By Jim Johnson
STAFF REPORTER
Published: August 8, 2013 12:40 pm ET

A Somerset, Ky., plastics and paper recycler expects to handle millions more pounds of material each year thanks to a new polypropylene reprocessing line.
Somerset Recycling Services Inc. said installation already is complete on the new Davis Standard LLC line that will allow the company to handle an estimated 8 million to 10 million additional pounds annually. That’s on top of the more than 120 million pounds of recycled material the company currently processes.
The 105-employee company, until now, has exclusively used densification to recycle PP and continues to so, said Alan Keck, vice president of Somerset Recycling.
Adding the new line allows the company to provide the recycled material in a pellet form that some customers prefer, Keck said. “From a sales standpoint, we can sell everything the machine makes,” he said.
Installation of the new equipment is part of larger strategy that also has the company looking toward acquisitions for additional growth.
Somerset Recycling is keeping it all in the family by working with Five Talents Financials Group, a merger and acquisition firm run by Alan Keck’s brother, Michael Keck.
“Somerset Recycling is always looking to grow and would be willing to expand via acquisition through strategic partners,” the vice president said.
“The plastics recycling industry is highly fragmented with multiple family-owned operations across the country,” Michael Keck said in a statement. “We are helping SRSI utilize their resources to consolidate some of these operations.”
Plastics make up about half of the material Somerset Recycling handles, Keck said. The other half is paper.
Adding the new equipment also allows Somerset to reduce labor and electrical costs through increased efficiency and automation, Alan Keck said.
Raw material for Somerset Recycling comes from hygiene product manufacturing scrap.