SP Introduces Our Newest Compactors & Says Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is here once again!  With all the hustle and bustle it’s a welcome break from our everyday pressures. There is the usual scramble around here as we work to get those last minute orders out the door before year’s end. No matter how bad or tough you think things are, it’s still a good time to count our blessings and be thankful we wake up everyday, take nourishment, and head out the door. And be thankful for our service men and women serving and fighting for our freedom. I’m most thankful for my health, family, and friends. I’m also thankful for the great partners and employees we have and the chance to serve you for 30 years. November is a great month. 1982 is when it all started so it’s SP’s 30th Birthday. Even though I started here in 1984, November is the same month in 2002 I became President; 10 years and going strong.  

The year has been good despite the political scene, economy, and unem- ployment. It’s turned out a little above average compared to the last few years. You, our customers, with your hard work have paid off for all of us. Thank you for the orders, your friendship, understanding, harassment in good times and bad, and most of all your loyalty.

This year has seen some of our research and development programs come and go. After many hours and many dollars we have scrapped the digester, solar, and wind projects. We found them to be most unrealistic in return on investment to just plain gimmicks. The mechanical compactor and dumper systems however, made us a believer in R & D. As I’ve said before, SP was "green" before "green" was cool. Now we’re a little greener with the EM Series Compactors and the EM-EHD Dumper. These systems work almost the same as the hydraulic cylinder systems less the reservoir and hoses. The same sizes, forces, cycle times, penetration, warranties, & payloads with no worry of an oil spill are available.

 

The niche markets have stayed strong through the year. Maximizing food waste loads, scrap steel loads, and general waste loads have helped cut carbon footprints. This reduces fuel, emissions, labor, and wear and tear on the roadways. Our de-watering and de-oiling systems are getting more popular as they help customers recover cutting oils and lubricants. And our product destruction systems are destroying many different products from glass baby food jars to automotive transmissions or motorcycle frames. This eliminates the possibility of them showing up in the local flee market and saving our customers millions of dollars in lawsuits.

 

Our suppliers have increased their prices from 4% to 7% so it’s inevitable that we will be increasing also. It’s difficult to figure out completely due to the fluctuations in all the components from copper, steel, oil, and insurance. The increase will be around 5% and I’m hoping this will take us through next year.

 

Once again, SP wants to express gratitude for your loyalty and support. As always, we are here as more than just a high quality manufacturer, but also to support you through the entire sales process. Feel free to contact us at any time.

How to Reduce Waste Costs

As a manufacturer of high quality waste handling equipment that maximizes compaction ratios, SP is familiar with the best ways reduce an organization’s carbon footprint. One of the rarely looked at ways to reduce carbon emissions in business and industry is by carefully evaluating the waste disposal process. Most operations leave disposal decisions up to their garbage hauler. The problem with this approach is that companies forget garbage haulers are in the trucking business, which means that the more they haul, the more they make. Even in recycling at the commercial or industrial levels, transportation is often overlooked.

Taking a closer look at how much waste and recyclable material fills the containers being hauled away from a business can make a huge difference. Densifying is the easiest way for industrial and commercial operations to reduce energy, reduce fuel, reduce emissions, and cut their waste handling expenses in half. In most cases this can be initiated with no additional expense or investment and puts money back into a budget immediately. Many companies overlook the option of simply putting a heavier load into their containers.

On the University section of our website, www.sp-industries.com you will find an explanation of how most industrial and commercial operations can accomplish these reductions and savings. Visit us to learn how to get the most from you waste handling dollar and how SP can provide you with waste handling systems that work!

Compactors in the Metal Recycling Process

Recycling scrap metal is an enormous business across the United States. From the 56 billion aluminum cans recycled last year, to the millions of tons of ferrous and non-ferrous metals sorted, sheared, shredded, torched and baled at processing plants, the metal recycling business is booming. Compactors play an important role in this recycling process. This is because achieving higher density during compaction equates to larger loads that can be transported from processing plants to steel mills, saving processers money.

SP makes long lasting, fast cycling pre-crushers and metal compactors designed to maximize efficiency and reliability. Our systems can include fluid collection systems designed to separate oil from metal turnings and chips. Also, our closed compaction containers eliminate the potential for ground water contamination in and around metal processing areas. Most importantly, our equipment is backed by the best warranty in the industry and our engineers can address any site-specific installation concerns.

You can visit SP online at www.sp-industries.com/ for more information about metal compaction and equipment specifications. Also, we would like to hear about your experience with metal recycling by replying to this post or contacting us on Facebook or Twitter.

Recycling Food Waste: The How and Why

Imagine cows and pigs eating semi trailers full of bread, muffins, and rolls! Believe it or not, this happens around the country on a daily basis as America’s livestock often feed on bakery leftovers. This recycling of bakery by-products is a story that largely goes untold. It is, however, an extremely important way to make use of the large amount of unused dough, cakes, rolls, and grains produced by America’s industrial bakeries. When bakeries have excess food product or products expire, these must be thrown out like many other items. However, removed bakery by-products can be processed and turned into high quality animal feed known as Dried Bakery Product. This product is then used as a supplement to traditional livestock feed. There is generally a high demand for this product and some bakeries produce four semi-trailer loads of bakery by-product per day.


Of course this process begins with bakeries using food waste processing machines that can meet the demands of continuous loading and heavy production. SP Industries offers several different options for handling wet or dry food waste. Systems are not only made to adhere to the safety requirements produced by OSHA, but can also be made of stainless steel to meet USDA requirements. Our food waste compactors also have short cycle times and large chamber sizes to maximize waste handling efficiency. You can see an entire food waste handling system in action in this video. For food waste that is very dense, auger style containers work best for distributing waste that cannot be usefully compacted.

For more information on the process of recycling bakery products visit: http://www.scopeproducts.com/index.php and for more information on the equipment that makes this possible visit: http://www.bestcompactors.com/Food_Waste.htm Also, we would like to hear about any creative ways that you recycle food waste at home, from feeding your animals leftovers to using coffee grounds as potting soil by replying to this blog, or contacting us on Facebook or Twitter.

Reduce Costs And Your Footprint!

Ideally, waste handling at the commercial and industrial levels should be designed to reduce an organization’s carbon footprint while saving money. Fortunately, SP has been familiar with the best ways to do both of these things for many years. One of the rarely looked at ways to reduce carbon emissions in business and industry is by thoroughly evaluating the waste disposal process. Most operations leave disposal decisions up to their garbage hauler. The problem with this approach is that companies forget garbage haulers are in the trucking business, which means that the more they haul, the more they make. Even in recycling at the commercial or industrial levels, transportation is often overlooked. 

Taking a closer look at how much waste and recyclable material fills the containers being hauled away from a business can make a huge difference in how much disposal costs. Densifying is the easiest way for industrial and commercial operations to reduce energy, reduce fuel, reduce emissions, and cut their waste handling expenses in half. In most cases this can be initiated with no additional expense or investment and puts money back into a budget immediately. SP makes this happen for companies by figuring out realistic ways to put heavier loads into their containers.

On the University section of our website you will find an explanation of how most industrial and commercial operations can accomplish these reductions and savings. Contact us to learn how to get the most from you waste handling dollar and how SP can provide you with waste handling systems that work!

Sustainability in the Material Handling Industry

If not already developed, your company has likely begun to develop some sort of a green initiative. The conventional wisdom of doing things good for the environment and good for the bottom line is sometimes difficult to achieve. Now, thanks to the application of high density compaction and innovative technology, that’s all changing in the field of waste material handling and solid waste removal.

Through high density compaction and automated dispatching of waste haulers, it is possible to reduce transportation operations by an average of 40% or more. Such results are possible by fixing the problem at the source….the waste compactor. By improving the performance efficiency of waste compactor management so that only maximum loaded compactor containers are picked up, enormous improvements and savings are possible.

This is especially important because waste removal trucks are among the least efficient vehicles on the road. But as it turns out, the easiest solution to reducing costs and the carbon footprint of the waste process is with the waste compactor, not the truck. A high density compactor with a monitoring system from SP Industries is your best solution. An automated monitoring system actually watches how the high density compactor container is filling, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When a “full container” is sensed, the waste hauler is automatically notified by the monitor. In real world experience, this results in an average of 40% fewer trips by the waste hauler, and reducing the fuel consumption, air pollution, and carbon footprint of these trucks by 40%!

Many waste compactor users find it almost impossible to consistently know when a compactor’s container is ready for pickup. Because businesses are often concerned about calling the hauler too late, they rely on regularly scheduled waste pickups, or guess when to call for a pickup based on such unreliable measures as pressure gauges and indicator lights. These practices result in compactor containers being picked up too frequently, often with only 5,000# to 6,000# payloads when they should be 15,000# to 20,000# payloads.

Like an out-of-tune car or truck engine, an inadequate or malfunctioning compactor is incredibly wasteful. Improper pressure settings or faulty gauges can fool workers into calling for a pickup when the container is just half full. The added pollution that results, as well as the added expense, can be much more significant than is at first apparent. High density compaction is able to greatly improve waste stream efficiency and document results, because it is a complete, fully automated monitoring solution. State-of-the-art sensing technology, on-board intelligence and embedded software are fully configurable to the needs of the individual user.

Fewer truck pickups equate to fewer miles driven, which means fewer trucks are needed to service the same number of customers. That also means that truck maintenance is reduced proportionately. So, reducing these factors is an added bonus.

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of utilizing these types of systems is that on a purchase basis, the system typically pays back in 9 months or less. After that, it continues to generate major savings. Contact an SP representative today to find out more about how to significantly reduce operating expenses and cut your carbon footprint.

Welcome to Sustainable Compaction!

As the second quarter of 2012 begins, SP has an exciting new product announcement! We are pleased to introduce the first line of industrial, electro-mechanical compactors completely absent of hydraulic fluid. 

These ground-breaking compactors utilize a solid steel screw shaft powered by an electric motor that pushes the ram through the compaction chamber.  This eliminates the potential for hydraulic fluid spills in and around customer facilities providing contamination-free operation in all applications and for all industries.  The new EM Series frees up floor space by removing the need for bulky power units used with traditional compactors.  Also, a built-in grease system automatically lubricates the shaft and the motor remains protected by a soft-start system and full-load indicator to prevent surges or overamping. 

As with all of our equipment, the EM Series is completely customizable and can be integrated into most of our systems alongside our specialty dumpers, chutes, and decks.  You can find the EM Series specifications sheet here.

We anticipate the release of the EM Series to have a big impact on our industry and encourage you to contact us with your questions or concerns!

SP Reduces Waste Costs for Weber Packaging by 20% !

Creating fuel out of waste provides an incredible benefit to the environment and oftentimes your pocket book.  Weber Packaging Solutions found this out when they recently launched a new operation that helps convert its former label waste into fuel instead of landfill fodder.

Weber makes pressure-sensitive labels for use by both industrial and consumer goods companies. The firm annually produces more than 1,500 tons of paper and synthetic waste as a byproduct of its label manufacturing and printing operation inside its 320,000-sq-ft facility.

Weber then needed to determine a reasonable means of collecting its label waste and transporting it 200 miles to the Pellet America plant that is able to transform non-recyclable paper and synthetic waste into pellets that are used as an industrial fuel source.

For this Weber turned to our NP-165 scrap-loading system designed to pack paper waste into semi trailers.  This machine has been successfully integrated at several newspaper printing facilities across the United States to load (via compaction) over the road semi trailer with up to 40,000 pounds of scrap Old Newsprint (ONP).  At Weber, this system will allow the company to redirect 99 percent of their annual label waste from the landfill, and repurpose it as raw material for fuel pellets.  They will also be able to reduce their waste disposal expenses by nearly 20 percent, including the cost of using semi-trailers to transport their material.

Let us know how your organization has made their material handling practices more sustainable by commenting on this post.  Also, you can get a no obligation evaluation of your current system and how we can increase efficiency and boost saving for you by visiting:   http://www.sp-industries.com/costCalculator.cfm

Metal Recycling Compactors

Recycling scrap metal is an enormous business in the United States.  From the 56 billion aluminum cans recycled in 2010, to the millions of tons of ferrous and non-ferrous metals sorted, sheared, shredded, torched and baled at processing plants, the metal recycling business is booming. Compactors play an important role in this recycling process because achieving higher density during compaction equates to larger loads that can be transported from processing plants to steel mills.  The higher the density, the more money that processors save in transportation.

SP makes long lasting, fast cycling pre-crushers and metal compactors designed to maximize the efficiency and reliability.  Our systems can include fluid collection systems designed to separate oil from metal turnings and chips.  Also, our closed compaction containers eliminate the potential for ground water contamination in and around metal processing areas.   Most importantly, our equipment is backed by the best warranty in the industry and our engineers can address any site-specific installation concerns.

A great resource with information on all of our metal compaction equipment is our metal recycling catalog. You can also visit SP online at sp-industries.com for more information about metal compaction and equipment specifications.  And we would love to hear your experience with metal recycling by replying to this post or contacting us on Facebook or Twitter. 

Safety first . . .and next, and last!

First off, Happy New Year!  The holidays have passed and 2012 is here with new opportunities and challenges.  One challenge that cannot be ignored (especially at work) is safety.  And as you know, safety is not only very important in the waste handling industry but EVERY industry.

You may or may not be aware that a sizeable amount of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) focus is on employee education and training in the workplace.   For some time though, this information hasn’t been easy to locate because a great deal of it is spread throughout their standards publication and within other regulations.   In response to this “missing section” a recent collection of OSHA standards that are employee-training specific has been produced that aims to be a useful reference.

Although they do represent a condensed version of the standards and are not 100% authoritative, this site provides an invaluable resource for managers.  Across the board standards such as emergency and fire evacuation plans are listed as well as considerations for specialized industries that deal with chemicals and radiation.  Also, this reference provides detail on the safe use of heavy duty material handling machinery for both commercial and industrial jobsites. 

So expand your understanding of workplace safety by visiting this part of the OSHA Training network:  www.oshatraining.com/osha-general-industry-training-requirements.php  

For more safety information regarding the use of our waste handling equipment specifically you can always browse our equipment specifications online at:  www.bestcompactors.com  Also, feel free to contact the chairman of the compactor committee for the ANSI Z245 Accredited Standards Committee and our president, Denny Pool, at denny@sp-industries.com