Trex signs supply agreement with packaging provider

Arkansas Poly & Printing (APP), a Van Buren, Arkansas-based producer of flexible consumer packaging, and Virginia-based Trex Co., a maker of wood-alternative decking and railing outdoor building products, have entered into a scrap supply agreement.

Via what the two firms are calling a partnership, APP will supply postindustrial and postconsumer resin-based packaging products for recycling to Trex to be used in the making of its composite products for the residential building market.

“Commercial partners like Arkansas Poly are essential to Trex’s sourcing efforts,” says Zach Lauer, vice president of supply chain with Trex. “We are excited to join forces with a company that shares our vision of driving recycling for plastic films and pleased to be establishing meaningful connections with our new neighbors in Arkansas.”

Sarah Sparks Diebold, a co-owner of APP, says, “Our mission of making quality packaging with the least impact to the environment is in perfect alignment with Trex, and we could not be happier to welcome them to Arkansas. This alliance further exhibits our commitment to sustainability within the packaging industry and adds value to our products by providing a tangible ‘next life’ for our resin-based packaging in the form of beautiful and high-performance Trex outdoor living products.”

APP describes itself as a vertically integrated Flexo-packaging manufacturer that extrudes, prints and converts flexible film for industrial and consumer packaging purposes. The company says it has a focus on diverting plastic films from landfills by developing materials it considers readily recyclable.

Trex composite decking is made from 95 percent recycled and reclaimed materials, including a mix of industrial wood scrap and polyethylene (PE) plastic film. Each year, the company repurposes more than 200,000 tons of discarded commercial and post-consumer plastics, says the company, calling itself “one of the largest recyclers of plastic film in North America.”

In addition to its manufacturing facilities in Virginia and Nevada, Trex is in the process of building what will be its third U.S. production site in Arkansas, at the Port of Little Rock. The approximately $400 million campus will include buildings dedicated to decking and railing production, warehousing, reclaimed wood storage, and plastic film recycling and processing. The new PE processing facility will enable the company to collect and process even more plastic scrap through what it calls its ever-expanding network and NexTrex commercial and community recycling programs.