Just on the outskirts of New York City is the town of North Bergen, N.J. the home of Eagle Recycling. Unless one’s property borders the vast construction and demolition recycling center or works there, it would be very easy to drive through North Bergen and not even know the company existed. While this might be detrimental to many businesses, for Eagle Recycling it’s a feather in their cap.
"To run a recycling center for construction and demolition debris and not have large dust plumes and noise drawing negative attention to the facility is something we take great pride in," said Anthony Marangi, general manager of Eagle Recycling.
Eagle Recycling was established in 2003 by Nicholas Marangi, whose vision for the company was for it to become New Jersey’s premier and greenest construction and demolition recycling center. Today that vision is carried out by his cousin Anthony Marangi and long time operations manager Silvio Cejas. When the company incorporated in 2003, it began renting its current facility located at 4711 Dell Avenue in North Bergen. Prior to Eagles acquisition of the building, it was used as a municipal recycling center, which primarily processed household waste. Since that time the facility has been completely reconfigured to suit the efficient processing of dry construction and demolition debris such as wood, concrete, cardboard, drywall, tires, metal, plastic, construction and demolition fine and various types of wire and cable.
"One of our biggest challenges when starting out in 2003 was determining how to be the most efficient in the processing of the various debris brought to our facility from the time it’s weighed in at the scale, to where and how its dumped, processed and of course recycled," said Cejas. "Efficiency is an ongoing concern. We constantly assess our plant set-up, equipment and employees to ensure we are being efficient in our day-to-day operations. Small changes in efficiency allow us to provide our customers with competitive dumping rates, move more material through our facility and of course to recycle more."
Eagle Recycling is currently permitted to process up to 1,000 tons of construction and demolition debris per day. In order to reach that level of throughput, the company employs over 50 people and runs two shifts, 6 days a week.
"It’s a challenge to process nearly 1,000 tons per day," said Marangi. "In order to continually maximize production, everything about our operation needs to remain in good working order, especially the equipment. Over the years we’ve owned many brands and types of equipment. If it works we’re advocates, if we have issues, we quickly get a replacement, because downtime translates into huge losses for our business."
A variety of equipment is worked hard at Eagle Recycling, usually 15-16 hours per day from excavators, wheel loaders, skid steers and fork trucks to water trucks and street sweepers. That level of rigorous use along with the harsh environment in which the machinery works has Eagle on the market for new equipment on an ongoing basis. Bill Sheehan, a sales representative of Jersey Rents, found this out late one Friday afternoon when he stopped in on a random sales call. "When I pulled into the Eagle parking lot, they were pretty much closing up for the week. I caught a glimpse of a wheel loader in action through the opening of a door and began asking about its use and lifecycle. That’s when I learned the current machine was five years old and in need of replacement, subsequently introducing Eagle to the name LiuGong."
"When Bill first started talking to us about LiuGong, my initial reaction was absolutely not. I didn’t want to risk production by taking on a relatively unknown brand of equipment. As he continued to talk, he mentioned that LiuGong wheel loaders were powered by Cummins engines, had ZF transmissions and that the company manufactures and ships over 50,000 units globally per year of their wheel loaders alone. That’s when my ears perked up. The knowledge that LiuGong had partnerships with well-established suppliers gave me the confidence necessary to continue the conversation," said Cejas.
Of course a little name dropping alone was not going to make the sale on LiuGong’s 856III wheel loader. It had to be demoed, but more importantly it had to produce in the harsh work environment where it would soon spend its 16 hour days. The demo is what sold Eagle on the LiuGong wheel loader.
"When Jersey Rents delivered the LiuGong 856III wheel loader, we were all still a bit skeptical," said Marangi. "Then we put one of our employees into the operating seat and had him load, push and climb the substantial and changing construction debris dumped by contractors throughout the day into the facility with it. It was a jaw dropping moment as we watched this new machine and its 220hp, 6-cyclinder engine push twice the amount of material as our prior loader without stopping. The power was phenomenal and the 856III quickly became the primary workhorse of our operation. It climbed piles of uneven debris effortlessly and didn’t flinch when quickly pushing or moving heavy loads with its standard 4.58 cubic yard bucket. When it was time to refuel, we became even more pleased with the LiuGong 856III loader. The ease of access to the fuel tank allowed us to fill up and get back to work very quickly."
Because of the changing temperatures in New Jersey throughout the year and the limited air circulation inside the Eagle Recycling facility, the company has full time mechanics on staff ready to maintain or repair equipment immediately when a failure occurs.
"Ultimately, our goal is to have equipment that doesn’t break,” said Cejas. “But the reality is that because we work our equipment hard and for long hours from the day we purchase it until the day it has 25,000+ hours on its meter, eventually something is going to need to be repaired. Therefore we look very closely at ease of access for maintenance purposes and of course have to know that parts are readily available when the need arises."
Once the LiuGong 856III loader proved itself on the job, the only lingering concern Eagle had was in relation to the availability of parts.
“With downtime being so critical to their operation and LiuGong’s worldwide headquarters being in Liuzhou, China, there was some worry with regards to parts availability,” said Sheehan. “Once they learned that LiuGong not only had a U.S. headquarters in Houston, Texas, but nine additional subsidiary locations and parts depots strategically located throughout the world to keep their customers’ machines up and running, the 856III was sold. What started out as a demo machine, stayed on the job and continues to work 16 hours each day.”
“To say we are pleased with this machine is an understatement,” said Marangi. “Everything about it suits our operation perfectly. Not only is it a workhorse designed for the toughest of environments, but it’s also an exceptional value. The LiuGong 856III comes standard with a variety of equipment that is optional on competitive model machines. A standard reversible fan, was of particular interest to us. With the variety of materials handled daily, from large trees to small debris that get airborne, the radiators on our equipment fill up quickly and frequently, so a reversible fan is a must or else we constantly have to stop and clean out the radiator or risk it overheating. The fan on the 856III does that work for us.”
Marangi couldn’t help but take notice when his employees got excited about the company’s new LiuGong loader.
“Our guys are quick to complain when they don’t like the equipment we’ve purchased or are unhappy with a machines performance, so I knew we were onto something with LiuGong.”
When Eagle began shopping for a replacement excavator 90 days later, it called Jersey Rents to learn more about LiuGong’s 936D to see if that too would be a good fit for its operation. While the 856III’s primary function is to push and load debris delivered to the facility, the excavator’s main use would be atop the large, uneven piles of debris, picking and loading material with its grapple attachment onto conveyors extending longer than a football field in length to start the sorting and recycling process or directly into rail cars for transport to landfills.
“One of our biggest considerations when selecting the new excavator was how quickly it could load a rail car,” said Cejas. “The LiuGong excavator we demoed had extremely quick cycle times, an incredibly responsive 9 rpm swing, powerful 4,685 psi main hydraulic pressure with a 148 gallon per minute pump, 70 percent gradability for climbing and a superb counterweight for exceptional balance and stability when working atop large piles of debris. From a maintenance perspective we were happy to see its air intake filter on top versus on the side of the machine, making it easier to access and less susceptible to damage. The LiuGong 936D quickly became one of the primary pieces of equipment used in our daily operation, handling the work of 3 smaller excavators.”
With only nine years in business, Eagle Recycling is a relatively new, but growing company.
“When my cousin incorporated this business in 2003, he had a great vision, but was perhaps a little ahead of his time with his emphasis on going green. Today, we’re seeing more and more stress placed on the importance of recycling, particularly as it relates to construction and demolition debris. I have a steadfast resolve to fulfill his vision and make Eagle Recycling the best construction and demolition recycling facility in the state of New Jersey by achieving a higher percentage of recycling and improving throughput with cutting edge systems and processes. It’s a logistically challenging business, but the passion of our team of loyal employees will help us continue the growth and success of the company,” said Marangi.
Eagle Recycling is a full service, indoor construction and demolition recycling facility located in North Bergen, N.J. The company processes and recycles a myriad of dry construction debris, loading up to six rail cars of debris daily. By loading rail cars directly onsite, the company significantly reduces its carbon footprint and increases the speed and efficiency at which materials can be recycled. The materials loaded into the rail cars are shipped to landfills as far as 550 miles away. Nearly 70 percent of the construction debris dumped at the Eagle facility is recycled. Eagle Recycling is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and recently received an award for their Environmental Stewardship from The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for voluntarily and proactively going above and beyond compliance in an effort to improve the environment and ensure a sustainable future.
For more information on Eagle Recycling of New Jersey, call 201/974-2962.
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