The bottom line is not the only measure of a successful business. Keeping more than 13 million pounds of waste annually out of a landfill means success to Ruben Guerrero Jr., plant manager of his family-owned business, Brownsville Scrap Paper, Inc. The dynamics are two-fold, no matter how you say it – reuse, repurpose, recycle, upcycle.  Trash comes in; trash goes out. The lucrative business has plenty of markets in Mexico and the U.S. that depend on bulk transfer of trash to make, well, more potential trash.

Ruben V. Guerrero Sr. began the business in 1980 after the peso devaluation forced him to close a business dependent on customers from Mexico. So Guerrero began collecting and processing cardboard to sell to recycling markets in Mexico. Through faith and determination, Guerrero Sr. won a corporate contract with Wal-Mart to process their heavy load of cardboard waste.

Cardboard was the main product until about 15 years ago. As the company’s bottom line became stronger, they invested in equipment to recycle different materials. In 1997, the company moved to a 20,000-square-foot building on a 21-acre site half a mile from the Port of Brownsville. Keeping up with demand and markets, they added paper and aluminum cans and then plastics and electronics.

Brownsville Scrap Paper receives materials from individuals and corporate accounts. Many peddlers are repeat customers who have learned what products the company buys and the condition which brings the best money. The company sorts, shreds, bales and prepares materials for pick-up in quantities and conditions to suit its clients.

“We work with the most readily available waste material, because that is what is lucrative, everyday materials that are in abundance and would go directly to a landfill,” said Ruben Guerrero Jr.  “The paper market has different grades of paper. We always try to upgrade our materials because it makes the product more valuable for the end user.” White paper is more valuable than mixed because the less bleach required in the recycling process, the more the client is likely to pay for the goods. Mixed paper is a combination of paper with color and a variety of weights and textures such as file folders. It brings less income but is in big demand.

“Paper is an endless resource for recycling and making products such as toilet paper end rolls, napkins, paper plates, notebook paper, even the outside layer of sheetrock,” Guerrero said.  Generally, recycled material goes to make more of what it was: cardboard for cardboard, plastic bottles for more plastic bottles. Precious metals are captured from the electronics.

For more on this story by Anita Westervelt, pick up a copy of the Nov. 2013 edition of Valley Business Report or click on the “Current & Past Issues” tab on this Website.