When your mission is to revolutionize outdoor living to create a more
sustainable future, your goals must reflect that to show intent and ambition.
So, in 2021, The AZEK Company took the next big step in its sustainability
journey: It pledged that it would recycle 1 billion pounds of materials
annually
by the end of 2026. Announced on the heels of launching its first
state-of-the-art polyethylene-recycling plant along with its acquisition of
leading polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycler Return
Polymers, CEO Jesse Singh believes the
pledge — and the FULL-CIRCLE™ PVC Recycling program — is emblematic of how
the company looks at sustainability, as a full circle.
Image credit: AZEK
“Our financial and sustainability goals are inextricably linked: Our business
drives our approach to sustainability and our sustainability initiatives drive
our business,” Singh says.
AZEK began its recycling journey in 2018, with an initial development of
recycled material formulations and investments to upgrade manufacturing lines.
To accelerate its use of recycled material, AZEK first had to figure out how to
source and collect all that scrap. The challenge was not in using it, but in
sourcing it. The company’s strategy focuses on sourcing, collecting and
recycling three primary materials for recycling back into its manufacturing
line: polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and wood flour. Recycled
polyethylene and recycled wood flour had more established networks, while PVC
proved to be modestly more
challenging.
One source for recycled PVC that AZEK was looking to explore was the scrap and
waste generated from PVC-based building materials used in new construction and
remodeling projects that would otherwise end up in landfills. With a diverse
base of customers including distributors, dealers, contractors, and lumber yards
across the United States, AZEK had multiple points of potential PVC
collection but zero infrastructure at the state or municipality levels to tap
into.
Coming FULL-CIRCLE
First, AZEK set up collection bins and established collection points along its
value chain, including contractors, builders, dealers and distributors.
Convenient, collapsible and storable 15-square-foot bins were delivered to
AZEK’s participating distributors strategically located in popular PVC markets
throughout the US, which then provided them to their key lumber yard customers
for scrap collection. Lumber yards can either house the bins at their yard for
contractors to collectively recycle their PVC scrap material or the bins can be
provided to a contractor to fill them up on their jobsite. Once full, the lumber
yard partner will pick up the bin from the jobsite and bring it back to their
yard for pickup by the distributor. Once the distributor has aggregated enough
bins for efficiency, AZEK will pick up and deliver the full bins to its PVC
recycling facility in Ashland, OH.
In 2020, AZEK used approximately 400 million pounds of recycled product,
including primarily recycled polyethylene, recycled PVC and recycled wood flour.
That was up from approximately 290 million pounds in 2019.
Business Development Manager Ryan Manley says the program is helping pave
the way to a more efficient and sustainable future for their industry.
“We’re working with our entire value chain. Our program helps contractors cut
disposal costs and keeps PVC out of landfill. It’s a win-win,” he says.
His hope: that this entire value-chain approach can disrupt the plastic waste
paradigm meaningfully as AZEK continues to scale up collection and processing en
route to 2026.
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Vinyl Sustainability Council
Published Dec 3, 2021 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET