Mountain Valley Expands Its Recycling Operations to Include Plastic Hanger Recycling.
New, Automated Technologies Transform Used Plastic Hangers into Certified, Post-Consumer Resins
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- Mountain Valley Recycling, a plastic film and bag recycling company and resin manufacturer, announces the development of a new, automated system for recycling plastic hangers. With billions of plastic hangers discarded by retailers each year, Mountain Valley is expanding its operations to convert used, plastic hangers into new certified recycled-grade resins.
Mountain Valley has added the recycling line to its production facility in Tennessee now capable of handling over 20 million pounds of mixed plastic hangers each year. Having secured a major contract with a national retailer, Mountain Valley will begin processing millions of pounds of their plastic hangers by March 2007.
"Our automated recycling systems can separate the polypropylene and polystyrene -- the materials used to make plastic hangers -- from one another with no manual labor at all," says Daniel Schrager, president of Mountain Valley Recycling. "The result is clean, certified polypropylene and polystyrene post-consumer recycled resins (regrind and pellets) that can be used to make many long-lasting durable products."
In the past, plastic hangers were not recycled because cost-effective recycling technologies did not exist. Challenges including contamination such as dirt, mixed colors, metal, stickers, fabrics, foams, paper and rubber as well as the ability to handle different types of plastics existed. Now, with the development of new manufacturing technologies and innovation, baled mixed hangers can be sorted, cleaned and ground, and then pelletized or compounded to produce various types of resins for industries including household consumer goods, packaging, agriculture and automotive, and is a perfect material for closed-loop recycling.
"It's all about finding ways to serve our customers. Not only does it reduce the amount of plastic waste from landfills, it converts the plastic scrap from waste to a renewable resource," said Schrager. "There's clearly a difference between throwing away plastics and selling them to a recycler, but we hope the difference of utilizing ones' scrap to create a renewable resource will become more and more clear over time. Mountain Valley continues to be a great resource for manufacturers seeking consistent quantities of 100% post-consumer recycled resin."
About Mountain Valley Recycling
Mountain Valley Recycling is a national recycling and plastic resin manufacturer that recycles over 150 million pounds of plastic film waste such as stretch wrap and carrier bags each year. Focusing on manufacturing post-consumer resins from materials recovered from municipal, commercial and consumer collection programs, Mountain Valley produces and sells 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins. www.mvrecycling.com
