Where your plastic bags go..
So, I just went on a tour of Trex yesterday. They are located in Winchester, Virginia and they take plastic grocery bags and turn them into deck material. It is made by mixing other ingredients in with shredded up plastic bags, and then the bags act as a kind of glue holding the other stuff together.
I had a chance to see the whole process, and it was very cool, but I don’t want to give away details as I did sign a confidentiality agreement and I’m not sure what is public knowledge.
What I can tell you is that I saw literally three gigantic warehouses full of bales of bags, and got to see it from the delivery of the bales to the end product coming out of the machines.
Another aspect which I found interesting, is that I got to see how random objects included in the bale could mess the entire piece up. I saw a rubber band sticking out of one piece, and what could have been a shredded up soda bottle in another. They told me stories of finding diamond rings, cats, dogs, money and all sorts of things while sorting the bags.
So double check your bags when you take them to the grocery store. Even if you don’t do it to save the people sorting them time and trouble, you should make sure nothing else got inside along the way.
I also wanted to say thank you to Samara and Ray, who were very courteous and informative, for taking me on the tour and showing me how everything works. I am a natural skeptic, and wanted to see the process in action. I’m convinced!!
You can find information about their company HERE.
greg
February 21st, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Interesting. I wonder if, assuming the company still exists, say 100 years from now someone could turn in their Trex decking for recycling into a new deck/something else.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Nice update. You should take pictures on the trips for the ER training program. I think employees would love to see photos from your visits.