BRISTOL, Va. – Wise Recycling’s new facility drew quite a crowd Thursday.
A long, steady line of cars and trucks packed with cans, cardboard and other items snaked around Thomas Road and Utah Street, in the Hairston Industrial Park, and streamed through an entrance on one side of the former Dillard Paper building.
Inside, employees served three customers simultaneously – accepting and weighing a variety of items. Customers received a computer-generated receipt and could walk a short distance to be paid.
That scene was repeated throughout the day Thursday as the new center marked its formal grand opening. Wise actually began receiving items in late December, said Mark Sourbeer, the firm’s regional business manager.
“We’ve been growing and this is working out great here,” Sourbeer said prior to a reception for customers and local officials. “We can get the customers in and out quickly and it’s a nice, clean facility.”
The company completed the purchase of the 60,000-square-foot former factory and 10 acres of land last year. The new center is about twice the size of the previous location, in a former Lowe’s retail store on Lee Highway.
“We’ve doubled our business. We can do a lot more with industrial and commercial customers here because of the access. And we have the ability to grow here,” Sourbeer said.
Wise currently employs 15 people, but this move is expected to prompt hiring additional employees later this year, Sourbeer said.
The national firm’s new Cornet Street facility, like its predecessor, serves as a regional recycling hub accepting products from Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia and Kentucky. The company operates about 50 centers nationwide and Wise, or its predecessor companies, has operated in Bristol for 31 years.
Inside, scrap industrial and commercial steel items, baled squares of old drink cans and copper products are neatly stacked in segregated bins.
The building also offers a substantial loading dock, segregated from the individual customers, to accommodate large trucks, Commercial Sales Manager Jamie Reynolds said.
Although the center is open, machinery that will facilitate unloading a tractor trailer filled with aluminum cans isn’t yet operational.
Behind the building, the property features an expanse of concrete for temporary storage of scrap steel items and a new scale to weigh commercial trucks. Plans include expanding the intake of recycled steel, Reynolds said.
The facility currently accepts most items except glass and plastic.
“I’ve worked in recycling for 21 years, at several different plants, and this is the nicest one I’ve ever seen,” Reynolds said. “Some centers are dirty and muddy. A grandmother can feel comfortable coming here and dropping off cans.”
Wise Recycling is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the week and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
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