Construction Zone

For many recycling advocates considering the recycling of beverage containers and other consumer products packaged in plastic, closed loop or "bottle-to-bottle" systems have often presented the ideal scenario.

But while such systems continue to face FDA (food safety), quality and logistical hurdles, the recycling of post-consumer plastic has not stood still.

The good news is that the interest of manufacturers in post-consumer plastic scrap has not stopped with No. 1 and No. 2 (PET and HDPE) beverage containers, but has spread to other forms of plastic scrap that can be available with increased collection efforts.

Among these non-bottle-to-bottle applications has been the growing market comprised of makers of plastic lumber, decking and other building products.

These companies have started in various geographic regions and often use different production methods and different forms of plastic scrap.

BUILT TO LAST. The designation plastic lumber is often used interchangeably with the term composite lumber, although there can be a difference in definitions. Composite lumber also includes cellulose or wood fibers mixed with the plastic feedstock.

Demand for these wood-plastic composite and plastic lumber products in the United States has been forecast to expand 11 percent per year through 2009 to $3.5 billion, according to a 2006 study by Cleveland-based market research firm The Freedonia Group.

Plastic lumber will benefit from growing use in fencing installations, while wood-plastic composites will achieve rising penetration in newer applications, such as fencing, window and door components and railroad ties, the study predicts. Demand for composite and plastic lumber will be aided by consumer efforts to reduce maintenance associated with construction materials.

Molding and trim was the largest end use for composite and plastic lumber in 2004, at 46 percent of the total. Through 2009, demand for composite and plastic lumber in molding and trim applications is forecast to rise more than 6 percent per year to $1.3 billion, almost all of which will be plastic lumber, according to the study. Gains will be slower for most composite and plastic lumber applications, a result of the relative maturity of the overall molding and trim market, but will be significantly faster than those for wood molding and trim materials.

Among the major product categories, window and door applications, although rising from a smaller base, are anticipated to post the fastest gains through 2009, with demand expected to exceed $200 million. As with other applications, composite window and door components are making inroads against wood, metal and plastic materials because of their lower maintenance requirements and similarities to wood. Other applications, such as playground equipment, site and leisure furniture, hot tub cladding, porches and railroad ties, will see above-average gains through 2009, albeit from smaller bases, according to the study.

DECKED OUT. Composite and plastic lumber has been put to many uses, including parking space barriers, playground equipment and picnic tables.

One of the larger markets, though, has been in the outdoor decking and stairs niche. Among the pioneers in this segment have been Trex Co., Winchester, Va., and AERT (Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, Inc.), Springdale, Ark.

Trex was formed in 1996 by former executives of Mobil Corp. (before it became ExxonMobil). The company’s growth has been steady and, at times, impressive. According to its Web site, Trex has grown to be a purchaser of 300 million pounds of used polyethylene and an equal amount of hardwood sawdust each year. "The company estimates that it receives about 50 percent of the recycled grocery bags available on the market," Trex says on its Web site, www.trex.com.

The company’s decking and other products are available at more than 3,300 contractor-oriented lumber yards throughout North America, according to Trex.

In its most recently completed financial quarter, the first quarter of 2007 ending March 31, the company recorded net sales of $116 million, compared to net sales of $105 million for the first quarter of 2006. Trex’s net income for the 2007 first quarter was $3.7 million, down slightly from the $4.1 million earned in the first quarter of 2006.

Trex Chairman and CEO Anthony J. Cavanna says the slowing homebuilding market could dim some of the company’s sales prospects in the near future. "We remain cautious about market conditions for 2007 due to uncertain economic conditions related to the overall activity in the homebuilding and remodeling sectors," he remarks in comments accompanying the quarterly results.

AERT’s history goes back even farther than that of Trex. The Brooks family and their associates founded the company in 1989. The company offered a stock IPO later that same year and became listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

Its product line has expanded steadily and now includes door and window components as well as composite decking and lumber.

AERT’s first plastics reclamation plant, opened in 1990, has been designed to "allow it to recover waste plastics from the by-product of other recycling operations, as well as post-consumer and post-industrial waste streams," according to its Web site.

In 1995, Weyerhaeuser linked up with AERT as its national distribution and marketing partner for decking and accessories. Weyerhaeuser selected the name ChoiceDek to apply to the decking products made by AERT.

Having started initially in Texas, AERT made a key move to Springdale, Ark., in 1997. A new manufacturing plant there "could more easily service the company’s growing customer base and could take advantage of lower transportation cost for both raw materials and finished products," says the AERT Web site.

In particular, scrap wood fiber is readily available from Ozark lumber and milling operations. And in 2001, AERT opened a plastic recycling and warehousing facility at Springdale to provide greater flexibility in processing secondary plastics and preparing them for use as raw materials at both the Springdale plant and the original Junction, Texas, plant.

On the retail front, AERT and Weyerhaeuser have been part of a long-term strategic alliance with Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse since 2002. The alliance provides Lowe’s with "the exclusive rights to market ChoiceDek Premium into the North American home improvement warehouse market."

In 2003 AERT opened additional plastic processing plants in Lowell, Ark., and Alexandria, La. "The new raw materials processing capacity is making a positive impact on quality, productivity and profitability. Productivity is reaching record levels as more precisely refined raw materials are being provided to the extrusion plants," AERT says.

SEEKING SUPPLY. Trex and AERT, though two of the more noteworthy examples, are not the only companies in North America seeking plastic scrap to use in making building products.

In Canada, Poly-Pacific International Inc. of Burnaby, B.C., created its Everwood Plastic Lumber product line to go along with its traditional business of providing surface cleaning and preparation materials.

To tap into its own stream of plastic scrap to feed its lumber production machinery, the company acquired a 30 percent interest in a landfill in Kingston, Ontario, in order to "mine" an estimated 180,000 metric tons of scrap industrial nylon that is in the landfill.

The 30 percent obtained was considered a first step toward obtaining the entire landfill, according to Randy Hayward, president of Poly-Pacific. The company is pursuing acquiring additional polymer landfills, according to Hayward.

Trimax Building Products, Chicago, has roots that trace back to a former name of US Plastic Lumber Inc.

Since American Pacific Financial Corp. acquired the former US Plastic Lumber Inc. in April of 2006, the company has focused on retaining its position as one of the nation’s leading makers of HDPE building materials used in structural lumber, transportation, marina and residential decking applications.

"Our interest in plastic lumber and related products stems from its unique patented approach to manufacturing quality, maintenance-free ‘green built’ products for residential, commercial or industrial applications," Larry Polhill, American Pacific’s chairman and CEO said at the time.

Lexington, Ky., is the home of another plastic scrap building products maker, Plasticon International Inc.

Plasticon, currently operating under bankruptcy protection, has been lining up its supply sources with long-term agreements, including five for recycled plastic resins that were announced back in 2005. "The new resin supply would provide enough recycled plastic resins to fulfill Plasticon’s projected orders for the next 10 years," the company announced at the time.

"The sheer abundance of recycled plastic is one of the most attractive qualities of our sector," Plasticon President and CEO Jim Turek then said.

As with Poly-Pacific, landfill mining is part of the equation. "Our suppliers are now looking at the plastic in landfills as a major source of resin," Turek said.

Plasticon produces concrete accessories, transportation signage, plastic lumber and office supplies.

One more contender for film plastic (such as grocery bags and pallet wrap) is NextLife of Delray Beach, Fla.

The maker of pallets and post-consumer resins accepts a wide variety of recyclables, including stretch film, grocery bags, baled bottles, baled cardboard, plastic pallets, plastic buckets, PET strapping, trash pails, curbside recycling containers and other rigid plastic bins and trays.

NextLife sets up closed-loop programs for generators of plastic scrap and programs that municipalities or retail chains can implement.

In a market that is tied heavily to the fortunes of residential construction and remodeling, the production of additional products like pallets may provide a helpful buffer to a sudden drop in demand among domestic plastic scrap consumers.