Dear Karen Mahlkuch:
I am proud to nominate N.E.W. Plastics Corp. of Luxemburg, WI for the 2008 Business Friend of the Environment Award. As I mentioned during our telephone conversation, I am a business growth consultant who has been working with the Company for two and a half years. Working with the organization on strategic issues, tactical plans, and implementation I have come to know them very well. I have found a well kept secret in Luxemburg, WI. We have a company that was founded in 1968 with the foundational belief that the environment is our most important asset. N.E.W. Plastics Corp. consists of three distinct business units. The two I wish to focus on for this nomination are those located in Luxemburg, their blow molding (N.E.W. Plastics Blow Molding) and plastic lumber (Renew Plastics). While your nomination form calls for environmental projects that show quantum improvement in the last year, my call to you asked the question; Would you consider, from a historical perspective, a company founded on environmental sustainability that has continued at the leading edge of that now popular endeavor for the past 40 years? Based upon your response, I am providing this nomination.
N.E.W. Plastics Corp. Differentiates itself from Competitors for 40 Years Utilizing a Pro-Environment Approach
"At one time, it was fashionable to say that used plastics were ruining the environment...in other words--plastics were a problem. Through research and creative thinking, we were the first company to turn the problem into useful, environmentally safe products that benefit every segment of society."
Irvin Vincent, Founder, 1932-2003
N.E.W. Plastics Corp's blow molding business unit was founded in 1968. Over the first few years of operation, Irvin Vincent focused on establishing an environmentally friendly operation that would reduce plastic waste and its subsequent arrival in a landfill. While his operation of the blow molding unit set operational environmental standards at the highest level seen in the industry he was not content with minimal waste. The Renew Plastics business unit started producing environmentally friendly products in 1973 using the minimal scrap from the blow molding operation as well as other plastic destined for the landfill. Founded by Irvin Vincent in the fall, he successfully produced the industry's first recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE) lumber. After three years of refinement, the decking product was ready for the market. Structures built with this product in 1976 are still going strong and looking good! For the next two decades, N.E.W. Plastics Corp. continued to develop its recycling technology while industry awareness and acceptance of recycled HDPE lumber products grew. RENEW Plastics was established as a separate business unit in 1986, dedicated to alternative decking systems and custom extrusions. Privately held and family-owned for two generations, N.E.W. Plastics Corp. and RENEW Plastics have quietly been leading innovators in plastic recycling technology for approaching four decades.
They developed the industry's first plastic lumber, creating a viable consumer market that could divert plastics from our landfills. In that spirit, they buy office and packaging supplies that contain post-consumer and post-industrial waste and the company is PVC free. RENEW Plastics, a division of N.E.W. Plastics Corp., produces EVOLVE® high density polyethylene (HDPE) lumber and custom extrusions. This material is completely recyclable. It is not a composite and contains no fillers. They accept used and scrapped EVOLVETM, and reconvert it into new, usable products.At N.E.W. Plastics Corp. they believe plastic is too valuable to waste. They started recycling milk bottles back in the 1970's when there were no programs in WI, using a "green chopper" to pre-chop the material, utilizing PCR, Post Industrial HDPE, and off spec material when there was not many outlets for it, continuing to keep a clean, non-composite, totally recyclable product that is PVC free in the marketplace, and doing this all for the 35th year this year. In the 70's there was no re-cycling channel for plastic. The Company was told by experts that plastic could not be recycled. Irvin and his co-founder wife, Nancy, and his sons Vern and Lynie, recruited churches, the Girl Scouts, and the Boy Scouts, developing their own plastic recycling channel in surrounding communities. The Vincent's found that 100 plastic milk jugs produced a 10 foot decking board. This became an excellent way to explain how and why it made sense to recycle plastic. This quiet little company has prevented almost 1.4 billion plastic milk jugs of plastics from entering landfills! Today, for every one plastic bottle that is recycled, three more are thrown away. It's unfortunate because the demand for recycled plastic is higher than ever. N.E.W. Plastics Corp. is headquartered in Luxemburg, Wisconsin, nine miles east of Green Bay. The business is housed in a modern manufacturing campus with more than 90,000 square feet of facility space. N.E.W. Plastics Corp. has the capabilities to convert over 25 million pounds of recycled plastic annually. They pride themselves in producing environmentally friendly products and practicing from a sustainable business perspective. This company was "Green" before "Green" existed.
Please consider N.E.W. Plastics Corp. for your award as they have been an environmental quantum leap organization for almost 40 years. I will provide specific contact information with the second generation family leadership at your request.
I have attached logo files with this electronic submission as well as a PDF copy of their corporate brochure. You can review their environmental efforts in greater detail and link to both websites at: www.environmentfirst.info/. There is a wealth of pictures available, particularly at: www.renewplastics.com. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Michael Van de Kamp
Principal, Van de Kamp Consulting
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