West Coast story: Allan Company has steadily worked its way up to number one in the West Coast scrap paper business - Company Profile - Cover Story

Recycling Today, Dec, 2002

The company's leaders do not see the trend reversing. "The profit streams of single-stream residential commodities cannot be ignored," says Steve Young. In his remarks at the Paper Recycling Conference, Steve said, "Currently, all but two of our facilities, year-to-date, are turning a profit." And he noted that those two facilities had been recently acquired.

"Single stream is not going away," agrees Jason. "The difference in hauling costs is significant."

In addition to forging the single-stream market ahead of many other companies, Allan Co. has also plugged itself in to the State of California's CRV system.

"All our plants are CRV buy-back facilities," notes Rogers. The arrangement means Allan Co. must track its returned containers carefully for the California Department of Conservation, but it also means that customers are heading into their facilities on a regular basis. "Some plants have 300 to 400 customers daily. Many of these bring in not just CRV containers, but also corrugated and news," says Rogers.

Under the California CRV arrangement, the Allan Co. reimburses individuals for the deposits they have paid on beer, soft drink, juice and bottled water containers. Allan Co. then submits its buyback and recycled commodity shipping records to the state for eventual reimbursement.

The arrangement has meant that the company deals in materials well beyond its original specialty of scrap paper, but the added markets can be worthwhile. Acknowledging that a lot of recyclers are down on glass, Jason says it is not a problem material for Allan Co. in California. "We have the CRV value on the glass, so we get a redemption fee back, plus we have a market to sell into, so we get some commodity value."

Plastic, though, can be more problematic. "Sometimes you cannot bale it for what it is worth on the pier," Jason says of plastics pricing. "It's part of the CRV program in California, so it comes in to us. The problem with the end markets has been companies starting up and then shutting down two years later."

He hopes that more stable plastic markets, perhaps abetted by plastic lumber and decking, will be established. "As an industry, we need to handle this product. It's growing as a packaging product."

PACKED AND SHIPPED

Paper remains the leading commodity of Allan Co., and the firm continues to draw material from a broad range of sources well beyond curbside recycling programs.

As one new sourcing method, Allan Co. now operates The Shredders, a document destruction service that offers bin placement at offices and warehouses throughout Southern California.

Documents are taken to a high-capacity shredder (10 tons per hour) at a facility where state-licensed security guards ensure clients that documents are shredded securely.

The bales of shredded office paper add yet another grade of paper shipped by Allan Co., joining OCC, ONP, mixed paper, CPO (computer printout), SCL (sorted colored ledger) and a general office pack, with varying grades of these paper categories produced at the firm's plants in Baldwin Park, Fresno, Monrovia, San Diego (three plants), Santa Ana and Santa Monica.