A win-win situation

When East Jordan Plastics Inc. (EJP) started its container recycling program several years ago, Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses in Kalamazoo, Mich., was on board. In fact, it helped EJP initiate the idea for it. Mark Elzinga, owner of Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses, remembers going on a tour at EJP and seeing how the company was using used materials for its resins.

“I told him that that’s the best thing we can be doing, is reusing the plastic resins and everything,” he says.

Now EJP offers to pick-up used containers, which it then takes back to its facility and turns into new containers.

Elzinga and his company are rewarded, too. They set up carts at retailers where people can return their plastic. Then they collect it, sort it, and sell it back to EJP.

“It’s not a real cash flow, revenue source or anything like that, but it’s not costing us money to do it,” Elzinga says. “We easily get our money back for sorting this out, and the better we are at sorting it, the more money they pay us. So they’ve been real fair on that.”

Elzinga recommends that others in this industry who are interested in recycling should get their customers involved. One idea is to reward the customers, especially on the retail end, for returning their used plastic.

“If they say to their customers, ‘You bring us in 10 pots and we’ll give you a dollar off your next purchase,’ they’re really going to drive sales into their stores,” he says.

So not only would a company have more material to recycle, it could also boost its sales.

“The thing is, recycling is anonymous,” Elzinga says. “We are all branding our pots and putting our names on things and sending them to certain retailers. But with recycling it doesn’t matter. If you buy something at Walmart, and Home Depot is giving you a coupon to bring it back there and recycle it, that person’s going to come back there and recycle it, and possibly purchase something else there too.”

For more: Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses, (269) 327-5144 or www.elzingagreenhouses.com