N.J. Recycler Seeks a Greener, Profitable Future: Tony Pallet UsesTrace Equipment to Pursue a Green Mission
By Carolee Anita Boyles
Date Posted: 8/1/2008
Tony Pallets motto is Keeping it Green for the Next Generation.
Its a slogan theyre proud of, and a course theyre following.
The companys growth over the next few years should be veryinteresting as the officers of Tony Pallet deliberately steer thecompany into greener waters, including green energy.
Wood pallet recycling itself is a green business because itrevolves around reusing and recycling a highly renewable rawmaterial. While that may be enough for some companies, TonyPallets commitment to recycling goes beyond just wood. We alsorecycle nails, said Peter Comune, the companys general manger. We make a conscious effort to recycle as many of our products aspossible.Peters goal for the future is to pursue that motto, Keeping itGreen for the Next Generation. That means doing little things aswell as big things in an environmentally friendly manner.
Last Christmas, we gave trees to our customers to plant, hesaid.
We gave out the trees, with instructions for planting andreceived very positive responses from everyone.
Backyard Business Becomes Major Recycler
Tony Pallet began as a simple family-run business in Newark, N.J.,30 years ago, originating in the back yard of the late Anthony(Tony) Russo.
Anthony started the company out of his back yard, said Peter,Anthonys son-in-law.
He was a truck driver, and saw a lot of pallets in manylocations; then a light bulb went off.
He started picking them up and repairing them in his back yard andreselling them; he saw a need and he fulfilled it.
Before long Anthonys backyard business grew to the point thathe was able to purchase land in Newark, N.J., eventually owningover four acres.
During the early years, Tony Pallet was located on Route 21 whichis a major artery in Newark.
That helped the company develop a presence in Newark, and madeTony Pallet very familiar to the businesses that would become itscustomers.
Due to some redevelopment in the area about five years ago, wedecided to relocate, Peter said. The company moved about a mileaway and has been able to maintain its reputation.
Because of our original location on Route 21 for approximately 22years, Tony Pallet became a landmark in the area. Many peoplereferred to Peters father-in-law as Tony Pallet instead of TonyRusso.
After Anthony passed away in 2004, his sister Vera Russo took overthe business.
Under her leadership, what began as a small family business nowhas become a well established business entity, with Vera and Peterthe only two members of the original family still working there.
Since Vera assumed the presidency, weve modeled ourselves like abig corporation, Peter said.
We did a big marketing blitz in 2006 where we changed our logo,upgraded our Web site, increased our marketing budget, and addedsignage to our trailers with the new logo.
Although there are several other pallet companies in the area,Peter said Tony Pallet has made a point of providing outstandingcustomer service.
Our whole business is based on customer service, he said.
We often obtain business from companies who are unsatisfied withthe service of their current provider.
Peter said Tony Pallet works hard at following through oneverything they say theyre going to do, as well as having apersonal touch that many businesses (in many industries) havestopped providing.
We dont have automated phones, Peter said.
Someone always answers the phone during business hours.
And we do have an automated answering service after hours socustomers can always leave a message for us.
If someone needs an odd size pallet, they call us, Peter said.
We have a reputation for our extensive inventory.
Recovering from Disaster
Two years ago, disaster struck the company.
In March of 2006, fire of unknown origin swept through TonyPallet, destroying most of the companys equipment and shuttingdown operations.
The fire wiped out all our wood recovery operations, Peter said.
We lost all our machinery, the structure, and even ourelectricity.
It was really bad.
The fire actually melted the steel I-beams in the building.
There was a three-week investigation, which affected some of ouroperations although the company was able to meet all of itscustomers needs, Peter said. We were forced to use new materialto repair pallets for almost two weeks.
I started contacting our insurance companies right away, andstayed on that very diligently, he said.
I also started trying to find equipment right away.
One of the companies I talked to was Trace equipment, and I endedup getting a lot of our new equipment from them.
Before long Tony Pallet was back in business as usual.
After the fire, Peter said, one reason he went with the Traceequipment was to get the most efficient operation in terms ofmoney, labor and price, and Trace gave him that.
In addition, the equipment has been almost entirely trouble free.
We had one time that we needed a hydraulic part on thedismantler, he said.
Mona at Trace sent the part overnight, and we were back up andworking the next day.
Tonys Business Philosophy
According to Peter, the business that Tony Pallet does today isabout three quarters pallet recycling and one quarter new pallets.
One of the unique things we do is count every piece of woodandby that I mean every pallet and every piece of lumberthat comesthrough the door, he said.
From there, pallets are separated into good, repairable, and notrepairable.
But we go one step farther: we also separate them by size.
Most of the pallets that come into Tony Pallet are coming fromrepeat customers, which include UPS, Toys R Us, Barnes & Nobleand Liz Claiborne.
Right now we have about 40 trailers dropped at our customersfacilities, Peter said.
We do get a few people who come in off the street who bring uspallets, but the majority of the pallets come from existingcustomers.
Once the pallets are separated into categories, the repair processbegins.
We only repair what we need to repair, Peter said.
That means, if we dont have any 48x48s on order for the week,and we have 200 of them in inventory already, we dont repair anythat size.
Wood to repair pallets comes from a couple different sources.
Some pieces come from pallets that arent repairable; others comefrom pallet sizes that Tony Pallet cant use.
On the new pallet side of the business, most pallets are customsizes, and most of them are large. Pallets are designed to customerspecifications using AMS PalDraw software. Tony Pallet purchasesnew lumber, either as 2x4x14-foot cants, or as precut pieces.
Our main lumber supplier is Brown and Schramm Lumber Company inPennsylvania, Peter said.
We also buy from a few other companies, based on market price andon whats available. Most everything comes in precut, but we do cuta few pieces from 2x4s, and we have a notcher and do some notching.
But we dont purchase raw material.
For dismantling pallets that cant be repaired, Tony Pallet has aTrace three-head dismantler and two Trim Trac trim saws.
This whole part of the operation is automatic.
When the pallet is put on the dismantler, it separates therunners from the boards, Peter said.
The boards go on a conveyor, and from the conveyor they go ontoone of the trim saws and are cut to size. The runners are sent to arevolving turntable and are stacked.
Then the other trim saw is used just to cut boards when we need aparticular length.
Other equipment in the facility includes a chop saw from Traceequipment and two Hawk band saw dismantlers.
We use the bandsaw dismantlers for larger size pallets and blockstyle pallets, Peter said.
Tony Pallet maintains a work force of about 50 employees. It takesgreat care to be sure its employees are very safety conscious.
We brought in an OSHA consulting service in 2006, with afollow-up in 2007, Peter said. So were OSHA compliant.
And unlike many other pallet operations, Tony Pallet leases someof its workers.
We ve been doing that since about 2004, Peter said. We onlylease the yard workers and the truck drivers.
We have final say on the hiring process, but the leasing companyruns all the background checks, and makes sure everyone is legal tobe in the country.
When we saw all the immigration issues coming about we didntworry, because we already knew we had everything under control.
The leasing company also handles payroll and workers compinsurance.
That makes everything easy for us because we can focus onbusiness, Peter said.
And it reduces the cost of our workers comp insurance, becausethe leasing company is pooling more employees together.
Besides the two pallet operations, Tony Pallet also has a mulchoperation that uses a Bandit Beast grinder.
The wood for the mulch operation comes in part from pallets thatcant be repaired, Peter said. Plus, we do some wood recoveryfrom our customers. We take in wood thats not pallets, such asplywood, wooden boxes, and crates.
take anything thats just wood that we can run through thegrinder.
This isnt the usual mulch operation that many palletmanufacturers have.
Weve teamed up with an area mulch company, R. J. Transport,Peter said.
He brings me four empty walking trailers, and comes back and getsthem when weve filled them.
He takes the mulch to another company in Pennsylvania that dyesthe mulch and sends it out to landscapers and garden centers.
Beyond its grinding operation, Tony Pallet is active in thecommunity by sponsoring an area softball team and helping nonprofit programs with scrap pallet removal.
Is Wood Energy the Future?
Tony Pallet also has been looking at getting involved withbiofuels or another green industry.
With the wood that we generate, weve been trying to get intothat arena, Peter said.
Thats where Id like to see the company go in the next fewyears.
Although the pallet operations can expand, and Peter expects themto do so, he really sees the green side of the industry as thearea Tony Pallet needs to look at for future revenue growth.
I definitely see us doing something with wood waste or biofuelsin the near future, he said. We started looking at wood pelletsabout three years ago.
I dont know if thats going to be our direction, or were goingto be working with wood or sawdust. But thats definitely in our future, and somewhere that wereheaded.
