Programs
Reel programs: where every empty reel goes
An empty reel can go four ways: back into service through us, home to its maker, to recycling, or out to a new owner. We sort every stack reel by reel, so you send one request and each reel lands in the right place.
Pickup and buyback
We buy one-way reels with sound flanges, lagging and arbor holes, and pick them up by corridor.
Read about pickup and buybackManufacturer take-back routing
Returnable reels go back to the maker. We read the tags and point each one to its program.
Read about manufacturer take-back routingReel recycling
Reels past reuse are broken down for wood recovery, in the same load as the buyback reels.
Read about reel recyclingReel supply
Checked used reels by flange and traverse for rewinding, stock storage and job use.
Read about reel supplyWays to use the exits
The four exits are what happens to each reel. These are the ways the pickups themselves run, depending on how many reels you have and how often.
- Recurring yard pickup
A standing pickup day for branches, contractors and plants that empty reels every week.
Read more - Job-site cleanout
One truck at the end of a pull to clear a job site or staging yard of empties.
Read more - Selling a few spools
Three spools in a garage or a dozen behind a shop: how small lots get bought.
Read more - How pickup works
The five steps from count and photo to a loaded truck and a settled ticket.
Read more
Why route reels instead of scrapping them
Most empty reels still have work left in them. A wooden reel with sound flanges and lagging can carry cable for another job, and a maker's returnable reel is worth more to its maker than to anyone else. Scrapping both wastes the wood and the money. Routing them costs a count and a photo.
The reels that are done, with rotted staves, torn drive holes or split flanges, go to wood recovery rather than a landfill, and they leave on the same truck as the reels we buy.
Which exit, for which reel
| What the reel shows | Exit |
|---|---|
| No maker marking, flat flanges, sound staves, clean arbor | Buyback |
| Maker stencil, returnable notice or numbered reel tag | Maker take-back |
| Rot, missing lagging, torn drive hole, split or warped flange | Recycling |
| Someone needs a reel of that flange, drum and traverse | Resupply |
Steel reels, plastic reels and heavy bolted reels nearly always carry an owner's marking, so they usually take the second exit. Plywood and nailed reels are usually one-way.
Who uses the programs
Electrical contractors with yards of empties after a ComEd or data-centre job. Wire and cable branches that need reels gone on a schedule. Plants that receive wire, rod and rope on reels. Homeowners with a few spools in a garage. And on the other side, buyers: rewinders, contractors and plants that need reels, and people who want one spool for a table or a garden.
What every program shares
- One request, whatever mix of reels you have.
- Corridor days by region, so small lots ride with large ones.
- A driver who checks each reel before loading, and says so if anything differs from the photos.
- One ticket per stop listing reels bought, recycled and left for an owner.
- Coverage across Chicago, the suburbs in Cook, DuPage and Will counties, and Lake County, Indiana.
Questions
What do you do with empty wooden cable reels?
Each one takes one of four exits: we buy sound one-way reels, route returnable reels to their maker's program, recycle reels past reuse, and sell checked reels to buyers who need them.
Which program is right for my reels?
You don't have to choose. Send the count and photos; we sort the reels and each one goes where it fits.
Can one pickup cover more than one program?
Yes. A single stop can buy some reels, recycle others and leave returnables for their maker, with one ticket for all of it.
Do the programs cover Northwest Indiana?
Yes, all four, on the Northwest Indiana run.
The reel words we use
- Flange
- The round side discs that hold the cable in. Flange diameter, edge to edge, is the size a reel is known by.
- Drum (barrel)
- The cylinder between the flanges that the cable winds around.
- Traverse
- The inside width between the flanges: how wide a layer of cable can be.
- Arbor hole
- The centre hole a spindle, shaft or payoff bar passes through.
- Drive hole
- A smaller hole off-centre in the flange that a drive pin uses to turn the reel.
- Lagging / staves
- The boards nailed around the drum, and the protective boards sometimes nailed across the flanges over finished cable.
- Nailed vs bolted
- Nailed reels are held together with nails and built for one trip; bolted reels have through-bolts and steel plates for many.
- Returnable reel
- A reel its maker expects back, usually stencilled or tagged to say so.
- One-way reel
- A reel nobody is collecting. Once empty, it belongs to whoever holds it.
- Reel tag
- The label or plate carrying the maker, the reel number and sometimes the return terms.
- Payoff
- The stand or trailer a reel turns on while cable is pulled off it.
Request a pickup or quote
Work order received
- Reference
- Request
Next we read what you sent, sort the reels by tag and condition, and come back with what we buy, where returnables go, and a pickup day for your corridor. If it helps, reply with a photo of the stack and the reel tags.