Stangeland of Urban Forest Products Shares Green Story
Posted by Gregory Myers
on Jul 20, 2015
Kevin Stangeland, president and CEO of Urban Forest Products, was the keynote speaker at the July 20 Kentland Rotary Club meeting. Urban Forest Products makes cup holders for McDonalds and egg filler flats that hold 30 eggs. The facility runs 24 hours a day seven days a week and employs 70 people. Starting with recycled newspapers, the company turns the waste paper into pulp and then stamped into molds while the pulp is still wet. Using dryers powered by the methane gas from the landfill, the pulp is dried and becomes stiff like cardboard.Stangeland stated the company moved to Newton County in 2009 to be closer to their core market and for a bigger workforce.From using methane gas recovered from the landfill to making products from 100 percent recycled paper to the color of its facility, Urban Forest Products, Inc. is as “green” as any company in the region.Republic Services actually cleans and compresses the methane gas from the landfill and sells the gas to Urban Forest Products. The gas is transported via pipeline from the landfill to the facility.
Stangeland also reported that the company has already expanded once since moving to Newton County and is in the works of expanding again.
Shown from left are Kevin Stangeland, president and CEO of Urban Forest Products; Rotarian Brandt Stum; and Chris Buehrer, technical director at Urban Forest Products.
By GREGORY MYERS