Xpedx Aims to Cut Waste 10% a Year

An environmental initiative by distribution company Xpedx is aiming to recycle 2,400 tons of material in 2011 and reduce the firm’s waste by 10 percent annually over the next three years.

Xpedx, a subsidiary of International Paper, is targeting facilities that are larger than 50,000 sq. feet. It currently has the program established at nearly 70 locations, which represents more than half of the sites in which it plans to run the initiative.

More than 90 percent of waste that Xpedx was sending to landfill has proven to be recyclable, the company says.

It is now recycling LDPE plastic, corrugated boxes, office paper, coated paper, mixed paper grades, pallets and wood waste, aluminum cans, fluorescent lights, Styrofoam, batteries and used oil. In select locations, xpedx is also investigating the possibility of helping customers recycle materials such as pallets and plastics.

Its St. Louis division saw such an increase in its recyclables that it was able to remove a trash compactor from the site, the company says. The firm’s Minneapolis division averaged 14 tons of recycled material each month in the fourth quarter of 2010 and has recycled more than 119,000 pounds of material since October 2010, Xpedx says.