Absolute Quality, Genuine Service and Safety by Design
By Dillon Meilleur
Click to view Brochure
Since its inception in 1990, Product Recovery Management, Inc. (PRM) has been a leader in the environmental remediation industry. For the past 25 years, PRM has provided state-of-the-art equipment, technology and services to the environmental remediation and landfill gas industries. PRM also caters to numerous niche industries, providing them with personalized product development and research solutions. “We provide the environmental remediation and landfill gas industries with equipment, technology and services to clean up and mitigate the pollution problems they are facing,”said PRM President Mel Phillips.
PRM started out as a small, family-owned electrical contracting company in the 1970s, providing service and support for the environmental industry. Over the years PRM has significantly transformed and adapted as the market matured and expanded. “It became obvious that in order for us to keep our prominent status within the market, we would need to evolve from a service-oriented installation company to a manufacturer of enviro- remediation and landfill equipment,” Phillips said. Today they offer an array of services pertaining to specific industries. “We continue to grow and mature in our role within the industry as dictated by our client’s needs,” Phillips continued. PRM was one of the first remediation equipment integrators, making them industry pioneers. Equipment integration entails bringing together various components to form a whole, and ensuring that those components function properly in conjunction. Their years of experience, rapport and knowledge are what makes them the great success they are today.
PRM is located in North Carolina, and is now led by Mel Phillips and his younger brother Brian Phillips. PRM has survived three economic downturns and their business has remained unaffected. “Unfortunately, there’s always going to be accidental releases of pollutants into the ground. Fortunately, we make the equipment to help clean that up,” Marketing Director Mike Ellington said.
Innovative technology removes groundwater pollutants
PRM offers their clients a number of essential products and services pertaining to site specific needs. These services include environmental remediation and landfill gas equipment, field services, equipment rentals, documentation and web videos, to name just a few.
For years PRM has designed and manufactured a variety of environmental remediation technologies for the groundwater remediation industry. The different types of innovative technologies that PRM deploys allow users to extract harmful pollutants from groundwater or treat them in place. These integrated remediation systems transform something harmful, such as an unusable or polluted piece of real estate, into something valuable: a usable or marketable piece of real estate. Alongside groundwater remediation, these systems include technologies to address other subsurface issues as well, such as soil contamination or vapor mitigation. Typical pieces of equipment may include oil and water separators, air strippers, thermal and catalytic oxidizers, ozone injection systems and other advanced technologies. “Without clean water and clean air we can’t sustain ourselves,” Phillips said.
The forward-thinking technology that PRM has helped to develop over the years has had a significant impact on the landfill gas industry as well. As garbage in a landfill decomposes, it becomes methane gas and a liquid substance called leachate. PRM has helped create an improved technology that can remove the leachate from landfills, yielding more space for gas to produce. These gases can be captured and flared off or used to generate power and energy. Draining the leachate is an intricate part of ensuring the optimal decomposition process of a landfill.
PRM- part of the process from start to finish
PRM offers a number of field services. Their team of experienced technicians have the expertise and knowledge to properly support remediation efforts from start to finish. They are fully equipped to perform pilot tests, engineering consultations, feasibility studies and other valuable services. PRM has one of the nation’s largest resources of remediation technology available for rent. This collection of equipment varies from small-scale technology such as individual blowers and pumps, to large-scale technology such as electric catalytic oxidizers.
PRM has been able to set themselves apart from the rest of the industry by offering clients and industry partners access to a proprietary database with over 25 years of relevant information pertaining to the environmental services industry. This collection of information is beneficial to the entire industry. The PRM database enables its technicians and engineers to share valuable information, data, advances and trends within the industry. PRM is also currently producing a number of online informational videos that will showcase their projects, hard work, technology and success. It’s just another way they are expanding and adapting. “My brother and I are proud of all the projects we have the privilege to become involved with,” Phillips said.
Three pillars: safety, quality and service
PRM has been a family-run business for the last 25 years, and they truly embrace that. The PRM guarantee is comprised of three simple components: safety by design, absolute quality and genuine service. PRM takes safety seriously; they take precautions to provide a safe work environment and to ensure that their products exceed industry standards. “We like to provide the customer with, number one, a safe product. We take safety very seriously. In our business, when you’re dealing with landfill gases and remediation of explosive vapours, safety has to be a primary focus,” Phillips said. Each one of PRM’s systems is designed and manufactured in-house, making it much easier to maintain quality control and provide quality products to their clients. The final pillar of PRM is genuine service. PRM is determined to provide its clients with superior assistance, and it shows through their dedicated employees and customer satisfaction surveys and guarantees.
There are many ways PRM differentiates itself in the industry; one of the most notable being their NRTL (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory) Third-Party Certification. PRM is certified through a qualified third-party laboratory to test and certify all of their control panels and systems. The third-party certification means that an independent organization reviews the manufacturing process of a product and independently determines that the final product complies with specific standards for safety, quality and performance. By using a third-party certification, PRM is stating that they are truly confident in their products’ performance and quality. PRM is one of America’s only equipment integrators that is third-party certified to manufacture its control panels and systems to Underwriters Laboratory (UL and C-UL), Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards. This gives PRM an advantage over its competitors and PRM’s clients gain safer systems, reduced liability and increased up-time for their equipment.
PRM is always thinking of new ways to innovate and improve. “We really pay attention to the shifts in the market,” Phillips said. New technology used in PRM’s Control Panels keeps them ahead of the curve. These innovative panels enable users to receive updates, alerts or notifications via cell phone and computer. This advanced technology is able to diagnose the issue internally and relay the final analysis back to the user, not only saving time but money. The control panels eliminate the need to send a technician to diagnose the problem, which can be a costly and time-consuming process.
Future growth takes green approach
Phillips got into this industry to make a difference, and he has succeeded. “I see the environmental industry as something unique and challenging,” he explained. Throughout its history, PRM has transformed, adapted and innovated, always looking toward the future. PRM recently purchased a 13-acre property in Butner, North Carolina and transformed a contaminated and abandoned factory into a new operating facility. As an environmentally conscious company they’re taking the green approach to remodelling; they’ve installed motion-sensing LED lighting throughout the facility and added close to one thousand solar panels to power their operations. PRM also initiated a program where equipment coatings do not use a VOC-based (volatile organic compound) product, but rather a water-based high performance acrylic paint. This new eco-friendly manufacturing facility is essential to PRM’s daily operations and each of these efforts helps to reduce PRM’s carbon footprint and help them to be better stewards of the environment.
The future looks bright for PRM and over the next few years they hope to expand exponentially. PRM is currently working on projects throughout Canada and the United States and has completed projects around the globe, recently in Saudi Arabia and China.
“What’s next for PRM? Improving our market share, becoming a little bit more energy efficient as a company, a little bit more carbon neutral, and just doing the right thing,” Phillips said.
