Clean & Green: Ucp’s Big-box Effort

United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas – a non-profit working with people with disabilities – is a growing player in the Arkansas recycling arena.

Several months ago, we profiled UCP’s ink toner and cartridge recycling program. In April of this year, the agency launched a new recycling effort.

The MRF, or materials recycling facility, is located in southwest Little Rock. It recycles "super" sandwich bales from the back end of Wal-Mart stores from areas covering four states.

Materials ranging from plastic shopping bags to cardboard to shrink wrap are separated and baled, then shipped to Georgia-Pacific for continued recycling. UCP’s contract is actually with Georgia-Pacific, not the nation’s largest retailer.

UCP is looking to hire up to 30 new workers to handle the processing and it is working to attract new business with other big-box retailers. The agency says that all profits roll right back into its programs and services to serve children and adults through UCP.

Learn more in this video.