Chandler Cooley knows how to turn trash into treasure. It’s been the focus of his work since starting a year ago at First Quality’s print and packaging plant in Anderson, South Carolina.
The facility makes flexible plastic packaging used for all sorts of products such as paper towel wrappers and shrink film that goes around beverages. Chandler was hired as a reclaim operator, which entails gathering up any plastic scraps leftover in the manufacturing process and putting them into a machine that melts the scraps into pellets. Those pellets can then be used to produce other plastic products.
“It’s a way for us to reuse as much as we can instead of throwing it in the trash,” he explained. “It’s pretty cool.”
Nowadays, Chandler is spending less time on reclaim as he steps into a new position. He’s learning lamination.
“With lamination, we add an extra adhesive layer to our films, so we’re able to make things like packaging for baby wipes,” he said. “It’s exciting to be able to work on something new and where we have lots of opportunities to grow.”
Building a career
It’s only been a year since Chandler joined First Quality, but he said right away he felt something was different from other places he had worked.
As he trains new reclaim operators, Chandler encourages them to stick with it when the work becomes challenging and to not be afraid to try new things.
“There’s a lot to learn here, but people are really generous about that,” he said. “I think First Quality is a good place if you’re just starting out and want to build a career path.”
