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Riding the Green Wave
Small business owners around the state are finding a market for products and services that promote sustainability.
Marpan Recycling - Tallahassee
 Kim Williams transforms construction debris into reusable material. [Photo: Ray Stanyard] |
“I just felt it was the right thing to do,” says Williams, who also promotes green business practices as a founding member of the non-profit group Sustainable Tallahassee. “It also makes good business sense.”
Leon County charges $36 per ton to dump at its landfill; Marpan Recycling charges $34, and hopes to resell 75% of the processed debris, as raw cardboard, steel, asphalt shingle, rock and other material.
The $5.5-million plant can handle up to 500 tons of debris a day, operating as many as 309 days out of the year. Williams, 56, expects first-year revenues of between $2 million and $3 million, but operating at full capacity, with about 20 employees, the company should take in more than $5 million. Marpan Supply, the parent company, which hauls debris for commercial customers, will be the plant’s largest customer, having paid more than $1 million last year in landfill tipping fees alone.
The state-of-the-art plant sorts, grinds and compacts the reusable material for shipping. As a rule of thumb, he says, recycling plants are profitable if they return 50% of the debris to the market as reusable material. To achieve the 75% goal, Williams visited similar plants in Europe, which is more advanced in recycling technology than the U.S. due to higher energy and materials costs.
“Nowadays everyone in the waste business talks about recycling and being more efficient and more energy conscious,” says Williams. “And our motto reflects that: Faster, cheaper, cleaner and greener.”
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