Evergreen, Trex, and Milliken Win SPE Carpet Recycling Awards

The

Society of Plastics Engineers honored three building product manufacturers at its annual conference, held November 7–10 in Dearborn, Michigan. Evergreen Nylon Recycling, a joint venture of Honeywell International, Inc. and DSM Chemicals North America (see

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Vol. 8, No. 9) was declared “Recycler of the Year” in the Recycling Category. Evergreen processes post-consumer nylon 6 from used carpets into caprolactam, which is used to make new nylon 6. In the Recycled Content Category the “Recycler of the Year” award went to Trex Company Inc., maker of wood-plastic composite decking materials (see

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Vol. 4, No. 6). Trex recycled over 200 million pounds (90 million kg) of plastic in 2000, over 75% of which is post-consumer material. In the same program, Milliken & Company received a Recognition Award for its Earth Square program, in which old carpet is renewed for reuse (see

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Vol. 7, No. 8), and for reductions in manufacturing waste.