From Spreadsheets to Safety Excellence: How Quincy Recycle Modernized EHS Across 10 Facilities

Client Profile

Quincy Recycle operates eight recycling facilities across the Midwest, processing paper, cardboard, and plastics for commercial and industrial customers. The company employs more than 400 people across multiple business units, including recycling operations, upcycled food by-products, and co-packing facilities. As the company’s dedicated Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) leader, Tyler VanDee was tasked with modernizing safety processes, improving compliance management, and creating consistent operational standards across a geographically dispersed workforce with the help from many team members.

Challenges

Fragmented Systems Increase Compliance Risk and Reduce Efficiency

Before implementing Novara, Quincy Recycle relied on a patchwork of spreadsheets, paper records, PowerPoint, and manual processes to manage safety programs. Training completion was tracked in Excel, incident documentation was difficult to monitor, and proving compliance during inspections required significant administrative effort. Safety training lacked consistency across facilities, corrective actions were harder to manage, and maintaining SDS libraries across multiple locations was time-consuming. They needed a centralized system that could improve accountability, visibility, and operational efficiency while supporting future growth.

Solutions

Novara Flex Unifies Safety Operations Within a Single Configurable Platform

Quincy Recycle initially deployed Novara to strengthen its learning management and EHS programs, including safety training, maintenance, incident reporting, OSHA 300 log management, SDS administration, and operational initiatives across the business. The rollout was conducted facility by facility, with hands- on training to drive total adoption. As teams became more comfortable, Quincy expanded its use to Novara’s equipment maintenance management, QR-code-enabled asset tracking, preventive maintenance scheduling, food safety compliance programs, digital forms, and operational workflows.

Results

By replacing manual, disconnected processes, Quincy Recycle gained real-time visibility into training records, incidents, corrective actions, maintenance activities, and compliance documentation.

Managers can quickly verify training completion, track open tasks, and maintain audit-ready records across multiple facilities. Automated maintenance notifications help ensure equipment receives timely preventive service, while digital workflows improve accuracy and accessibility. Since implementation, many of their safety KPI’s have been moving in the right direction, and the company is now exploring AI-powered training and predictive maintenance initiatives to further strengthen safety performance.

“Our previous training tracker was all manual in an Excel sheet … Now with Novara, we don’t need to do that anymore, because it gives us that list now automatically, and it provides a plethora of other data points that we can use.”

Key Benefits:

Quincy Recycling utilizes Novara’s SDS, LMS, and the Flex EHS platform, reaping the following benefits:

• Centralized safety training, compliance, and operational management

• Improved visibility into training completion and corrective actions

• Streamlined OSHA recordkeeping and incident investigations
• Digital SDS management across multiple facilities

• Expanded use cases beyond EHS into maintenance, food safety, and operations
• Better accountability through automated workflows, notifications, and reporting
• Reduced administrative burden and stronger compliance readiness