Leaning on his past experience as a QC manager at a consumer health product manufacturer Gerry’s purpose was to establish a contract manufacturing company that assisted other businesses with their outsourcing needs.
Company founder Gerry Rains and wife Cherry, started Midway Manufacturing in 1982.
Midway won its first contract to manufacture degaussing coils for Tabuchi Electric Co. of Jackson, TN, who then sold their products to television manufacturers Sharp® and Sanyo®. These coils went into millions of televisions around the world.
Living and working out of a small five room farmhouse that belonged to Cherry’s grandfather, Aldon Edwards. Cherry’s mother Eldridge Edwards loaned her truck for Midway’s first deliveries and was one of the first employees at the new company.
Six months later the company quickly outgrew their small house while trying to keep up with customer demand.
Plans were made to expand by adding on a garage to increase production and to accommodate the ten new employees by building a break-room and a office above the garage.
After setting up production inside the owner’s garage, the small company started to grow faster and other contract opportunities became available.
As the company began to flourish, the need for additional space was necessary. Midway leased a 4,000 sqft space inside the retired Gadsden, TN High School building. It was there they started the assembly of typewriters, keyboards, microwaves, photo albums, office products, and expanded the manufacturing of degaussing coils. Sales that year exceeded $500,000.
In early 1989 Gerry Rains decided to move the company from Gadsden, TN to Bells, TN and built a new warehouse and manufacturing facility located alongside the newly constructed Hwy 412.
He formed the company Recycle Inc, to handle returns, including the sorting, inspecting and repacking for a variety manufacturers producing consumer products.
State of Tennessee approves Recycle Inc. methods of aerosol can recycling
Recycle Inc. creates a new system that is leading the aerosol industry into its next phase -total recovery of aerosol products. The only system in the country that recycles aerosol products without generating hazardous waste.
Phase two is completed. A second aerosol recycling machine was built to expand and increase aerosol recycling production.
This historic video was produced by the Discovery Channel network television show “Today’s Environment” in 1993 and is showcasing the recycling process at that time.
Recycling 100% of aerosol cans: Liquid, Propellant, Plastic, and Metal are all recovered and recycled for use.
Recycle Inc. wins the Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award – For helping its customer with Hazardous Waste Reduction of aerosol cans
Founder Gerry Rains passed away in 1996, but his legacy lives on. To this day, Recycle Aerosol remains the leader in the aerosol waste industry due to his vision and leadership.
2011 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award – Waste Reduction of Customer’s Aerosol Can Hazardous Waste
CEO Cherry Rains awarded the 2011 Rising Star Award on behalf of Governor Haslam TSBDC
In 2012, Recycle Aerosol finished construction on a new Aerosol Processing Facility. The new facility increases processing capacity to 270,000 cans a day, giving it the largest capacity in North America.
Since 1989, Recycle Aerosol’s facility in Bells, Tennessee has gone on to recycle tens of millions of aerosol cans over the past 30 years. Reclaiming a variety of commercial and consumer aerosol and non-aerosol products that are deemed unsaleable and removed from the supply chain for a variety of reasons such as off-spec, out of date, damaged, or seasonally-packaged.
