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Couple Starts Recycling Firm Targeting Business Clients

25 April 2014

USA: It was a search for a paper shredder about 10 years ago that led an Elkhorn husband and wife to their newest business endeavor.

By Cole Epley

It was a search for a paper shredder about 10 years ago that led an Elkhorn husband and wife to their newest business endeavor.

Jeff Johnson and Dianna Johnson opened Mil-Tek Central Recycling & Waste Solutions LLC in January 2014, operating as the western-most American distribution hub for Denmark-based Mil-Tek. The company manufactures air-powered machines that give businesses a way to package and recycle waste products like cardboard, plastic and aluminum.

The Johnsons also operate a Prometric Testing Center at 156th and Elm Streets in Omaha.

“We had been looking for other opportunities beyond Prometric and didn’t really want to get into a franchise model if we didn’t have to,” Jeff Johnson said.

As Johnson and his wife researched business opportunities, they came across Mil-Tek again. They saw the company’s nearest distributor is in Plymouth, Ind., about 95 miles southwest of Chicago, and this time, it was a better fit.

Hydraulic-powered machines typically require special electrical wiring and can be unwieldy for businesses like restaurants or food processors, said Jeff Johnson. Because Mil-Tek machines are powered by air pressure, “they can go a lot of places where traditional hydraulic machines can’t go.”

Current clients include Baxter Auto Body Repair and Performance Auto Body in Omaha. Other Mil-Tek distributors have had success with IHOP restaurants, Johnson said, helping restaurant operators cut back on weekly trash and recycling pick-ups.

“A lot of businesses now may be recycling or baling cardboard but a lot people aren’t doing anything with plastic, and it’s really a shame because it stays in a landfill forever, and as a commodity, it’s about three times more valuable than cardboard,” Johnson said.

“So we can start talking to a business about their trash and instead of being a cost and a nuisance, it becomes a revenue stream.”

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