WestRock's new partnership with Onandaga Agency to promote recycling

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Norcross, Georgia-based paper company, WestRock Co. has partnered with Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) on recycling project. The new partnership is aimed to enhance recycling by making use of staples and other byeproducts pulled from cardboard trash to produce energy. In addition, the collaboration proposes to collect metals for recycling from WestRock’s Solvay, New York, recycled paperboard mill.

According to Nina Butler, WestRock’s chief sustainability officer, the declared partnership is perfectly in line with the company’s proclaimed sustainability objectives aimed at reducing landfill disposals and increasing recycling. The effort in coordination with OCRRA builds on the company’s long legacy of recycling by making best use of mill’s manufacturing residuals to generate electricity, Butler added. As per estimates, the Solvay mill recycles approximately 850,000 tons of recovered fiber every year.

Meantime, John Copanas, OCRRA’s board chair, noted that the agency is extremely thrilled to support a local business in achieving its sustainability goals. The partnership will lead to recovery of about 3,000 tons of metal per year, which otherwise would be buried forever. Also, Dereth Glance, OCRRA’s executive director stated that the partnership with WestRock will help the community to be more sustainable by way of recovery of tons of valuable resources.

The Solvay mill accepts cardboard from county and other regional recycling programs, which are then turned into new cardboard. However, materials such as staples, packing tape, labels and baling wire are usually removed and sent to landfills. The OCCRA-WestRock collaboration would give new life to these byeproducts. Accordingly, these materials will be shredded at OCRRA’s Ley Creek Transfer Station in Liverpool, New York, where all the metal components will be recovered for recycling purpose. The remaining byeproducts will be used in generation of electricity at OCCRA’s Jamesville Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facility.

The shredding process is expected to recover nearly 3,000 tons of metal per annum. The processing of remaining byeproducts is expected to generate nearly 25 million kwh/year. The project will significantly benefit the environment by diverting 44,000 tons of material from an out-of-county landfill.

The Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency is a not-for-profit public benefit group that oversees what happens to the waste and recycling from Onondaga County communities. Established in 1990, it incorporates numerous programs for recycling and disposing of hard-to-manage materials.

WestRock partners with its customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRock’s 39,000 team members support customers around the world from more than 250 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia.