Wooden spools in Paulsboro

A borough on the river and the creek

Paulsboro is a small borough in Gloucester County where Mantua Creek meets the Delaware River. For more than a century it has been an industrial town, home to a large oil refinery and other plants along the river. Its residential streets, with older houses, churches and small businesses, lie inland from the industrial land. Neighbouring Greenwich Township and East Greenwich hold more industry, warehouses and housing.

Reels from the riverfront

Refineries and chemical plants are among the most cable-intensive industrial sites there are. Maintenance turnarounds, new equipment, instrumentation and safety systems all use cable, including special types for hazardous areas. Those jobs leave mid-size and large reels, some steel, many returnable, all handled by the plants' contractors. Where they release one-way reels, we collect.

The marine terminal

Paulsboro's riverfront terminal had been lined up to build parts for offshore wind farms. After the state's offshore wind programme stalled, KYW Newsradio reported that the port owner went to court to remove the wind manufacturer. Until a new tenant and a new use are settled, we leave the terminal out of our planning. Should fresh construction start there, its contractors will have reels like any other big job, and we would be glad to hear from them.

Homes and small businesses

Paulsboro's houses are mostly older, and renovation and rewiring are steady work. Electricians leave a few spools and small reels at a time. Small businesses in the borough refit too. Those pickups are combined with runs through Gloucester County.

Roads

I-295 runs along the inland side of Paulsboro, with exits nearby. Mantua Avenue is the main road through the borough. The Commodore Barry Bridge, a few miles southwest in Logan Township, leads to Chester, Pennsylvania. The Walt Whitman Bridge, a little further north via I-295 and NJ 42, leads to South Philadelphia. Paulsboro is a convenient stop on runs between Pureland and the Camden area.

Safety on industrial sites

Refinery and chemical sites have strict safety rules: training, protective equipment, permits and escorts. If you need reels collected from such a site, tell us the requirements well ahead. Often the easiest way is for the site's contractor to bring the reels to a gate or a yard outside the process area, where we can load them without entering it.

Weathered reels by the water

Reels left outside near the river and creek soak up damp. Check the bottom rims and the staves before calling them reusable. Reels that are too far gone still come away for recycling.

A borough shaped by oil

The refinery that dominates Paulsboro's riverfront has been there in one form or another since the early twentieth century, and generations of local families worked in it. Refineries go through planned turnarounds every few years, when units are shut down, opened, inspected and rebuilt. Turnarounds bring hundreds of contractors for several weeks and use large amounts of cable for temporary power, lighting, instrumentation and replacement equipment. Afterwards, the contractors' laydown yards outside the fence can hold dozens of reels waiting for someone to collect them.

Mantua Creek and the marshes

Mantua Creek winds through marsh and woodland on the way to the Delaware, and the low ground around it floods after storms. Reels stored on low ground there sink into mud and rot from below. If you keep reels near the creek, raise them on pallets and check them each spring.

Small-town pickups

Paulsboro's compact grid means short distances between houses, a few churches, a library, the high school and corner businesses. Pickups here are quick, and we often combine several in one visit: a reel from a garage on one street, spools from a renovation on another.

Hazardous-area cable reels

Cable for refinery work is often rated for hazardous locations and may come with special jackets or armour. The reels themselves are ordinary wood or steel, but they may carry residue from the plant. We ask contractors to make sure released reels are clean of oil and chemicals before collection.

Pilots and shipping traffic

Tankers and cargo vessels heading up the Delaware pass close by, guided by river pilots. Marine work along this stretch, from pier fenders to navigation lights and shore power, sometimes leaves compact reels at docks and boatyards. Owners of small marinas, boat clubs and fishing piers nearby can ask us to collect.

Gibbstown and Greenwich

Next door, Gibbstown, part of Greenwich Township, has its own riverfront industrial land and quiet residential streets. Collections there pair naturally with Paulsboro visits.

Questions

Do you cover Gibbstown and Greenwich Township?

Yes, along with East Greenwich, Mantua and the rest of Gloucester County.

Will you collect from the marine terminal?

Only if the terminal or a tenant there asks us to and releases the reels.