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Based in Salt Lake City, RMR operates throughout the Western US running recycling programs for municipal, industrial, and commercial customers. It is best known for the Super Sandwich Bale, created several years ago when Wal-Mart was looking to collect and recycle hangers and shrink wrap accumulating in their back rooms.

The Super Sandwich Bale is a simple solution no one previously thought of. Once plastic waste is collected and staged to 25 to 30 cubic yards, it is added to a baler used to recycle cardboard in an entirely inedible recipe. First, add a bottom layer of cardboard, then add the filler layer of shrink wrap and hangers, plastic bottles and cans, and office paper and crush it into a two- to three-foot high midsection. Top it off with cardboard and serve to a material recovery facility (MRF).

Today, RMR does this for Wal-Mart nationally. The company licensed the system to third parties to create an infrastructure of more than 40 MRFs across the US where bales are broken down, separated, and sent into the market for reuse.

Creating support systems
This isn’t a problem exclusive to Wal-Mart, so RMR is looking to work with other large retailers and commercial entities with similar challenges. The process even caught the attention of the federal government.

While the process itself is fairly revolutionary, what tips the scale further is the trademarked SandwichTrak software system. Not only did RMR develop the baling and collecting concept, it created software similar to UPS or FedEx package tracking. Although it isn’t quite as intricate, the idea is the same. RMR customers go online and log-in a bale, beginning the process of generating a tracking sticker. When the collection truck shows up, the driver knows how many bales should be picked up. The driver picks up the bails that were logged and transports them to a MRF.

Once at the MRF, bales are logged in, and all material is weighed and graded as the bale is broken down. Once that process is complete, users can log into the system to see how many loads of cardboard, office paper, plastic bottles, cans, shrink wrap, and hangers, for example, are at each MRF.

“The SandwichTrak software keeps track of where a bale is in the process and what materials have been sorted. The commodity value is credited back to an individual location,” Sasine said. “Even in the first weeks and months of conceptualizing this process, we saw the greatest value to the highest levels of the companies we wanted to do business with was keeping track of activity and detailing what was being done.”

Like all major IT undertakings, there are always ways to get more efficiency out of the system, so it is constantly updated. But this clearly was one of the reasons Wal-Mart was excited about getting involved. Now, RMR is involved in a pilot program with the federal government for military installations. SandwichTrak allows bales to be tracked to specific locations, even if they are picked up at different spots on the same base.

Although RMR doesn’t own all of the MRFs it uses around the country, the process is changing the industry. Competing companies are now performing the same service and using the SandwichTrak software because the entire process is patent-pending.  

The process also allows RMR to track carbon credits. Wal-Mart loved this from the start because it could reduce its trash bill, gain a revenue stream through the sale of recyclables, and provide raw materials to suppliers. Carbon credits are attached to every aspect of this process.

“Some companies have approached us about carbon credit trading, similar to dollars, which hinges on the ability to track and account for recyclable materials,” said Jeff Ashby, national accounts manager. “The government liked it because they could sign an exclusive, one-vendor contract because we are the only ones who can offer the complete collection, transportation, separation, and tracking services.”

Partnerships wanted
With environmental issues now among the top concerns of individuals and corporate leaders across the country, RMR is in position to expand this system from coast to coast. Retail locations and grocers at or above 40,000 square feet typically have a baler, and that makes up the bulk of RMR’s target market. It is a small step from having a baler and dealing with a large volume of waste to bringing RMR in with its training guides and DVD for people on the floor to learn the Super Sandwich Bale method of material handling.  

Ashby spends about a third of the year on the road building relationships with decisionmakers at MRFs and prospective customers. Those efforts and regular convention appearances have established the RMR name not only nationwide, but worldwide.

Lately, the company has seen an increase in inquiries due to the prevalence of plastic bags. Many cities are banning them or require retailers of certain sizes to recycle them. RMR introduced a program that provides a sustainable system that makes such bans unnecessary.

The company has a program with the Indepen-dent Grocers Association so communities that aren’t big enough to have curbside recycling programs can have small grocers act as a community recycling center where citizens can bring recyclables. The Super Sandwich Bale system provides the community the ability to recycle by putting them on a pickup route, tracking the weight and grade of materials.

“Because of this Super Sandwich Bale program, every community in the country can recycle,” said Ashby. “This is how we are changing recycling.”