Famous Tate Appliance & Bedding Centers recently installed a Styrofoam densifier that turns boxes full of Styrofoam packing materials from their setup area into neatly compacted logs.
What does that mean? They are turning waste into value.
The RUNI brand Styrofoam densifying machine does not melt the materials but grinds them up into small pieces and compacts them into a log shape. Then they are cut, stacked and palletized, and loaded into their recycling vendors’ tractor-trailer.
“The first truckload totaled 44,000 lbs, and that’s a lot of Styrofoam from all of the appliances we unpack each day!” Jason Horst, Director of Marketing for Famous Tate. “Our maintenance team created a custom wooden loading deck to help staff conveniently load the RUNI machine.”
Famous Tate has delivered over 34,000 major appliances so far in 2022 throughout the Tampa Bay area and most of these products have Styrofoam bolsters or other Styrofoam packing materials in the boxes for protection during shipping.
“We appreciate all of the efforts from our staff on getting this machine installed as well as training on proper usage to make our waste turn into value through proper recycling. Our vendor actually pays us each time they pick up, so the extra efforts are definitely worth it.”, said Horst.
Over 1 ton of cardboard is also broken down after unpacking each day, boxed, loaded on a truck, and then taken to a local recycling center 5-6 times a week.
Many of today’s products are wrapped in plastic instead of cardboard packaging, so Styrofoam becomes very important for the protection of the product during shipment from the factory and subsequent handling by our clamp truck operators.
Each of the various packing materials are separated by Famous Tate staff for proper recycling and disposal.
“Delivery and shipping costs are at an all-time highs, so investments in our internal efficiencies enable us to continue offering free local delivery…and the lowest prices for our customers. As an independent retailer with a long history serving the Tampa Bay area, we want to do things the right way and ensure we’ll be here for the long run”, says Horst.
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