Recycling — But Only For The Boxes That Can't Live Again.
Reuse first, recycle second. When a gaylord truly can't be reconditioned — soaked, contaminated, structurally gone — we bale it and route it to certified domestic mills. No overseas waste-paper exports. Full chain-of-custody.
Three U.S. mills, no exports.
Every bale that leaves our recycling line goes to one of three certified North-American paper mills. We don't sell to brokers, and we don't ship overseas. The waybill on every load names the mill.
- SFI / FSC chain-of-custody available on request
- EPA-compliant manifests and waste tracking
- Optional ESG-reporting roll-up for finance teams
- Weight tickets included with every haul
What we recycle.
Boxes that came in as D-grade (which we don't sell).
Shipping cartons, slip sheets, OCC bales from your operation.
Mixed OCC streams from warehouses and 3PLs.
When packaged with a regular pickup route.
Roll ends, broke, scrap kraft.
Returned mill defects when chain-of-custody can be established.
What we won't take.
Wax-coated, plastic-coated, food-soaked, or chemical-contaminated cardboard. Those streams need specialized handlers — we won't mix them into our recycle line and we won't pretend to. If you've got one of these streams, we can refer you to a regional handler we trust.
The paperwork on every bale.
Every bale that leaves our yard carries documentation that survives an EPA audit. The standard packet includes:
- Bill of lading with named destination mill, gross and net weights, bale count.
- Bale grade certificate per ISRI Spec #11 (or whatever grade applies). Signed by the loading dock supervisor.
- Chain-of-custody form linking source customer → receiving date → bale ID → destination mill.
- Weight ticket from a calibrated scale, retained for seven years.
- Mill receipt confirmation emailed back to us when the load reaches the destination; copy available on request.
If your ESG audit needs paperwork for a specific load, we can pull it from our records within an hour. The records go back to 2018.
How a bale becomes money.
OCC bales are quoted at mill purchase prices that move weekly. The major U.S. published indexes — RISI and Fastmarkets — quote in dollars per ton of #11 grade. A typical 2025 price range was $115–$165/ton for #11 OCC.
Our 2024 average bale density was 1,150 lbs/cubic yard, which translates to roughly 1.5 tons per 53' trailer. So a typical recycle load grosses $170–$245 at the mill — minus our freight, labor, and overhead. The recycling side of our business runs at low single-digit margin per load; it exists because it closes the diversion loop, not because it's profitable per ton.