1972
The seeds of our origin were planted Memphis, Tennessee by Bill Traylor. In 1972 Bill was in the refrigeration business, installing and servicing commercial coolers for grocery stores. Bill noticed the enormous number of cardboard boxes being either landfilled or burned – realizing there was an opportunity to not only reduce the cardboard disposal costs for grocery stores, but also reimburse them for their waste. Bill also decided to provide the recycling equipment necessary to compact the cardboard into dense bales at each location. Bill soon sold his refrigeration business and began recycling full-time.

1976
A few years later, in 1976, and unsatisfied with the quality of recycling equipment on the market, Bill founded Waste Processing Equipment and began manufacturing his own line of “Max-Pak” balers.

1981
Then, in 1981, Bill patented a flat-bed trailer designed to haul a standard forklift enabling the driver to collect bales of cardboard at each customer location and, when the trailer was full, off-load those bales at the paper mill.

1990
By the early 1990s, Bill was one of the largest private haulers of flat-bed corrugated cardboard tonnage in the Southeastern United States.

1992
In 1992, The Traylor Group was officially formed as a dedicated waste paper hauling company.

2006
The Traylor Group operated for roughly 15 years until in 2006, Jet Polymer Recycling was formed by Ed Traylor, Bill’s son, to complement and expand upon our paper and cardboard recycling services into the plastic industry.

2016
The two companies operated separately for 10 years until, in 2016, The Traylor Group was merged with Jet Polymer Recycling, creating a uniform brand and leadership team. Today, Ed continues to lead Jet Polymer towards the forefront of the recycling industry with recycled volumes of over 150 Million pounds per year, expanded production capabilities and additional recycling plants throughout the country.
