Butler-MacDonald

Butler-MacDonald offers plastic recycling services that enable the recovery of high-quality polymers from plastics or parts that most companies would consider unusable. We take plastic that has been contaminated, poorly recycled or scrapped, and deliver polymers that can be manufactured into a wide variety of applications.

Whether we recycle your waste plastic or provide you with high-quality polymer extracted from other plastic sources, using Butler-MacDonald is far less costly than starting every production run with a batch of new resin.In addition to improving your bottom line, you can also build a reputation as a steward of the environment by using reclaimed plastics to manufacture new products. Butler-MacDonald can help you meet corporate environmental initiatives through a variety of plastics separation, recycling and destruction services.

History

Butler-MacDonald has a rich history of diverse experience and ongoing success in industrial recycling. Many practices used today for recovering plastic from mixed resin, parts and scrap have come from Butler-MacDonald's efforts. Since 1983, the company has grown to serve hundreds of businesses in a multitude of industries.Butler-MacDonald works with manufacturers, plastics brokers/recyclers and prime resin producers to 'recover value from unusable plastic' coming from pre- or post-production plastics and finished products. This includes helping organizations:

• Reduce production costs by recovering plastic from a multitude of different streams
• Maintain market share by reclaiming plastic value from expired or sub-standard end products
• Comply with environmental missions through plastic recycling initiatives
• Create revenue by recovering valuable plastic to a form suitable for manufacturing or sale.

Founded in 1983, Butler-MacDonald is privately held and headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. To learn more about the company, its proprietary processes, security measures or the vast industries it serves, contact us for additional information.Our plastic separation solutions are used in a wide variety of applications. Click here to read more about the industries we serve.

MAJOR EVENTS AND HISTORICAL KEY DATES

• 1982 - Butler-MacDonald incorporates in Indiana – by using the company’s service, customers are able to understand and improve the value of the scrap they generate. As a result they command higher market prices.

• 1982 - Company begins to strip the plastic and lead based outer sheathing from intercity and intercontinental utility cable and becomes recognized as a environmentally sound facility to receive and process lead based cable.

• 1984 - Company began to recycle utility central office frames and telephones generating precious metal bearing materials. Because of the cumulative waste plastic being generated, Butler-MacDonald begins research on ways to recover value from mixed plastics.

• 1986 - The growth of Butler-MacDonald demands expansion of business to 250,000 SF and operations are consolidated.

• 1988 - Company designs new plant for processing spent car batteries with an objective to recover grid lead, lead oxide, PVC separators and PP casing materials thereby adding to the need to recover clean plastic and minimize waste.

• 1989 - Amongst strong industry challenges and rising opportunity in the plastics markets, Butler abandons battery facility and converts facility to semi-automated electronics recycling facility. Because of the increased amount of mixed plastics generated, a pilot plant is developed to separate highly mixed polymers. 

• 1991 - Butler-MacDonald pioneers first system to recover ABS plastic out of a plastic waste stream that contains 11 different polymers using proprietary technology.

• 1992 - Plastic sales division started to find markets for pure ABS and HIPS plastics generated from ongoing recycling efforts.

• 1993 - Butler-MacDonald designs country’s first high volume facility -151,000 SF- for recovering and separating mixed polymers. Company now employs 165 people. Before plant can open, Butler increases space to 201,000 SF amongst influx of large scrap volumes coming from companies such as Thomson Consumer Electronics, SONY, AT&T, NCR and XEROX, to name a few. Processing 70 million pounds annually, solutions Butler-MacDonald offers include many forms of separation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals from cable and electronic scrap along with extensive plastic separation services. On a daily basis, up to seven truckloads of steel, two truckloads of aluminum and one of copper bearing material leave the plant daily. Plastics amounts are now at 34 million pounds annually made up of ABS, HIPS, PC, PVC & PE.

• 1994-98 - With the shift taking place in the economy, there is a downturn in the metals market that causes Butler-MacDonald to reinvent its business model. The company abandons metals recycling and by utilizing the proprietary technologies it developed to separate mixed polymers, the company is rebuilt with a focus solely based upon providing plastic separation services.

• 1998-2001 - With plastics an emerging market and the beginning of the green movement, Butler MacDonald starts to again experience renewed growth and was position to seize the opportunity. 

• 2002- Butler-MacDonald creates cost efficient means of purifying HIPS coming from Canon toner cartridges thereby achieving levels of purity previously thought unobtainable. This allows Canon to utilize HIPS directly back into new laser toner cartridges at a significant saving over the need to use prime polymer.

• 2002-2003- Butler-MacDonald is commissioned with the challenge to develop a process to remove micron sized metals and silicones from glass filled scrap plastic coming from HP imaging cartridges.

• 2003-2008- For HP, Butler-MacDonald made it possible to close the loop by removing contaminants from plastic recovered from HP inkjet cartridges and return this material back into Original HP inkjet cartridges.

• 2008- Butler-MacDonald commissions a new extrusion line and enters the market to consistently convert plastics into a higher grade than can be obtained using outside sources.

• 2009- Butler-MacDonald continues to expand its ability to process plastics and new facilities are constructed on premise to facilitate growth and provide a high quality work environment for the benefit of reduced operating costs and clean recycling environment.

• 2013-Butler-MacDonald develops recycling process to remove paper, foils and EVA from Cap & Closures. Many of world’s largest Cap & Closure manufactures benefit from the savings gained over selling the material as scrap or paying disposal fees.

• 2014- The business model begins to shift to where the company is now beginning to buy and sell plastics material as well as provide the core plastic separation service.

• 2015- Butler-MacDonald now provides one of if not the most complete recycling service in the country for the recovery of plastics.

Turning Plastic Scrap Into Usable PlasticTM - Services Performed

Polymer Separation
We can separate plastics from pellets, parts or regrind that have been accidentally mixed together, including plastics of different polymers.
Color Separation
We can separate plastics of different colors (from batch blends, silos, containers, bulk transport and manufacturing processes) and deliver usable polymers back to you.
Metal Separation
When rejects or scrap contain a combination of metal and plastics we can perform separation procedures that achieve high levels of purity allowing for maximum recycling or reprocessing value.
Contaminant Removal
We can separate contaminants (dirt, wood, gravel, metal, paper, etc.) from plastic pellets, parts or regrind that are of different polymers and/or colors.
Whole Part and Assembly Recovery
Scrap parts and assemblies often consists of a variety of plastics and metals which makes recycling them a real problem.
Aspiration
Aspiration is a process that uses air to separate dissimilar materials of different weight or to remove dust, fines and small particles from regrind or pelletized materials.
Pelletizing
We can take regrind material and process it into pellets suitable for reintroduction to your manufacturing process using advanced filtration techniques coupled with other separation processes makes it possible to remove paper and wood and remove the burnt smell.
End of Life Plastics - Consumer Returns
If you have complex consumer returns or packaging, such as empty laser toner cartidges, buckets, drums, totes, dunnage trays, agricultural trays, coat hangers and many other products, we can reclaim plastic from them which can be reintroduced into your process or sold for higher value.

Polymers Processed

Butler MacDonald has provided separation and recovery services to improve the quality and yield of plastics for a wide range of industries. Though not exhaustive, the following list illustrates the variety of polymers (individually or in combination) that can be separated or otherwise upgraded by utilizing Butler MacDonald’s plastic recycling services. The list is growing all the time – please contact us for your specific requirements.”