About Edge Materials Management
In 2016 Vantage Plastics formed an affiliate company called Edge Materials Management as part of its strategy to become the most innovative and integrated plastics processor. Edge Materials Management was launched for a variety of reasons related to the vision of Vantage Plastics. Sustainability and being an ecologically friendly company were certainly overarching goals. It was also launched to support Vantage Plastics’ guaranteed buy-back program. This is a guarantee that Vantage Plastics will buy back any product we produce for the products’ material value once it is no longer needed by a customer. This can provide significant customer benefits. Since customers already own the material in their used products, Edge can reprocess their material for a fee and the already owned material can be used to produce new products if needed. If new products are not needed it gives the customer a source to dispose of their obsolete products and generate some revenue to offset the original cost of purchase.
Since many industry operations utilize large volumes of plastics, other waste streams of plastics are created. Thus, a focus was placed on capturing these streams to recycle reusable waste plastics. These streams include plastic scrap from products that become obsolete, get damaged, or results because of processing off-fall. Edge Materials Management seeks out and finds these materials. Once found it uses several tests to verify the purity and quality of the materials then purchases acceptable materials for their scrap value. After purchase, they are transported to our location for conversion into usable material. Since its inception, Edge Material Management has become an integral part of the Vantage Plastics operations. Edge currently reprocesses over 50,000 pounds of materials on a weekly basis and is adding capacity to grow this volume. Their services are available to Vantage Plastics customers and other companies looking for a recycling resource. Edge is continually exploring innovative ways to capture waste streams of plastics and is currently researching stream viability of post-consumer plastics.
The Process
Below are the steps a recyclable product goes through when it arrives at Edge. These steps have been developed by the Edge Materials Management Team to ensure an efficient and streamlined process.
- Material arrives and is sorted by material type and grade.
- If needed, the material is tested to determine type and grade utilizing melt testing, ash testing, and or a variety of additional tests.
- Material is disassembled as required to remove components or any non-plastic items.
- Material is then shredded to reduce size appropriate for the next process of granulation.
- Granulation, or grinding, reduces the material into roughly 3/8” diameter flakes.
- Material is then washed, heat dried, and ready for use or additional processing.
- Further processing, such as re-pelletizing or blending, is also available at Edge.
Services
- Industrial Recycling.
- Managing Afterlife of products.
- Toll Grinding
- Toll Washing and Drying
- Re-pelletizing
- Scrap Sorting/ Disassembly
Please contact Edge Materials Management with any questions you have and discover how we can work together. Fulfilling our mission- Forming Solutions, Forming Better Lives, Forming Sustainable Futures.
Phone: 989-846-1029