Paine's Inc.

Paine's Inc., a third-generation recycling and waste handling company in East Granby, Connecticut, services home, business, and municipality waste and recycling needs. Eight years ago, Paine's installed the first of two waste oil furnaces to heat its 10,000-square-foot maintenance and shop buildings. The company, which has 62 employees, uses waste oil from its fleet of trucks. Prior to installing the furnaces, the company was spending approximately $4,000 a year to heat its buildings. Last year, the company spent less than $1,000 to purchase 300 gallons of oil to supplement the 2,500 gallons that come from its 42 trucks, according to company president Michael Paine. "The furnaces paid for themselves within the first three years."

In addition, the company recently began using soybean-based biodiesel in all its trucks. Paine says that the company switched to biodiesel in response to last summer's high gasoline prices and a new regulation that reduces allowable diesel truck emissions. Further, biodiesel burns cleaner and its costs are more stable than gasoline, according to Paine.
Repreinted with permission from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce