PAC Engineer Chris Gillespie Leading Industry-Wide Recycling Initiative

The goal? Increase matrix recycling at converting companies across the country. The man tapped to make it happen? Precision AirConvey engineer Chris Gillespie.

For nearly two years, Gillespie has been heading up the Matrix Recycling Solutions subcommittee of the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI). The industry-leading trade group draws its members from tag, label, packaging and related companies across the country, with a mission to enhance the prosperity of all.

To that end, members are invited to volunteer on committees and subcommittees designed to promote progress in key areas. Gillespie’s Recycling Solutions subcommittee has been hard at work researching and creating a strategy to connect more TLMI members to environmentally-friendly solutions.

One of the first steps the group took was to create and distribute a survey to applicable TLMI members to assess their knowledge of matrix recycling solutions and determine barriers that exist for implementation. The group of approximately half a dozen members now holds monthly teleconferences to analyze the results and determine how best to proceed.

Major obstacles discovered by the survey were a lack of awareness of local solution providers (with one respondent unaware that a recycling facility was located within 15 miles of his manufacturing plant), and a concern over the high costs of the solutions.

To address the location issue, the subcommittee planned and built an online, nationwide map of matrix recycling centers. This was accomplished by reaching out to major solution providers, such as Covanta and Systech Environmental, to receive location addresses and specifications.

With the map established, the group is now focused on combating concerns about price. In recent months, the subcommittee has been contacting recycling companies to discuss the possibility of providing discounted rates, and has also contacted converters that have successfully implemented waste diversion initiatives to learn best practices.

The group is working to synthesize this information into useful marketing materials and promote them to TLMI members through advertisements, trade magazine advertorials, trade shows and other channels in late 2015 and 2016. Research has also begun into the viability of alternative methods of recycling.

Precision AirConvey is committed to providing matrix removal solutions that can serve as an important piece of any company’s efforts to protect the environment, and is proud of Gillespie’s efforts to promote green solutions to TLMI members nationwide.