AFL wood reel recycling: nailed wood only, by the truckload

AFL makes fibre-optic cable and connectivity products. Its wood reel recycling program page says AFL has worked with Sonoco EcoReel for more than 20 years, and that Sonoco sends a 53-foot truck or a 48-foot flatbed to collect a full load. Pickups are mainly on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Reels from other makers are “possibly” accepted, which we read as: ask, and do not assume.

The checklist, in plain words

• Nailed wood only. Plywood reels do not qualify at all.
• Size and thickness. Flanges at least 1½ inches thick and at least 30 inches across.
• Holes. Arbor holes undamaged; drive holes not torn out.
• Lumber. Sound wood, no broken flange boards. An edge board broken through only one ply is acceptable.
• Shape. Not visibly warped.
• Staves. Roughly 75% of the drum staves intact.
• Empty. Nothing on the drum except the tie-down end piece.

Scuffs and weathering are fine. That last point matters in this region, where reels sit outside through a humid summer: grey wood is not a reason for rejection, rot and splits are.

Van counts

AFL’s page gives how many reels fit, nested or standing apart, in a 53-foot van and on a 48-foot flatbed:

Flange × traverse × drum	Van, nested	Van, un-nested	Flatbed
58 × 28 × 32	38	28	26
60 × 35 × 36	26	20	24
66 × 36 × 36	24	18	22
72 × 36 × 36	22	16	20
84 × 35 × 36	20	14	18

It also lists 60 and 72 inch reels with a centre support, which it identifies by a red stripe on the drum.

The program’s five-year figures, as AFL states them: about two billion pounds of reels collected, more than $36 million in disposal costs saved, and more than 300,000 trees.

Where a fibre yard stands

Fibre is a big source of reels here. Virginia’s broadband program funds work for more than 133,000 unserved locations, and Maryland’s final round about 9,000. But fibre reels are often small or plywood, and a fibre crew’s reels arrive a few at a time. A fibre contractor near Leesburg or La Plata with a mix of AFL and other reels, some plywood, will not make AFL’s truck. Those are reels for the desk.

If you do hold a truckload of AFL nailed reels that pass the checklist, use AFL’s program. If you are close, send the desk a count and photos and we will say which route makes sense.

Nested or un-nested

The van table’s two columns describe how reels sit in the trailer. Un-nested, each reel stands clear of the next. Nested, the flanges of one reel overlap the drum of the next, so more fit in the same length. Reels with a big drum relative to the flange nest less well, which is why the counts differ by size. If your reels are mixed sizes, the real number for your load will sit somewhere between the two columns.

Records worth keeping

Keep a short log for every load that goes to AFL’s program: the date, the count by flange size, the number of reels rejected at loading and why, and the bill of lading. Rejected reels are the ones the desk takes, and the reasons tell you how to store the next batch better.