McKernan Helps Businesses By Buying Surplus Packaging

An inevitable part of running a business is dealing with issues that weren’t necessarily expected. The most successful business owners roll with the punches, turning “issues” into opportunities and tackling unforeseen problems in the way that is most beneficial to the company, primarily in costs pertaining to money and time.

There are many ways a company can discard the extra packaging, all of them requiring various levels of effort with little or no investment returned. Certainly, not all methods are created equal. McKernan Packaging Clearing House offers a solution to businesses that requires minimal effort while recovering more of the initial investment. This solution is to buy the company’s surplus packaging.

“It is the best business decision because the other options either cost money or do not recoup as much of the costs,” said Jim Hamilton, purchasing manager for the company. “Throwing it away costs money…to destroy or dispose of the materials fills landfills with trash. Storing it costs money (overhead, and restricts space for items that are usable). Recycling might recoup some cost, but McKernan typically pays more than recycling, plus we will also pay to transport the packaging components out of the business’s warehouse. When a company recycles, they would have to pay their own shipping or transportation costs.”

Precycling is a concept that McKernan has coined. According to Hamilton, precycling is a pre-consumer process that repurposes the surplus packaging and feeds it back into the industry. Typically, precycling pays more than recycling because the materials that McKernan accepts are unbranded and unused, allowing them to be available immediately rather than being recycled into a completely new item.

“The packaging is inspected and made available to other businesses who may be looking for a specific item for their product,” Hamilton explained. “For example, by repurposing packaging materials, one company may have changed their bottle size but kept the lids. Now, they have excess bottles that are no longer usable to them. McKernan precycles these bottles and makes them available to a new customer who can match these bottles with other components from McKernan to create packaging for their product.

“McKernan offers a way to recoup some of the cost, but more than anything, McKernan frees valuable inventory space so that businesses can use the space for current, needed inventory and more profitable materials,” Hamilton said.

By removing the surplus packaging, businesses can operate in a healthier way moving forward due to opening inventory space and recapturing some of the initial costs.

For more information on precycling with McKernan or to speak with one of their Surplus Specialists, call 1-800-SURPLUS (787-7587) or go online to www.WeBuyPackaging.com.