In This Podcast:

Doug Huffer

Doug Huffer, general manager and president with Recleim, a recycling and resource recovery organization specializing in efficient and convenient disposal of HVAC units and various other appliances, shares how Recleim is reshaping South Carolina’s HVAC recycling efforts and why contractors should take recycling seriously. Posted on Oct. 3.

Q: Please introduce yourself to our listeners and share a bit about your HVAC background.

A: I’m the general manager and president of Recleim. I have 30-plus years of manufacturing experience with Maytag/Whirlpool Corps. With the facility we’re bringing on line here, focusing on the recycling of HVAC equipment, we’ve assembled a team that has years of experience. One of our guys has more than 30 years of HVAC industry experience. Our group is well versed in the home appliance and vending industries.

Q: What is Recleim and where did the idea come from?

A: We’re a next-generation de-manufacturing company. We take end-of-life products, such as HVAC units, home appliances, and vending machines, and turn them from big things into small things. We’re able to take more than 95 percent of materials and turn the product back into a reusable, recycled raw material. One of the unique benefits and features of this facility is that we’re able to capture and destroy more than 99.9 percent of the CFCs [chlorofluorocarbons] and refrigerants in these products.

Q: Was Recleim an immediate hit, or did it take a grassroots effort to build awareness?

A: We’re putting the finishing touches on our Graniteville facility right now. I’ve been working on this project for more than a year and a half. We have two technologies going in; one from a Germany company, which is implementing the shredding and materials handling process, and a Danish company is putting in the CFC destruction facility for us. We anticipate ramping up this plant in November and getting up to full production in 2015. We’ve recycled very little refrigerant at this time, but we’re going to start using our new equipment near the end of 2014. We’ve recycled a small amount of refrigerant using our test cells, but, we won’t come online in full capacity until 2015.

Doug Huffer
General manager and president, Recleim, Graniteville, South Carolina
http://www.recleim.com/

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Publication date: 11/3/2014 

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