Recycling facility opens

East Jordan Plastics’ recycling facility is now recycling plastic horticultural containers 24 hours a day. The South Have, Mich., plant is equipped to recycle in excess of 10 million pounds of used horticultural containers annually. The 130,000 square foot facility’s location is central to major markets that East Jordan Plastics serves.
East Jordan Plastics established a recycling system to feed the new facility by closing the recycling loop on horticultural containers. Collecting used containers from retail consumers and greenhouse/nursery operations was the missing link. A pilot program was introduced last year in conjunction with local garden centers in the Midwest. Shipping carts placed in the garden centers featured a banner that identified it as a recycling collection location for used containers. Customers brought back their used pots and flats, and shipping carts that formerly were empty when picked up from the stores now return to growers with recyclable containers. Containers that cannot be used are sent to East Jordan’s South Haven facility to be recycled.