Automated Baling For An Active Company

Active Recycling in California is benefitting from automation features found in its new Harris Centurion baler.

Active Recycling Co. Inc. has been providing recycling services to residents and business customers in and around Los Angeles for several decades. The company takes in a variety of material, much of which has to be baled, meaning the quality and reliability of its baling equipment is a foremost concern.

Errol Segal, president of the Los Angeles-based company, says the secondary commodities most commonly purchased at Active’s three locations (two in Los Angeles and one in Van Nuys, California), include old corrugated containers (OCC), old newspapers (ONP), office paper, mixed paper, mixed rigid plastics, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic, plastic film and auto bumpers.

At the company’s flagship facility on Slauson Avenue in south central Los Angeles, Segal says an HRB-8-2 model baler made by Georgia-based Harris was in place from 1986 until 2017, compressing the plant’s wide variety of collected materials for shipment.

After providing three decades of reliable service, Se- gal and Active Recycling made the decision to invest in a new baler for the site, opting for a two-ram Harris Centurion model that Segal says “produces heavier bales in considerably less time compared to the old HRB-8-2.”

The Centurion has provided the two things Segal says were most important to him: efficiency and reliability. On the reliability side, Segal says that “downtime due to breakdowns has been non-existent in the 16 months we have operated the new equipment.” Active Recycling operates its Centurion baler 365 days each year for nearly nine hours per day, according to Segal.

The Harris Centurion’s efficiency comes in part in the form of an automatic ejection door. “It has an eject door that is helpful when the chamber is accidentally overcharged,” says Segal. “Large bales are easily ejected out with this feature. Also, we are able to save labor costs by having the machine operate automatically,” he adds.

When shopping to replace his 30-year-old baler, Segal showed no hesitation in sticking with Harris, crediting his previous Harris baler’s reliability and the good relation- ship he has with both Harris and its Southern California dealer, Olympic Wire & Equipment. “Olympic President Jim Walker is honest and very knowledgeable on the Harris line of balers, and was instrumental in Active Recycling renewing our loyalty and patronage to Harris,” states Segal.

In making his new purchase, he was pleased with the personal attention he received from Harris. “The company’s service is excellent and timely, and we have been impressed by the support from Harris in Georgia. I even spoke with Harris President Greg King, complimenting him on the excellent quality of their machines and their level of support to Active Recycling.”

Two-ram Harris Centurion balers have proven to be a popular choice with recyclers of multiple materials seeking a reliable, automated high-volume machine.

More information on the heavy-duty models can be found at https://harrisequip.com/products/two-ram-balers/centurion/.