No matter where you look, it’s evident that plastics make up a large part of our lives. It’s used for making containers such as water and soft drink bottles, lids, product packaging, jars, trash bags and even furniture and appliances.

Just how much plastic do we produce?

In the United States, more than 32 million tons were generated in 2012 alone. And overall, only about 9 percent of that plastic was recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Much of the plastic ends up in landfills, along beaches, roadsides and in our oceans and lakes.

More and more, consumers are doing their part to recycle those bottles and other plastic materials. And Patrick Kelley of Saylorsburg, Monroe County, is doing even more.

A chemical engineer, Kelley has spent the past 30 some years of his life working on converting recycled plastics into useful products. The first 16 years he worked with

the Mobil Corporation in its division that used by-products of oil production to develop and manufacture the Hefty line of garbage bags.

Then, in 1992, Kelley left Mobil with a mission of launching his own company to develop products that could be made from recycled plastics.

Kelley moved from New Jersey to Monroe County and built a 5,000-square-foot building where he installed a plastics extruder and began experimenting with different products. While at a lumber yard, Kelley saw wood post and rail fences and believed these fence parts would

be better made from recycled plastic which would not only save trees, but also would put some of the plastic waste to good use.

Today, Kelley owns and operates Waste Not Technologies, LLC, a company that takes thousands of pounds of discarded plastic bottles and converts them into heavy-duty plastic post and rail fencing.

“I started taking the rails and posts to farm shows and went from farm to farm trying to peddle my new products,” Kelley said. His first sale was to a local farmer who purchased

Each month, we recognize one of the region’s top manufacturers with the aid of NEPIRC, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. Since 1988, NEPIRC has been working with manufacturers to improve their productivity, profitability, competitiveness and long-term viability through consultative services.

Patrick Kelley displays a fence post and an assembled post and rail fence inside his manufacturing facility in Monroe County.

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Monroe County man builds manufacturing business from recycled plastic

After being cleaned, the recycled plastic is shredded and prepared for use in making the rails and posts.

enough rails and fencing to go along his 200-foot driveway.

Then, in 2004, Kelley got his first big order. The National Park Service ordered a large quantity of fencing for the Arches National Park in Utah. “This was a large order and they were very patient waiting for me to manufacture and ship two large truck loads of product,” he said.

Kelley knew he needed more equipment to streamline the process, but needed capital to make this happen. As the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began looking to the private sector to develop new ways of using recycled plastics, Kelley applied for grants and in 2006 received funds to help him expand his business.

Since then, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center has toured his facilities and conducted value stream mapping to help improve the floor plan in anticipation of the purchase of more equipment. Kelley has also attended NEPIRC leadership and innovation seminars.

“The public grants helped me take this company from a pilot project to a manufacturing business. Without the state’s assistance, I would not have been able to make this happen,” he said.

Kelley has outgrown his present facilities and is now constructing a new 12,000-square-foot building in Pocono Mountains Corporate Center East. He anticipates that this expansion will help him to hire more employees and launch a recycling center.

Northeast PeNNsylvaNia BusiNess JourNal · JaNuary 2015