Building Ties

The proprietary blend of recycled plastics and polymers produced by Axion International, New Providence, N.J., dates back more than a decade. It originated out of a desire by Dr. Tom Nosker of Rutgers University to come up with a way to create something useful and permanent out of plastics that were destined for the landfill. Nosker came up with a way of blending certain amounts of recycled materials together to create a strong and lasting infrastructure building material dubbed Recycled Structural Composite (RSC). Axion International was established in 2007 to bring it to market.

Axion follows a contract manufacturing model. The company manufactures its products at a single facility in Portland, Pa., about 60 miles from its headquarters. Steve Silverman, president and CEO, says Axion is in the process of expanding that manufacturing footprint. “Our intent is to be able to provide product to our customer base, and that base is growing rapidly in both the South and farther west. We expect to have several facilities operating in the next few years,” says Silverman, “Additionally, the company is looking for manufacturing partners around the globe.”

Axion currently has a demand for more than 100,000 pounds of materials daily, according to Silverman. He expects that amount to increase as Axion continues to grow its business both domestically and internationally.

Q: What makes you different from your competitors?
Axion is certainly not the first company to introduce a recycled plastic building material, but we are the first to create a product out of our materials that has been tested and proven under such stressful circumstances as the construction of bridges that can support the weight of 70-plus-ton M1 tanks and 130-plus-ton railroad locomotives. Our differentiator is our ability to transcend and replace the use of traditional materials such as wood, concrete and steel with a stronger, longer-lasting and cost-competitive product. Our materials will outlast legacy materials and Axion’s RSC can be recycled again and used for something new.

The composite material created by Axion International is designed to be strong enough to endure in heavy infrastructure settings and applications.

Q: Where do you see your company five years from now?
I expect Axion to be a major player in the international infrastructure building materials industry – with joint venture partners accumulating post-consumer and industrial plastics in all corners of the globe.