Visualizing opportunities

With nearly a century of company history, Mid America Paper Recycling is eager to share all it has learned during its 98 years as a commercial paper recycling and brokerage company.

Founded in Chicago in 1926 under the name Advance Waste before becoming Mid America Paper Recycling in 1978, it has grown into a fourth-generation recovered paper broker, processor and exporter.

“Our waste handling processes have proven effective, and we work with our client partners to improve their situation,” CEO Don Gaines says. “We help our client partners build consistent, revenue-generating waste streams and meet their sustainability goals.”

The company processes recovered paper at its headquarters in Chicago, directly at the supply point or has the material processed by one of its partners, working with businesses of all sizes to provide recycling solutions.

Gaines has led Mid America Paper Recycling for the last 42 years along with Executive Vice President Tom Surdyk.

The company’s day-to-day operations are built on experience, too, with Tom’s son, Alan Surdyk, working 16 years as plant manager, while its sales staff is comprised of industry veterans with up to 25 years of experience in areas such as plant management and mill purchasing. Overall, Mid America Paper Recycling has more than 40 employees, and everyone in the office has more than 15 years of experience.

“Our 98-year history has provided ample opportunity to develop and refine game plans to execute in all economic and market cycles, and our experience allows us to predict cycles quicker and start executing earlier, both necessities to thrive against competition,” Gaines says.

“The relationships we’ve built during our tenure also help keep us as a preferred partner. ... Quality will always be valued and given priority demand.”

“We help our client partners build consistent, revenue-generating waste streams and meet their sustainability goals.” – Don Gaines, CEO, Mid America Paper Recycling

Getting the job done

Mid America Paper Recycling has one plant near the southwest side of Chicago that processes high grades of recovered paper with an emphasis on deinking grades, as well as pulp substitutes and old corrugated containers (OCC). Its brokerage division handles a large amount of OCC and double-lined kraft (DLK) sales as well as some food waste recycling and gaylord container sales. The company sources material from printers, box manufacturers, document shredders, fulfillment centers and more across 16 states.

Its current 70,000-square-foot facility opened in 1996 after the original building was lost to a fire in 1995. By the 2000s, Mid America Paper Recycling had upgraded its transportation and recycling capabilities beyond paper processing.

Along with working with freight partners to transport material, Mid America Paper Recycling has its own fleet of trucks transporting material among suppliers, warehouses and paper mills. In 1983, the company opened a secure document destruction firm that provides on-site or off-site service throughout Chicago: Document Destruction Co.

“Our history allows us to develop close relationships in every paper-related industry—paper mills, packaging, printers, distributors, recyclers, private and municipal MRFs [material recovery facilities] and document shredding businesses,” Gaines says.

“We also service all [MRF] paper and plastic grades as well as aluminum and steel cans and glass. … Our plant handles most Midwestern locations with every capability and all the capacity needed. The brokerage division extends to every region of the United States, and we utilize a vast network of consuming paper mills and strategic processing partners to find the best options.”

The site employs two-ram balers from Harris, a member of the Recycling & Waste Equipment Division of Upland, Indiana-based Avis Industrial Corp., that are supported by two large-mouth auto-tie balers from Bellevue, Ohio-based American Baler Co., also part of Avis. It operates two shredders from Greensburg, Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Shredders, supported by an auto-tie baler from Maren Engineering Corp., based in South Holland, Illinois.

On top of employing a range of heavy-duty equipment at its own plant, Mid America Paper Recycling also sells, finances and rents equipment to recyclers across the United States. The company offers horizontal and vertical balers, cardboard and plastic scrap compactors, shredders and other high-volume equipment—and its familiarity with so many aspects of the recycling industry has allowed Mid America Paper Recycling to grow and develop a way to share that knowledge with others.

“We truly differentiate ourselves from the competition by delivering on our mission to help educate our suppliers and mill customers,” Gaines says.

Putting plan to action

The foundation of Mid America Paper Recycling’s business is its free waste auditing system, called “Growing the Worth of Your Waste.”

“We specialize in developing comprehensive recycling programs for a wide variety of industries,” Gaines says. “Our waste audit report can help highlight areas of material collection, separation and storage functions that could be improved and implemented in recycling programs.”

The survey was developed to open a dialogue between Mid America Paper Recycling and its suppliers and can show what a company is doing well in terms of recycling as well as areas for growth, the company says. After the initial audit, a representative from Mid America Paper Recycling performs an on-site inspection to evaluate the respective waste stream and review the findings before developing a new recycling program.

“Our recommendations are designed to decrease labor, increase safety, enhance revenue streams and add value,” the company says of developing its equipment and recycling plans. The object is to get material from the supplier to a mill quickly.

Mid America Paper Recycling also provides quarterly reports showing how many tons have been recycled, the revenue generated, market conditions and environmental impact.

“We are committed to being a strategic partner to the mills and suppliers we serve and the vendors that help us achieve our goals,” Gaines says. “We believe that continuing to elevate our knowledge and passing it to our partners is key to continuously raising the bar and adding value.

“Change is a guarantee. The ability to quickly adapt, evaluate, adjust and execute will always be of great value.”

He has many examples of where that value has come into play, too.

“We helped a customer reduce their garbage expenses and turn that stream into a revenue-generating system,” Gaines says. “The combined reduction and increased recycling revenue generates over $120,000 a year for them. We also helped a box manufacturing plant increase their previous two years of revenue in six months by ensuring material goes mill-direct, eliminating freight and third-party expenses and putting price structures in place that allow the supplier to realize added revenue as paper markets increase.”

Room for more?

Despite nearly 100 years of experience, Gaines says Mid America Paper Recycling always is looking to grow, particularly as markets continue to fluctuate.

“Our team knows how to visualize opportunities and seize them,” he says. “In 2023, we saw OCC, mixed paper and DLK grades more than double since the beginning of the year, while deinking grades and pulp lost substantial value.”

Beyond expanding its physical operations, Gaines says the company is always looking to add team members who can carry out its mission of adding value by offering a clear pathway for fiber recycling that reduces costs and promotes safety.

“As we approach our 100-year anniversary,” he continues, “we are grateful for the relationships our company has built that have so positively impacted our employees, customers, suppliers, industry and the environment.”

The author is managing editor of Recycling Today and can be reached at mmcnees@gie.net.