Trex Company, a manufacturer of wood-alternative decking and railing using recycled material, announced that it is offering free recyclability testing to packaging engineers, manufacturers, and brand owners, for polyethylene packaging applications.
Image: For the recycling programmes, Trex will accept grocery and retail bags. Photo: Image by Suvajit Roy from Pixabay.
Through its NexTrex Recycling Program, the firm is offering packaging firms to test and validate the recyclability of their material in the Trex recycling stream.
Trex Company material management senior director Dave Heglas said: “Trex invented composite decking more than 25 years ago as a way to reduce waste generated from plastic bags.”
Upon receiving a packaged product sample from packaging designers, producers, and brand owners, Trex will provide a comprehensive report assessing three areas for acceptance for its clients.
The report will focus on three areas for acceptance, which include package/film recyclability, affect/risk of product contamination, and affect/risk of non-recyclable “look-a-like” package contamination.
Based on the report, packaging firms will have the opportunity to make adjustments to meet recyclability standards and/or select an appropriate recycling method.
For the recycling programmes, Trex will accept packaging such as distribution/manufacturing film-stretch; grocery and retail bags; bread and produce bags; case overwraps; dry cleaning bags/film; newspaper sleeves; ice and salt bags; ziploc and other reclose-able bags.
Other acceptable packaging products include flexible PE e-commerce mailers; PE packaging, such as bubble wrap and foam; heat sheets; cereal box liners; wood pellet bags; carpet overwrap and mattress bags.
Trex said it diverts more than 400 million pounds of plastic film, bags and wrap from landfills annually and uses it for production of composite decking which is made from 95% recycled material.
Heglas added: “By giving recycled plastic film a second life as high-performance, low-maintenance composite decking, Trex is providing a solution to manufacturers’ plastic waste problems.
“Our free testing program is intended to encourage more manufacturers to participate and take advantage of this ‘win-win’ scenario, while ensuring that the plastic we are collecting meets our high standards for production.”
The companies, upon successful testing and acceptance of their packaging samples by Trex, will be qualified for a Trex Commercial Recycling Partnership.
Heglas further said: “The U.S. needs more end markets for recycled materials. Through our NexTrex Recycling Program, we hope to lead by example and inspire others to find ways to be part of the solution.”
Image: For the recycling programmes, Trex will accept grocery and retail bags. Photo: Image by Suvajit Roy from Pixabay.