removing air to reduce volume, the higher density loads created throughout the process are much less likely to burn than loose trash.

For some companies product destruction becomes very important when disposing sensitive material.  Destroying products through compaction prevents their reuse and ensures peace of mind.  Compactors that have been operating for several years in harsh conditions can reflect their long life in chipping paint and weathered seals and hinges.  Therefore, at the very least, a new machine improves the aesthetics of a plant’s waste handling area.

Installing a compactor with a full enclosure design can also allow for better climate control in a facility.  This design eliminates the need to open doors on cold walls that let outside air in or inside air out.  These sealed systems also play an important role in reducing pilfering and pest control.  This is because a compactor that is connected to a container restricts employee access while preventing rodents from crawling into the compaction chamber or container. 

In terms of safety, compactors help control workman compensation claims while increasing the ergonomics of waste disposal.  For instance, incorporating a cart dumper into a compaction system reduces the risk of injury associated with heavy lifting and disposal of awkward materials.  At the same time, these systems are very easy to operate and maintain.   

So what is your experience with operating waste handling equipment?  We are interested in hearing about your experience with compactors and compaction equipment.  Also, let us know about some of the features you would like to see incorporated into compactors in the future.

For more information on the benefits of high density compaction, visit our site here.

SP Updates: Where we’re at and where we’re going

Having entered the holiday season and with the end of 2011 fast approaching, SP would like to discuss our present and future.  Not only have we been much more active in manufacturing and selling Extended Height Dumpers, but we are also heavily focused on marketing our metal recycling systems. This focus stems from a push to maximize efficiency as well as sustainability throughout the metal recycling process. 

As business picks up, we are seeing a good deal of interest from the food waste industry as well as transfer stations around the country.  Some of our latest equipment shipments include CP-8002 compactors, ROLO dumpers, and many food waste compactors such as our CP-125 and CP-155 units.  We are also very excited about our new hydraulic latch system designed to secure semi-trailers to commercial compactors and allow for fast, efficient trailer replacement. This premium alternative to traditional ratchet fastening systems covers the shaft from weather exposure and prevents corrosion therefore extending its overall life. 

We have also been regularly updating our website with new literature, photos, and interactive 3D drawings from our engineering department. There has been a boost in our website traffic and our social media presence is ever growing.  As always, we enjoy the online dialogue with others in the waste handling industry and would love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter.  On a separate note, shortly after the first of the year we will be releasing our new pricing guide to reflect updated parts and equipment changes.  More information on this will be available once the changes have taken place.

Finally, SP invites you to incorporate sustainability into your holiday season personally and professionally.  There are many ways to reduce waste or plan ahead with the environment in mind and online resources such as www.facebook.com/greenopolis, http://www.facebook.com/RecycleBank, and http://twitter.com/#!/carbonfeet serve as great for reminders for how to accomplish this.    

Becoming a Dealer for SP Industries

SP is currently looking for dealers who are as committed to customer satisfaction as we are.  As you may know, we are a leading manufacturer in the waste material handling industry dedicated to selling premium products and systems.  Our facility has been producing product destruction, recycling, compaction, and cart dumping equipment for over 45 years. And most importantly, our sustainable systems attract customers by providing them the lowest overall operating costs in waste handling. 

Lowering operating costs happens on many levels with SP equipment.  By maximizing payloads our equipment minimizes labor, transportation costs, equipment repairs, power usage, fuel emissions, resulting in a significant reduction in your carbon footprint.  Our website is an excellent resource for details regarding the many time-saving and money-saving reasons why our waste equipment outperforms the competition.

Right now we serve a wide customer base in the food waste, metal recycling, pallet destruction, and waste compaction industries.  Expanding our operation, however, does not happen without qualified dealers who are sales minded and can provide customers with support throughout the buying process.  For dealers as well as direct customers, SP provides sales training, technical support, systems consultation, and the best warranty program  in our industry for all of the equipment we manufacture.

If you are interested in becoming a dealer of high quality waste handling equipment, we would love to hear from you!  Please contact Denny Pool at 800.592.5959 or denny@sp-industries.com for more information on pursuing a relationship with SP.

Transfer Station Operations

One of the many operations that SP Industries manufactures compactor systems for is the transfer station. SP offers many options for choosing a high quality, high density transfer compactor from different cylinder configurations to custom-designed systems that fit the needs of specific waste streams. In the waste handling industry, transfer stations allow municipalities a manner of collecting waste at one location before it is hauled off to a landfill that may be miles away. Because they are often times located in residential and commercial areas, transfer stations must take into consideration how daily operations may affect their neighbors. For instance, the coming and going of waste haulers dumping into compactors, debris clean up, and garbage odor are a few concerns that become important to monitor while operating in and around communities.

Waste Advantage  has recently released an article detailing the plan for community outreach that transfer operations should make as a part of the ongoing communication with their neighbors. A transfer station located adjacent to homes and businesses, for example, should consider monthly meetings with community members regarding a commitment to hiring local workers or landscape improvements. Also, as is the case in almost all planning and development stages, stations should develop a clear explanation of why the community needs the station and what benefits it provides.

After brainstorming a plan, transfer stations need to develop a process for responding to community concerns that the community is familiar with. One person should be assigned as the primary contact for community members with questions and concerns. Another consideration is for transfer stations to organize periodic facility tours for neighbors who are unfamiliar with station operations.


For more information on transfer stations and their role in a community visit http://www.sp-industries.com/ or http://wasteadvantagemag.com/

The SP Triple Bottom Line

We have been busy updating our literature, tweaking the website, and working on new products! The theme we have kept in mind during these updates and changes has been a continuing focus on sustainability, most popularly known as “thinking green.” At SP, we take a very detailed and involved approach to sustainability. The development and production of new products to be added to our line of waste handling equipment centers around meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of the future. In other words, we gauge how sustainable our products and operations are according to how well they uphold three interdependent dimensions: the environment, economics, and society—what we refer to as our triple bottom line.


For a leader in the waste material handling industry, adhering to this triple bottom line means manufacturing equipment that not only achieves maximum density but also increases our customers’ payloads and results in less trash hauling. Also, with the economy in mind, we have specific criteria designed to help our customers perform an accurate cost savings analysis regarding their material handling and recycling efforts. For instance, it is important for companies to ask: “What size and type of waste am I dealing with?” “What volume have we produced in the past?” “What compaction ratio are we currently getting?” How many pick-ups do we currently have and what is the maximum load allowance in our current container?” Moreover, we help companies navigate deciding among buying, leasing, and renting. Labor and equipment intensity also becomes relevant in making purchasing decisions especially in terms of the number of workers and machines utilized within a waste handling operation.


Read more about how our systems make waste handling operations more sustainable in our latest metal recycling catalog or on our website. Also, we would love to hear any questions or comments that you have via a response to this post or by emailing us.

Updated child labor provision for operating waste equipment

Because operating our equipment safely is a top priority at SP, it is important that we help spread the word on the latest labor laws pertinent to our industry.   

The US Department of Labor has published an important child labor provision regarding the operation of waste equipment by persons under the age of 18. The new law prohibits minors less than 18 years of age from loading, operating, and unloading power-driven paper processing machines, including all balers and compactors, guillotine paper cutters or shears, platen printing presses, and envelope die-cutting presses. There are limited exceptions that allow 16 and 17 year olds to load, but not operate or unload certain scrap paper balers and paper box compactors if the following requirements are met:

1. The equipment meets one of the following the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards:

• ANSI Standard Z245.5-1990
• ANSI Standard Z245.2-1992
• ANSI Standard Z245.5-1997
• ANSI Standard Z245.2-1997
• ANSI Standard Z245.5-2004
• ANSI Standard Z245.2-2004
• ANSI Standard Z245.5-2008
• ANSI Standard Z245.2-2008

2. The equipment contains a poster or notice that:

• Identifies the specific ANSI standard that the equipment meets
• States that 16- and 17-year-olds may only load the equipment
• States that no one under 18 years old may operate or unload the equipment

3.The equipment must include an on/off switch with a key-lock or other system, and the control of the system must be in the custody of employees 18 years of age or older.


4. The on/off switch must be maintained in the off position when the equipment is not in operation.


5. The equipment cannot be operated while it is being loaded.

For more information, visit the Department of Labor website at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs57.htm

SP President Denny Pool Talks ANSI Standards

ANSI standards for Stationary Compactors are constantly changing to maintain the utmost safety in manufacturing, installation, and operation. The newest version of Z-245.21 will be called Stationary Compactors – Safety Requirements for Manufacturing and Reconstruction, and the newest version of Z-245.2 will now be called Stationary Compactors – Safety Requirements for Installation, Training, Maintenance, Operation, Modification, and Repair. These standards cover ALL installers. Moreover, ANY person or company that reconstructs/rebuilds a unit, or maintains, operates, modifies, or repairs a unit shall comply with these standards.


These two standards cover construction, component requirements, testing, safeguards, guarding, containers, cart lifters, auto starting, markings or labels, lock-out/tag-out, confined space, adequate clearance, operation, training, and more. The only way to truly know them is to read them.

Everything in these standards is important, but I’d like to refresh your memory of a couple points to which you should pay extra attention.

ANSI/NFPA 70-2009 NEC Section 110 is a normative reference that discusses adequate clearances around and ingress/egress of electrical equipment.

NFPA-70E Electrical Safety in the Workplace covers all electrical systems to be protected from ARC FLASH/BLAST as well as procedures to follow for protection.

Section 5.4 Controls states: “A lockable mechanism (e.g. interlock, key lock switch) shall be provided at the discharge end of a compactor to prevent activation of the compaction cycle when the container is being exchanged if the discharge end is not visible from the operator controls.”

Section 5.9 Guarding states that protection for personnel shall be provided when contacting ANY moving parts or MATERIAL loaded at the point of operation or other mechanical operation’s. There are three different methods explained in the standard, one of these must be accomplished completely, not just in part. This means that even though you have a 42” high load lip, you do not automatically comply if you can still touch the ram or material movement. You must still provide 84” of clearance away from materials or equipment in order to comply. This has been an OSHA regulation since 1970 for machine guarding and walking working surfaces.

Section 5.12 states that “continuously operating and unattended compactors with automatic start-up systems shall have start-up alarms both audible and visible.” If you supply or have a compactor that can start automatically without someone performing a manual task (e.g. turning a key, pushing a button, closing & locking a door) it shall have an auto-start-up alarm system. These types of systems are explained in this section.

Lastly, there are some additions to the Signage or Decals section. New decals for Lock-out/Tag-out, Confined Space, ARC Flash/Blast, and Beware of the Hazard have replaced old decals and alert people to the different hazards in and around stationary compactors.

ANSI standards have been requirements in our industry since 1975 so if you’ve never heard of these safety standards or are not aware of the changes, it is time to become very familiar with them. Knowing and applying them will save lives and money.

Reading the standards from start to finish is the best way to understand everything that is involved with this equipment. The Normative references at the beginning tell you all the other published standards that also comply with this equipment. Next the definitions are designed to correlate to our environmental industry. They will explain the many differences between equipment and terms like reconstruction, modification, and/or repair.

Thank you for reading, and as always feel free to contact me with any questions/comments at 800.592.5959 or denny@sp-industries.com.
Denny Pool

“Greener” Recycling

The three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle have become a sort of social mantra that communities and households operate under to create environmental awareness and promote sustainability. What many people do not know is that these terms are part of a hierarchy. This means that one should first reduce or use less; whether you purchase fewer products, take shorter showers, turn off unused lights, or unplug unused chargers.


Next, reusing is a straightforward reference to using an item more than once for their original purpose. This is conventional reuse. But, with some creativity people can reuse everyday items for many different purposes. For instance, old CDs, toothpaste tubes, yard debris, and tires have several uses around the house: http://www.squidoo.com/reuse-everything

Finally, recycling refers to the processing of old products into new ones in order to reduce wasting valuable materials. One of the major concerns with recycling now-a-days speaks to the carbon footprint that results from transporting recyclables around the country and around the globe. Cars, garbage haulers, lorries, pettibones, and ships all use energy to transport recyclables and it is important that this “environmental cost” does not outweigh the costs and energy saved throughout the recycling process.

One major change that can take place to reduce carbon emissions is simply taking less trips. Naturally, taking less trips and maximizing the efficiency of waste transportation requires packing waste containers as full as possible. Whether traveling overseas or across town, recycling is simply “greener” when more waste is transported less often. On the commercial and industrial levels, SP Industries prides itself on manufacturing the highest quality compaction systems that maximize the load size of containers in waste transportation.

Ultimately, following through with the three R’s takes personal sacrifice and being conscious of the carbon footprint your lifestyle produces. Another challenge should be for people to re-think or “pre-cycle” by reconsidering what they are purchasing, how it can be disposed of, and whether other products or services are better alternatives.

Do you have any creative ways that you have reused household products? What environmental considerations do you think are most important when you make purchases?

Recycling That Starts Small and Finishes Big

A great deal of what we read, talk about, and learn is found online. The explosion of mediated communication over the last 15 years is best understood by looking at the exponential increase in texts, emails, and video chats sent every year. Meanwhile, hard copy books are still being printed, magazines are still published weekly or monthly, and snail mail and fax machines are still around. And, of course, millions of newspapers still roll off production lines daily.

Obviously, it is important to remember that these old media can and should be recycled. In fact paper makes up over 30% of all recyclables in the United States every year. Newsprint and office paper are two of the largest sources of scrap paper in the US adding to the 68 million total tons produced each year. The reason newspapers stand out among other types of paper grades such as magazines and telephone directories is that 89% of scrap newspaper is recovered and reused again in products like Scotch tape, lamp shades, coffee filters, insulation, and more newspapers.

What are your options for pitching in and making yesterdays news tomorrows news? Many schools and organizations have turned to old-fashioned paper drives to recycle newspapers, raise a bit of money, and ultimately help the environment. This takes partnering with a fundraising company and making a recycling dumpster available in your collection area. Next, you can arrange for a one time curbside pick-up of the dumpster or make this an ongoing fundraiser in which case you organize with a company that will pick up your container regularly. Here are other options for organizing your drive: http://bit.ly/10nlk0

On the commercial side, paper mills load semi-trailers with scrap newsprint. The more scrap that can be placed into a trailer equates to less trips to and from each mill during the recycling process. Our NP-165 Newsprint Loading System is designed to load trailers with up to 40,000 pounds of scrap newsprint and provide “hands free” processing at these mills. In turn, efficiently transporting scrap newsprint means an important reduction in a company’s carbon footprint.

So, while recycling efforts may start small with local paper drives, SP Industries helps them finish big by providing the most efficient means of transporting scrap newspaper. For more information visit http://www.bestcompactors.com/Newspaper_Loaders.htm and to watch how this happens visit http://bit.ly/k3zi0d

Have you coordinated any recycling efforts at work, school, or home? Let us know via comment, facebook, or Twitter how you have pitched in or any ideas you have for successful recycling campaigns.

It is Good to be Back!

After a minor break, we are now firing back up our blog posts, Facebook updates, and now, Twitter feeds! Yes, SP is now an active member of the Twitter community so feel free to follow us @SP_Industries for useful information about our products, photos, industry news, and insights from our interesting Parts Manager, Sid.  The entire team at SP is excited about opening up a conversation with our customers so don’t hesitate to comment, suggest, reply, message, email, like, call, or follow us.