Today we’d like to introduce you to Curt Bucey, Bill Clark, and Laura Hennemann.
Strategic Materials is a recycling pioneer. The company began glass recycling in 1896 as the Bassichis company, which was eventually purchased by Allwaste Recycling. The company started to grow and develop new, innovative glass recycling techniques and a number of regional glass recyclers were acquired, increasing reach and becoming the first nationwide glass recycler.
In 1994, Strategic Materials officially spun off from Allwaste to become its own company. Over the next few decades reach and capabilities were extended by merging with Nexcycle, a glass and plastic recycling business in Ontario, Canada. Container Recycling Alliance was also acquired increasing presence across the United States. Over the recent years, the company has also expanded their product offerings through the acquisition American Specialty Glass for decorative glass products and Novetas Solutions for crushed glass air blast abrasives.
Strategic Materials remains focused on providing solutions and creating value for their customers through innovation and customer improvement for over 100-year history in the recycling industry.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our growth and position in the industry has been one where we’ve utilized knowledge and expertise to continuously improve. We’ve also grown through acquisition. Our toughest struggle is varying government requirements and attitudes about recycling. Further, logistics can be a challenge. Glass is heavy and we have to work to strategically place our plants across the U.S. to best serve the most densely populated areas. Today we have nearly 50 facilities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Strategic Materials – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are the leader in glass recycling.
Strategic Materials processes millions of tons of glass every year for use in a wide variety of products, which create efficiencies for our customers while conserving the earth’s natural resources (virgin materials). We are the largest glass recycling in North America, operation at nearly 50 locations. We are solutions providers, with more than a 100-year history. We provide cullet (or furnace ready recycled glass) to glass container manufacturers and fiberglass insulation manufacturers. We also provide recycled glass for fillers, highway bead, abrasives, and decorative applications.
We meet diverse demands and high standards of each industry because of our expertise and culture of continuous improvement. Our crushers and screen are used to size the material to a coarse 5/8″ size, which is the standard size used in the container industry; Optical sorters are used to separate the various glass colors; magnets of all types and vacuum systems are used to further clean up the glass stream by removing ferrous and non-ferrous metals and light material from heavier glass fragments. We can also help create a closed-loop process by operating onsite to service glass scrap needs.
We are headquartered in Houston, Texas and have two manufacturing facilities in the Houston area. We help support local jobs with haulers, local recycling organizations and at our own business while keeping the city clean.
Also for local items, please reference this article: http://www.strategicmaterials.com/pages/news/?newsId=17
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We define success in several ways – our goal is to increase glass recycling and recover as much glass from the stream as possible. Further, our goal is to provide our customers with the highest quality cullet, and decreasing the need for virgin materials. Lastly, our goal is to continuously improve and build a business where our employees are safe and proud to be a part of the Strategic Materials family.
Contact Info:
- Address: 17220 Katy Freeway, Suite 150, Houston, TX 77094
- Website: www.StrategicMaterials.com
- Phone: 281-647-2700
- Email: info@strategicmaterials.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strategicmaterials/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strategicmaterials/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/StratMaterials
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-materials-inc.
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