“(Plastic)
could be a part of building products in Jamaica that we can manufacture. One of
the possibilities of that is a thing called plastic lumber”
Richard Phillips, an
employee of Tru North Deck, commenting on the idea of recycling Plastic to make
construction material
Jamaica
needs to have an end-of-life solution for Plastic of all forms in Jamaica and
not just Plastic Bottles.
Canada-based
Tru North Deck may have just the thing with their product Plastic Lumber as
reported in the article “Plastic
Lumber Touted As New Way Forward For Construction In Jamaica”, Published
Thursday September 1, 2016 by Jason Cross, The Jamaica Gleaner.
So says Richard Phillips, an employee of the company that converts any plastic, be it plastic bottles and plastic bags into construction material. Plastic lumber is plastic extruded to have the appearance of lumber and is often made from freshly produced PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) Plastic.
If
it's made from recycled plastic, it's called RPL (Recycled Plastic Lumber).
Made of 100% plastic it also differs from wood-plastic composite lumber and is
often used for the following applications:
1.
Outdoor decking
2.
Molding and Trim
3.
Garden furniture
4.
Construction lumber
It's
also used to make other construction material products traditionally made from
wood, such as awnings and umbrellas. More interestingly it easier to colour and
treat, albeit cutting plastic lumber take some skill, as a traditional saw will
not work.
So
could this be a good fit for Jamaica given our Plastic Pollution Problem?
Tru North Deck and
Plastic Lumber – VAP from Recycled Plastic clogging our Drains
This
plastic lumber would be a perfect end-of-life solution for Plastic currently
being burned in the Riverton City Dump as Richard Phillips points out, quote: “What
I see as part of the solution is the appointment of someone who would come and
give a fair and balanced approach, so the persons on the dump, the 2,000 people
on the dump, will get a fair and equitable amount of money and the product is
reused in Jamaica. Right now it's wasted”.
Tru
North Deck holds the right to the process, which basically sees plastic
masticated into a powder and then re-molded into construction material as
hinted in by Richard Phillips, quote: “I work with a company that has
proprietary rights to a formulation that integrates all kinds of plastic into
lumber. They have a 500,000 square ft factory; they are the leading company in
Canada (that) manufactures plastic lumber. They process annually about 125
million lbs of plastic recycling per year (and) are willing to help set up a
company here in Jamaica”.
Given
the amount of Plastic and Styrofoam Jamaica produces and recent call for a Ban
on Styrofoam, which Wisynco plans to comply with as noted in my blog article
entitled “Why
Wisynco making coloured Biodegradable Styrofoam heralds Beeswax Cardboard
Packaging”, this could potentially become a lucrative export product.
After
all, Plastic doesn’t biodegrade and can be thickened to make very durable ants
and insect resistant building material. It would also reduce the use of trees
in construction and could potentially reduce illegal logging in Jamaica that
the Forestry Department has to deal with as I'd pointed out in my blog article
entitled “Why
Jamaica Forestry Department's Forest Act needs updating with bigger fines and
Drones”.
Not
all Jamaica needs to do is collect plastic by giving Jamaicans JA$100 as I'd
proposed in my blog
article entitled “How
JA$100 for recycling 500ml Plastic bottles and Styrofoam Ban will save
Jamaica's Environment”, as this is an example of a VAS (Value Added
Product) that can be made from recycled plastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment