A Canadian company is building a new standard for sustainability by recycling the bulk of municipal plastic waste into lumber. Roughly 80% of the plastic recyclables collected throughout Halifax, Nova Scotia are now being processed by Goodwood Plastic Products Ltd so they can be turned into building blocks.
The plastic lumber can be drilled, nailed, glued, and handled the same way as wooden lumber鈥攂ut without any of the same deterioration. The other 20% of municipal plastics are reportedly being sent to other Canadian recycling markets, but Halifax Solid Waste Division Manager Andrew Philopoulos says that provincial legislators are particularly grateful for Goodwood鈥檚 initiative.
鈥淲e are very, very fortunate here in Nova Scotia to have that local company taking the material,鈥� he told CBC鈥檚 Information Morning. 鈥淲ithout them, I think we would find it challenging to find a market for a lot of the plastic packaging that we are collecting.鈥�
Goodwood also made a name for themselves in December when they partnered with a Sobeys grocery store in order to create one of the nation鈥檚 first parking lots made entirely out of post-consumer plastics saved from local landfills. Although the bulk of Goodwood鈥檚 recycled plastic comes from single-use bags, they also process food jars and other common consumer packaging.