Mr. Fred Spikner never really considered himself an environmentalist. Since college, Spikner has been working as a commercial screen printer and embroiderer and opening his own facility in Midtown Memphis. It was not until a choice to turn down the street in South Memphis in 2014 that Spikner became interested in cardboard recycling.
As owner/operator of Park Place Recycling & Logistics, Spikner processes paper and cardboard from commercial users within a seven-mile radius around the 30,000 SF facility located on East Georgia Avenue. The company facilitates container stuffing, warehouse storage, document destruction, and domestic and export shipping to end users. Park Place Recycling has grown its revenues by taking advantage of new sorting technologies, enabling the company to meet the customers’ needs to reduce waste disposal fees.
Mr. Spikner received a $20,000 Inner City Economic Development (ICED) Loan to help improve fencing, lighting, and loading dock doors at his facility located at 815 East Georgia Avenue. Total projects’ costs are estimated to be $30,000 excluding interior improvements already underway. The loan will help the business increase sales by 25% to 35% across the next few years, retain 10 employees, and create five new jobs. The project is supported by the Stone Community Development Corporation which has applauded Mr. Spikner for bringing an abandoned building back to life, hiring people from the neighborhood, and the workforce training program.