Like David, Kerry Getter and Balcones Resources, Austin, Texas, use five stones to combat larger companies, and issues, in the recycling industry.When David went to confront Goliath, the boy carried five stones with him. According to many interpretations, this is because Goliath had four relatives who might seek revenge for his death.In the case of Balcones Resources, headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company also brings five “stones” to its daily fight against larger companies and the forces at play in the recycling industry, Kerry Getter, CEO of the company, says. These five stones—employees, customers, environment, share and wow—form the foundation…

Balcones Resources celebrated its 25th anniversary Feb. 5, marking the milestone with $25,000 in donations to nonprofits.Balcones Resources, Austin, Texas, celebrated its 25th anniversary Feb. 5. Balcones marked the milestone with a reception featuring the presentation of $25,000 in total donations to five Austin-area environmental organizations: EcoRise, Hill Country Conservancy, Keep Austin Beautiful, Shoal Creek Conservancy and Waller Creek Conservancy.Balcones Resources was conceived in late 1993 and began operations in 1994. Since its inception, Balcones founder and CEO Kerry Getter, the Balcones board of directors and shareholders have grown Balcones into a nationally recognized firm and one of the top…

Kerry and Becky Getter founded Balcones Resources in 1994 in Austin, TX. At the time, the only commodity being actively recycled commercially was white paper and the Getters saw the need to change the way Texas recycled. Balcones Resources first introduced the Anything that Tears™ program, which simplified office recycling and allowed property managers to quickly quantify their efforts through monthly environmental reports and a reduction of costs related to landfill hauling fees. Now, 25 years later, operating in three locations with 210 employees, Balcones Resources has facilities in Austin and Dallas, TX as well as Little Rock, AR, and…

When the Austin, Texas-based Balcones Resources set out to upgrade its facility in early 2017, the main focus was on automation. Managers at the material recovery facility (MRF) had a difficult time staffing a second shift that ran five days a week—an issue that robotics and optical sorters showed promise to alleviate. With the rising level of labor costs, the company felt the automation had the potential to decrease operating costs as well.Then, National Sword hit the U.S.

“Would you like to have a little Coke?” asks Kathy Bell Hargrave, cracking open a can of soda in her daughter’s kitchen. Some things we do in life without giving a second thought, but when we stop to think about them we realize they raise a lot of questions. “Every can that I open, every piece of paper, everything I want to recycle it,” says Bell Hargrave. “I put it all in a giant blue bin, but what happens to it? I don’t know.”She is not alone in her quest for answers. Judging from listener questions, many people think of…

Balcones Resources was founded in January 1994 in Austin, Texas. The company has grown from that single plant to become the largest privately held recycler in Texas. Today, Balcones operates plants in Austin and Farmers Branch (Dallas), Texas, as well as in Little Rock, Arkansas. Its Austin material recovery facility (MRF) processes residential and commercial single-stream recyclables and a variety of high-grade fiber. The Dallas plant focuses on commercial fiber and plastics, operating a sorting line and also processing preconsumer UBCs. The Little Rock plant is dedicated to processing high-grade fiber.