Sierra--From Adversity to Prosperity

Joseph Colubriale

Watching his recycling plant go up in flames more than a decade ago was disheartening for Joseph Colubriale, CEO of J.C. Fibers Inc., Chambly, Quebec, Canada. Although the life- long recycler acknowledges that the setback cast him into a month-long depression, Joe bounced back, a trait that has helped him not only to weather tough times, but eventually to prosper over them.

Despite such setbacks, Joe and his associates (including two sons and two daughters who are part of the family business) have built one of the largest recycling firms in North America—one that shows no signs of pulling back from its growth trend.

Joe began his career in the recycling industry in the mid-1960s with Plotnick & Sons Ltd. in Montreal. The facility changed hands numerous times in the 1970s, with Joe remaining as the head of operations for the location with each consecutive company.

While the successor companies that ran the Montreal recycling operation met with mixed results, Joe was always eager to stay, at times declining assignments in other cities. The volatile employment situation—combined with the always-volatile secondary commodity markets—gave Joe a feel for the roller coaster ride that can result from a life spent in the recycling industry.

In 1985, Joe decided to venture out on his own with the support of his family, opening J.C. Fibers’ first plant in Chambly.

"That first year, we recorded $700,000 in the three months we operated, and things have been going up ever since," he says.

Mixed in with the steady growth, however, have been a few lessons as the company has added to its service mix, spread to a new metropolitan region (Rochester, N.Y.) and suffered a major setback in 1989.

"I started the business from a small location in St. Jean de Richelieu (near Montreal), but established myself in Chambly in 1985," Joe says. By 1989 the company had added a fleet of trucks, but a fire that year took the plant down.

Joe, depressed following the fire, originally had no intention of returning to the recycling industry. He changed his mind, however, because of his customers’ support.

"After the fire, people called me from all over to see what they could do to help," he says. "From September of 1989 to March the next year, it was challenging trying to service clients without a facility."

During the reconstruction period, J.C. Fibers drivers continued picking up paper, delivering it loose to the mill. "This meant less money for my suppliers, but they still gave me that opportunity," he says. Joe adds that many printing plants allowed the company to manage their scrap paper on site.

Joe is honored by the loyalty his customers showed him after the fire and credits these relationships to his belief in treating everyone with respect and delivering on his word. He says that when J.C. Fibers takes pride in servicing its customers, the company is rewarded with long-term commitments.

Meeting the challenges associated with this period helped the Calubriale family decide to expand beyond a replacement facility in Chambly.

During the scrap paper boom of 1994 and 1995, J.C. Fibers took advantage of its growing cash flow to build a recycling plant in Montreal and to purchase Regional Recycling & Resource Recovery Inc. in Rochester.

The purchase made J.C. Fibers an international company, though the Colubriales can argue that their attention to export markets has always made the business international in nature.

In combination with its growth outside of Canada, J.C. Fibers and its subsidiaries have also expanded the scope of their service offerings, which now includes industrial, office and retail paper recycling services; curbside recycling services; solid waste services; secure document destruction services; paper roll and sheet distribution; and transportation services provided by a fleet of 45 tractor trailers serving eastern Canada and the Eastern United States and the export locations found there.

The document destruction operations grew out of requests from Montreal’s banking and finance community and now include health care and government clients.

"Our company serves 85 to 90 buildings operated by the Quebec provincial government," says Joe, "and we also pick up documents for federal buildings located in our service area." The government service contracts have allowed J.C. Fibers to establish a presence 175 miles to the northeast in Quebec City. A J.C. Fibers plant in the Quebec City area may well be on the horizon.

This service, along with other programs designed to efficiently serve high-rise buildings, has helped J.C. Fibers increase the amount of office paper grades it handles each year.

Another pivotal way the company bolsters the amount of material it collects has been by offering residential and curbside recycling, which began in 2002.

The company’s J.C. Paper Recovery Inc. subsidiary collects residential waste and recyclables from approximately half of the city of Montreal, resulting in 15,000 to 20,000 tons of recyclables annually, Joe says.

Joe says friendly, reliable service and timely payments are his keys to customer happiness. "I pay my suppliers," he says. "I tell them they’ll be paid every 30 days, and they get the check every 30 days." In this way, Joe is able to procure material without necessarily offering the highest dollar-per-ton figure. "Reputation is important," says Joe.

The legacy of the J.C. Fibers reputation is something that Joe has begun putting into the hands of his children and other people within the company.

"For a business to continue, you have to be a good coach, to keep employees motivated."