Creative Process

The Donco Paper Supply name is probably the most well-known within the recycling industry because of its longevity, but the Mendelsons have been building and managing a diversified, multiple-materials company for many years.

More than 45 years ago, in 1962, Bob created Ramblin Corp. "as a company to buy and sell things other than scrap paper," says David. (The name, incidentally, derives from a combination of Bob’s initials, RAM; the "b" is for a baby that was on the way; and the "lin" for Bob’s wife Linda.)

Ramblin Corp. has subsequently branched out to also provide planning, engineering and financing to customers setting up in-house recycling programs, including the placement of equipment to process and ship materials.

The activities of Ramblin Corp. have brought the Mendelsons into contact with several emerging markets, including the scrap wood-to-fuel market. "An auto industry customer of ours wanted us to market wood scrap," recalls David. "Our company designed a system to turn it into a fuel product."

David cites the agricultural and food processing industries as a portion of its customer base that generates byproducts such as food ingredients, oils and gums. Donco has conducted research and even created markets that have helped many of these materials transition from problematic to market-ready. "We have an office dedicated to agricultural byproducts, working with manufacturers at points where the byproducts are created," says David. "Some of this material becomes fuel, but some are recyclable raw materials," he notes. "Waste reduction and green thinking is getting a lot of press these days, but Donco started helping companies with this many years ago," says David.

Customers inquiring about the recycling of plastic scrap, including film and plastic pallets, has led the Donco organization to become heavily involved in plastics recycling. Much of the plastic recycling is now done by the Poly Recyclers unit of Donco.

On its Web site, Donco describes Poly Recyclers as the operating unit that "converts scrap plastic into reusable forms for markets around the globe. Our markets have expanded as far as China, India, Honduras and Brazil. We’re more than equipped to handle the world’s plastic scrap needs."

Joining Donco Paper Supply, Ramblin Corp., and Poly Recyclers as the fourth branch of the Donco Recycling Solutions tree is Ohio Pulp Mills.

This Donco company is based around a Cincinnati facility that uses plastic-coated milk cartons as pulping feedstock. The plant was built in the 1950s, and Bob Mendelson acquired ownership of it in the early 1970s. "We had been supplying the mill with raw materials and selling finished product when the owner passed away," says Bob. "His brother came to me several times offering to sell. On the last occasion, he said either I could buy it or it would have to be closed, putting people out of work—so we bought it."

The Mendelsons say the mill’s technology "remains a model of cost-effective functionality" even half a century after it was built. Bob says the mill’s original owners worked with equipment maker Black-Clawson to design the process that separates the plastic coating from the pulpable fiber.

Donco’s search for end markets for the separated plastic coating generated at the mill was one of the factors that lead to the creation of Poly Recyclers.

The Ohio Pulp Mills facility represents Donco’s biggest bricks-and-mortar asset. But creating end markets and "connecting dots" as they have done for their poly-coating scrap and for countless customers is what sets Donco apart, say the Mendelsons. 

"Our facilities are between our ears," says David of the company’s employees and associates, including what it refers to as its Think Tank of recycling veterans with a combined 300 years of industry experience.

Bob and David agree that a large part of what enables all the companies to function separately or together, when needed, is the energy and resourcefulness of Donco’s employees as well as the way they are managed.

Bob says, "There is a tremendous amount of experience in our Think Tank." Donco conducts waste audits that the company says can yield impressive results because of the combined experience, knowledge and critical thinking skills of the Think Tank. "We go through plants, make suggestions on how to upgrade the handling of their materials or otherwise gain more value from the material they generate," says Bob. "Plus we have an engineering department to suggest equipment, and we can finance that equipment."

"We have 300 years of experience," says David of the Think Tank. "We either have the knowledge in house or we know how to acquire the knowledge," he adds. David cites one individual who was formerly part of Procter & Gamble’s chemical division as just one of several examples of people with industry knowledge and experience that comprise the Think Tank.

Drawing from past experience makes up only one-third of the ongoing work of the Think Tank, say Bob and David. Just as importantly, the group has to consider how to apply that knowledge to the opportunities in the present and also spends time considering the recycling and basic materials landscape of the future.

In looking at his years in the paper recycling industry, Bob cites several examples of sudden change. "There used to be a grade called tabulated cards and paper mills that counted on that grade as feedstock. There was also the CPO (computer printout) grade and even a specific dot-matrix impact printout grade," he recalls.

Bob says recyclers should be prepared for more changes to come. "Five years from now, we might be saying ‘There used to be something called old newspapers.’ Even envelopes are diminishing rapidly as a paper grade," he remarks.

David says, "Dad mentioned the tab cards—there were paper mills built to make that paper and others that used it as a raw material. Today, there are still mills that make newsprint and mills whose raw material is largely ONP. As we’ve talked to them, they realize they have a business based on a raw material that basically may not exist in a few years. You’ve either got to adjust or you’re going to go out of business."

Because of its past actions and the ongoing work of the Think Tank, Bob and David are optimistic that Donco Recycling Solutions has put itself in a good position to stay involved in whatever recycling frontiers are on the horizon.

It’s not thinking alone that helps Donco stay competitive, says Bob, but the actions that follow. "Moving quickly is the secret to our business," he states

The Mendelsons say preparing for change and acting quickly when identifying change are the key factors to Donco Recycling Solutions lasting another 50 years.

"Our business, like the recycling industry, is a very complicated jigsaw puzzle," says David. "The team brings pieces of this puzzle to the table, and the more pieces we put on the table, the better chance there is to create a solution."

David concludes, "The strength of our business is really our people—we have a great team of incredibly creative people. I believe they are creative enough to keep this company moving forward for another 50 years."

The author is editor-in-chief of Recycling Today and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net.