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Brett Bundale
Telegraph-Journal

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Five years ago, K.C. Sargent Sales Ltd. was bleeding red ink.

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Stephen MacGillivray/canadaeast news service

K.C. Sargent Sales’ Carole Sargent, left, and Kevin Sargent, seated, and Sunny Corner’s Ray Ritchie are pictured in a truck with an Enviropacter – a cutting-edge compacting machine. The compacter can crush 300 cubic metres of cans or bottles down to 80 cubic metres, less than a third of the original volume. ‘We are the only recycling company I know of that compacts used beverage containers after they are picked up at refund depots,’ says Kevin Sargent.

The Miramichi recycling company was struggling with skyrocketing transportation costs when president Kevin Sargent had an idea.

If the beverage containers collected by the company's trucks could be further compacted in the field, K.C. Sargent Sales would need fewer trucks on the road. This would reduce fuel, maintenance and labour costs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

The company embarked on a three year journey with Sunny Corner Enterprises and Hebert's Recycling Inc. With support from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the National Research Council, the team developed a cutting-edge compacting machine.

K.C. Sargent Sales has now installed an Enviropacter machine on each of its trucks. The compacter can crush 300 cubic metres of cans or bottles down to 80 cubic metres, less than a third of the original volume.

"We are the only recycling company I know of that compacts used beverage containers after they are picked up at refund depots," Sargent said during an interview from Miramichi Wednesday.

"Before this we were hauling around empty bottles of air," he said. "We're not only saving money with the Enviropacter. We've reduced the number of trucks on New Brunswick's highways."

After 18 months of using the innovative machine, the recycling company went from operating eight trucks and 16 vans to four trucks and four vans, reducing fuel costs by 45 per cent and slashing green house gas emissions in half.

"Another advantage of doing the compaction in the field is it reduces the amount of energy use in our plant to process the bags of beverage containers into bails and into flakes," he said.

"By reducing the load in the field we not only gain value in transportation we gain value in processing," Sargent said. "The savings in energy, emissions and transportation has turned our company around."

Along with the CEOs of 14 other companies, Sargent shared the secrets of running a successful business at the Art of Success event, hosted by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency in Fredericton.

"You have to be a forward-thinking person to survive in business," Sargent said. "You have to be determined and you just can't give up."

Sargent, who runs the recycling company with his wife, vice-president Carole Sargent, said it's important company executives are tuned into the business at all times.

"If I get a call about a problem - it doesn't matter the time of day - I'll go in and deal with it," he said. "You have to resolve every issue as it comes up and never brush anything under the carpet."

K.C. Sargent Sales currently operates in New Brunswick and Newfoundland with more than 50 workers.

Later this month Sargent is hitting the road to share the innovative Enviropacter technology with recycling companies in Alberta.

"This is a really exciting opportunity to share what we've learned," he said. "It's important for recycling companies to be part of the solution when it comes to pollution."