“If you had told me back in the 1980s that we would be shipping more plastic today than lead, I would have said you were crazy,” said Kenny Campbell, co-owner of KW Plastics. Innovation and demand have allowed KW Plastics to continuously transform since its founding 38 years ago in Troy, Alabama.
KW Plastics was formed in 1981 when the co-founders and co-owners, Kenny Campbell and Wiley Sanders, observed the need for a solution to the excess casings of spent lead batteries which could not be sent to landfills. They both worked for a local lead smelting operation, Sanders Leads Company, which removed alloys from the spent batteries and converted automotive battery casings to polypropylene (PP), but due to EPA regulations the hazardous casings could not be landfilled.
They partnered to create, process and market the reclaimed batteries and recycled resin – creating a closed-loop recycling operation that delivered recycled plastic converted to PP back to casing manufacturers for use. Becoming the first closed-loop recycling operation for plastics was difficult work for Campbell and Sanders, as there was no precedent for it, but the need was obvious from their previous work.
“At first it was hard to figure out the right way to do everything. There was no one to call. There wasn’t an expert in the industry. This wasn’t an industry. We did a lot of R&D or trial and error. We had our own machines built. We had our own mechanics making the washlines and machines we needed. We had a good welder, a good chemist and we made it work,” said Campbell.
Even picking a name for the newly formed company posed a difficult decision. They even held a contest with their former co-workers at the partnering Sanders Leads Company. Despite the multitudes of suggestions, the founders simply decided on KW Plastics – coming from the initials of their first names.
In addition to inventing the first closed-loop system of its kind, KW Plastics founders encountered challenges in the 1980s proving the value of recycling. At the time, both the environmental benefits and economic rewards of the recycling industry were in question. While only battery case manufacturers initially utilized the polypropylene produced by KW Plastics, Campbell made it a personal mission to add new customers.
One tactic he used to find companies that would benefit from their polypropylene resin was to simply walk the aisles of Walmart, noting the products’ manufacturers and then he later contacted and pitched the product. This tactic worked well and KW Plastics gained many customers from it, despite Campbell being stopped by concerned Walmart employees a time or two in the process.
By 1986, the value of KW Plastics and the PP they produced created a market on the West coast, so the Bakersfield, California facility was born for the first major expansion of KW Plastics. In addition, the company worked towards perfecting the recycling process with on-site labs, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative technology for high quality control testing. Campbell and Sanders understood that investments – in the right people and the right equipment – were necessary for the quality of product they were committed to producing.
After capitalizing on the PP market, other plastics were researched to include in the company’s offering. In 1993 the KW Plastics Recycling Division was opened at the headquarters in Troy, Alabama to recycle post-consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE), as it was a natural fit for the company due the similar properties as PP. This segment of the company took off and just five years later KW Plastics entered the packaging industry as KW Containers, an injection company, with the creation of 100 percent recycled and recyclable paint containers. This progressed until the 2016 launching of TruSnap – a paint can made from 100 percent recycled plastic and KW’s proprietary resin.
In the nearly 40 years since its founding, KW Plastics and its team have grown as needs arise and as technology changes to meet them. “I’ve always said: ‘If we can collect it, we can find a home for it,” Campbell stated.
The largest challenge they face currently is keeping supply for the demand, which is constantly driving them towards further investment and expansion. KW Plastics continuously develops technology internally to meet the demand. Though, they feel some of the most impacting technology implementation actually happens in the supply chain when MRFs utilize infrared technology to sort materials more or better.
Today, KW Plastics consists of a network of sister companies including both KW Plastics of Troy and KW Plastics of California, KW Plastics Recycling Division, KW Container, Sanders Lead Company and Wiley Sanders Trucklines. Having this network allows them to provide control of their feedstock and pool together resources during all stages of the process from beginning to end. After collecting raw material from all over the country, it is stored in large silos on site until needed.
These silos have become famous over the years, first being built to stop local newspapers from conjuring up misleading stories about KW Plastics’ intentions for the raw material outside the plant. Later, Campbell commissioned a local billboard artist and friend to paint a smiley face on the silos. The “smiley face silo” is the largest industrial silo, holding up to 30 million pounds of raw material, serving as a landmark and a happy reminder of the growth of the company and its environmental good.
With up to 150 million pounds of silo capacity and equipment that processes billions of pounds annually, they currently have the industry’s largest capacities to purchase, store and reprocess resin. The final product is a premium postconsumer resin that is shipped to molding facilities across the nation that manufacture plastic products for the packaging, beauty and personal care, housewares, automotive, pipe, paint & coatings, agriculture and sheet industries – ensuring KW Plastics end up in virtually every home in America.
KW Plastics and its family of companies has become a strong entity that works together in order to provide closed loop solutions, seamless logistics and a strong network of resources to its suppliers and customers. While they are the world’s largest plastics recycler for HDPE and PP, they pride themselves in their reputation quality and personal customer service. Campbell and Sanders feel strongly that a human should always answer business calls and that an on-site, hands-on approach is always taken to solve customers’ issues.
Looking towards the future, KW Plastics is optimistic – believing plastics recycling will continue to grow and validate itself as an environmental and economic solution provider in sustainability.
Published in the August 2019 Edition