Doubling Up on Success

"Small enough to know you . . . large enough to serve you."

The above motto appears on one of E.L. Harvey & Sons Inc.’s informational brochures. It’s right on target in describing how the 87-year-old, family-owned and operated Westboro, Mass. firm is meeting the challenge of remaining vital and successful in the changing recycling and waste hauling industry landscape.

E.L. Harvey & Sons was founded by Emory Larkin Harvey in 1911. In the 1940s the firm began to recycle cardboard, newspaper, rags and ferrous and nonferrous metals.

"During the war, we recycled rags, bags, mattresses, everything," says CEO James A. Harvey.

In 1949, the company began operating the burning dump for Westboro, which is located about 30 miles west of Boston. This continued into the 1960s, when the firm started to operate two landfills, since capped to Massachusetts DEP specifications. By the mid-1960s, the firm purchased its first baler, a small downstroke, which was used to bale newspaper and corrugated. Previously material picked up for recycling was hauled loose to a paper packer.

In 1971, a pit baler was installed to handle the large volume of material. "We started with some little customers and worked very hard at it," says Jim.

The hard work paid off as E.L. Harvey continued to expand. Today, three buildings process materials, notes Benjamin A. Harvey, vice president and one of the firm’s owners. He is the son of Robert E. Harvey, president.

Building 2 processes high-grade scrap paper and is equipped with a Harris HRB 3. It also has an American Baler 13000 and a Williams TF40 shredder.

Building 3 is currently being used as a waste transfer facility and also handles the overflow from Buildings 2 and 4.

Building 4 opened in September 1996. "This is where we bring in mixed industrial and commercial waste," says Ben. The building is equipped with a state-of-the-art Machinex Sorting System.

"Hand sorters pick out the corrugated, high-grade office paper, newspaper, metals and wood waste," says Ben. The building is also equipped with an American T-Rex 2-ram extrusion baler.

The other building (Building 1), built in 1989, houses E.L. Harvey’s corporate and administrative offices. This building is used for customer tours and as a meeting facility for many of the associations that company personnel are involved with, including the National Solid Wastes Management Association, Massachusetts Recycling Association, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Shriners and many other local groups.

E.L. Harvey recycles construction and demolition (C&D) debris, notes Ben. In a covered area, a Re-Tech Trommel removes dirt and fine stones. Material goes on to another conveyor to a picking line. Manual pickers then remove wood waste, ferrous and nonferrous metals and large pieces of aggregate.

This covered area is also the hub of the firm’s municipal recycling operation. Manual pickers place materials – bottles, cans and plastic – into stationary compactors. These are then taken by a roll-off truck to one of the balers.

In 1997, E.L. Harvey recycled nearly 56,000 tons of materials. The breakdown is as follows: corrugated, 26,000 tons; newspaper, 14,000 tons; high grade papers, 8,000 tons; plastics (HDPE and PET), 500 tons; glass, 2,500 tons; and metals, 4,000 tons. Of the metals, 90% were ferrous and 10% nonferrous.

"This year we are on pace to process 60,000 tons of material," says Ben. He adds that "the source of 90% of our recyclables are commercial and industrial accounts including office buildings and manufacturers. The other 10% comes from municipal sources."

Ben points out that the prime service area of E.L. Harvey is within a 50-mile radius of Westboro. This includes Boston to the east, Springfield to the west, Rhode Island to the south and New Hampshire to the north.

"This is the area in which we feel we can be most competitive," says Ben.

Success for any recycler is often predicated on the company’s ability to secure materials. This is where one of E.L. Harvey’s major innovations – its education program – comes into play. Headed by Ellen Harvey, vice president of public relations and training, the education program teaches customers how and what to recycle.

"It’s a win-win for E.L. Harvey and the customer," says Ellen. "E.L. Harvey receives valuable recyclables and the customers better manage their waste streams."

The company began its education programs about ten years ago. Today, the E.L. Harvey education program takes a three-prong approach. The first prong involves setting up an informational center in a central location such as a company’s cafeteria. "This resembles a booth at a convention trade show," says Ellen.

The second prong, which was initiated eight years ago, involves desk-to-desk training. "We actually go to each person’s desk and look into their recycling basket," says Ellen.

Employees are instructed on the different types of paper grades, contaminants and what should and should not be recycled.

The third prong involves training a company’s contract cleaners. Almost all companies now use contract cleaners. These people can be crucial to screening recyclable from non-recyclable materials, notes Ellen.

E.L. Harvey offers the educational program free of charge to companies when they begin their recycling programs.

Ellen points out, however, that in the last year or so, some companies have become more complacent about recycling and managing their waste streams. Whereas eight to ten years ago companies were more environmentally focused, today some companies are less inclined to recycle properly. These companies, for example, might not separate paper by grade, but rather collect it all in one batch with much contamination.

This attitude is counterproductive, according to Ellen. "You can’t pay companies for recyclables if they’re giving you trash," she says. "We’ll pay them for their recyclables and charge them for their trash.

Jim echoes these comments. He notes that in recent years both the general public – including homeowners and municipalities – have become more apathetic towards recycling.

"People are not as ‘green thinking’ as before," says Jim. He notes that years ago E.L. Harvey received numerous requests from municipalities to participate in Earth Day events. Today, these municipalities are doing significantly less on Earth Day than in years past.

"Schools are also less interested in having us talk to kids," says Jim. "And, we’re not getting as many requests today to tour our facilities as we did in the past."

One of the worst things any business can do is to stand pat and let events in the international markets overwhelm it. E.L. Harvey is proactive in adjusting where it sends its materials. Whereas eight to ten years ago, 90% of material went offshore, today the opposite is true. Ben notes that as of the late 1980s, the bulk of this material was sent to the Far East, Spain, Italy, India and other countries. Now only about 10% goes to these markets.

"Ninety percent of our corrugated and newspaper grades are going to U.S. and Canadian mills," says Ben. "All of our high grades are going to U.S. and Canadian mills. Most of these mills are in the eastern part of the U.S. and Canada.

Has the Asian flu spread to E.L. Harvey? "Not really," laughs Ben. "The Asian crisis has not had as big an effect on companies in the East as it has on companies on the West Coast and in the South."

The economics of shipping played a large role in insulating E.L. Harvey from the Asian crisis. "The Port of Boston simply did not have the volume of shipping to continue direct call with overseas shipments," says Ben. "It was not as cost-effective to transport by barge materials down to New York City for overseas delivery."

E.L. Harvey’s customer base is not just limited to the recycling arena. As mentioned earlier, E.L. Harvey is in the waste hauling business.

"We are currently one of the largest independent waste haulers in the New England states," says Ben. "We have mostly commercial and industrial accounts."

E.L. Harvey handles approximately 700 tons of waste per day. "Approximately three-quarters of this waste comes back to our facilities," says Ben. "We then manipulate the waste, reduce it and recycle. What we can’t recycle goes to waste energy plants and landfills. We recycle about 40 to 50% of the waste that we receive."

E.L. Harvey’s waste hauling ties directly into its recycling operations.

"The fact that we have various facilities at one location gives us the ability to handle a complete array of materials coming out of a source’s back door," says Ben. "We can provide a customer with the satisfaction of knowing that its materials will be recycled even though it doesn’t have recycling facilities at its location.

"In addition, we can provide the means for large companies to access recycling by collecting their co-mingled materials and separating recyclables from the trash."

Another big plus to E.L. Harvey being in both the recycling and waste hauling business is the chance to "cross-pollinate" each operation with good ideas. Perhaps, no greater example exists than in the area of customer service.

"Our service sets us apart," says Ben. "One of the things we’ve learned from our waste hauling operations and have brought to the recycling side is that the customer wants immediate service. We provide that by offering 24-hour turnaround from the time of the call to when the truck gets out there. This service is important and unique."

To help them meet their customers’ needs, E.L. Harvey maintains a fleet of 32 roll-off trucks, seven tractors, five front-end trucks, four paper recycling trucks, two PAL trucks (container delivery), nine service vehicles, two dump trucks, 60 paper trailers, 11 transfer trailers, 4 PUP (pull-behind) trailers and 1 roll-off trailer (see sidebar: "E.L & Sons Inc. At a Glance").

The company, which employs 150 people, services close to 600 compactor accounts with 110 of those compactors being used for recycling. It also maintains a number of closed-storage containers for paper recycling and has more than 6,000 96-gallon recycling carts on site at its commercial/industrial accounts.

"When we pick up the 96-gallon containers we will leave an equal number of empty ones on-site," says Jim.

The crucial point, say the officers, is that E.L. Harvey expends enormous effort and devotes considerable resources to ensuring that its customers’ needs are met and met promptly.

Ben Harvey believes that E.L Harvey’s commitment to its customers will pay big dividends in meeting head-on the wave of consolidation that is washing over the recycling and waste hauling industries.

"We feel as a family that there is a place for a strong, independently-run company such as E.L. Harvey," says Ben. "It’s difficult to compete with large companies. That’s why we’re finding ways we can do things quicker and better. We see what’s going on, know what’s going on, and then deal with it and make it happen."

Ben notes that the family meets once each week to "throw ideas around" about day-to-day operations and long-term planning. Other members of the Harvey family involved with the business include: Robert E. Harvey, president, and vice presidents Douglas H. Harvey, Steven A. Harvey, and Lynda Harvey. Henry L. Rudio serves as vice president of finance and administration.

The company’s corporate structure enables it to "react quickly to changes in the marketplace," says Ben. "We’re industry-educated and have grown up in the business. We’ve worked hard over several decades and are not afraid to take a chance or risk on spending say $500,000 to $1 million on a baling system and finding the ‘food’ to feed it."

Speaking of markets, E.L. Harvey, as with all successful firms, must keep track of them. Ben emphasizes that today’s markets are better in some ways than they’ve been in the past, and in some ways they’re worse.

On the paper side, Ben points out that corrugated is flat, but not down. News and magazines are showing some strength and good price stability. Sorted office and ledger grades seem very firm.

"Plastics are the big problem," says Jim.

Ben agrees, noting that HDPE prices eroded rapidly this past winter. "A lot of this has to do with the low cost of oil," he says. "This drives down the price of virgin resins."

A glimmer of light on the plastics side is with PET. Ben says it is showing some strength and has gone up from five to eight cents per pound since last summer. "I was lucky to give it away a year ago," he says.

Jim emphasizes that a continuing problem with plastics recycling is contamination. He notes with some exasperation that one big milk bottler uses a solid color plastic container. This is causing a major headache for plastic recyclers during the sorting process.

"Metals have been all over the board," says Ben. "Tin can scrap was high in the fall but dropped $10 per gross ton coming into the spring.

"We haul C & D debris," says Ben. "The ferrous metal gets hauled off to other processors."

On the nonferrous side, Ben notes that both aluminum and copper are down. "We don’t handle a lot of copper and can put what we have aside until prices rise," says Ben. Aluminum and copper also are processed out of the C & D debris stream. Scrap tin cans and used beverage cans (UBCs) made of aluminum are baled on site and sold directly to mills. Because Massachusetts is a "bottle law" state, E.L. Harvey sees few UBCs in its materials stream.

Commodity markets are not the only things firms in the recycling and waste hauling industries must keep their eyes on to not only be successful, but be able to stay in business. At the top of the list are environmental concerns. E.L. Harvey is proactive in this area.

"We can react quickly to environmental rules and regulations," says Ben. "We prepare for changes and we’re informed.

Ben points out that E.L. Harvey enjoys a good relationship with state regulators and makes itself readily available to them.

Importantly, the firm’s officers testify before state agencies as to what’s good and bad regarding environmental regulations. Further, E.L. Harvey’s safety director, Gerald Sjogren, helps to ensure that the company is in compliance with environmental and safety regulations.

"Some of the safety regulations have been of benefit to the industry because they have brought safety into the workplace," says Ben. "Complying with regulations helps the industry improve its image as a whole. We’re a much safer and cleaner industry than we were ten years ago."

What lies ahead? Ben believes that there are more regulations coming down the road. Some of these will involve Superfund issues on the paper mill side that could have significant ramifications for paper recyclers.

Ben believes that E.L. Harvey’s success goes beyond materials, facilities and equipment. It goes to the heart of the company’s business philosophy, which can be summarized in one short phrase, "our customers are our number one asset."

"We treat our customers as we would want to be treated," says Ben. "We stay attuned to what our customers want and provide the service. E.L. Harvey emphasizes to its customers that a family member is only a phone call away.

"We’re proud of the fact that we spend a lot of time with our customers. We want to show them a new and better way to handle their recycling and trash hauling needs."

Ben is bullish on E.L. Harvey’s future. "Our dream is to double our size in the next ten to twelve years," he says. "This is an achievable goal."

To help them reach this goal, the company recently purchased 46 acres of industrial-zoned land next to its Westboro facility. There are also plans to bring some operations indoors to improve efficiency. A fourth generation of Harveys is in the wings if its members are inclined to enter the business.

"We’re always looking for innovative ways to enhance our operations and bring benefits to customers and employees," says Ben.

By the look of things, E.L. Harvey is on the right path and is leaving no doubt that the company’s motto is right on target. RT

The author is former editor of Recycling Today.