Top Food Distributor Solves Recycle Dilemma

In a Bind: Small Yard, Big Waste Packaging Turnover

With a national footprint, this distribution firm serves 85,000 customers, everything from small restaurants to convenience store chains and large healthcare facilities, from more than 60 regional distribution centers, including four on the West Coast. It processes massive volumes of bulk food items—more than 200,000 types sourced from around the globe—generating tons of discarded interim packaging materials at each center.

In a call to International Paper, the food processing plant manager laid out his problem. “I’m in a bind here. I have a very small yard with a lot of turnover of material,” he said. “I need someone reliable to come pick it up for us.” An IP recycling team member was dispatched the next day to scope out the challenge: trailers full of pizza boxes and different types of cardboard and plastic bales. “This is a very, very small yard, and they were staging a lot of this on trailers off site,” said IP’s Raj Madhavan. “So they were incurring costs off site, and had to go pick up their trailers, and bring them back.”

A logistical nightmare and a costly and time-wasting process.

Custom Solution, Ready to Roll

IP specializes in custom recycling solutions for businesses across the U.S. With recycling plants nationwide, and a transportation network able to meet any demand, IP’s recycling experts are always ready to customize a plan specific to your needs. IP was already servicing another division of the food distributor, about one hour south. IP also had a truck fleet stationed at its recycling location about 25 miles away. “They needed a reliable supplier to come pick it up, who could be on call to help them move the material,” said IP’s Madhavan.

"Within a couple days we got the account set up, and we sent our trucks.”

IP already had the infrastructure on the ground and ready to service this food distributor with 16 trucks and 29 trailers. “Luckily we own our own fleet,” said IP’s Madhavan. “We’re unique in the market that way, so we can respond quickly. Within a couple days we got the account set up, and we sent our trucks.

Rapid Roll Out with Revenue Options

After hauling three or four loads of accumulated backlog waste, IP trucks now stop by monthly, on call, to pick up the material. While cost was a secondary consideration for this food distribution operation, it turns out that IP offered significant savings. Due to its economies of scale and its efficiency, IP hauls this food distributor’s container waste for thousands less than a previous supplier, also eliminating operational costs tied to staging waste at the customer’s off-site interim storage yard.

International Paper’s Sustainability in Motion® offers customized solutions, tailored to each customer location, including baling, hauling, and data reporting. They can also include rebates based on the market value of your waste fiber, which IP converts to new packaging products at its many carton mills.

With a potential new revenue stream, IP can bring your circularity efforts to a new level, with recycling services and integrated mills providing full-circle solutions for your food service business.

Creating what’s next, International Paper’s recycling team is your partner for the future. We are your best end-to-end closed-loop sustainability partner. We design custom solutions for businesses of all sizes, with a focus on maximizing your economic and sustainability value at every point. For International Paper, recycling is a culture, not a commodity.

Let International Paper put Sustainability in Motion® for you.