Environmentally Safe with TerraCast Products

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Nov 30, 2018

All TerraCast® Products are made from a Linear Low Density Polyethylene, or LLDPE, which is a member of the plastic family. From the materials we use, to our manufacturing process and corporate practices, we believe in an environmentally conscious solution.

Material

Our LLDPE is very pliable and isometric. It is formulated and designed to withstand living outside in the elements and weather for many years, without deteriorating or corroding.

Other types of plastics can’t compare. For example, a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) is another type of plastic used for injection type molding. HDPE becomes brittle after months outside in the sun and the elements. It’s not possible to add UV inhibitors to high-density polyethylene, so it doesn’t have anywhere near the longevity and durability that our LLDPE resin products offer.

We blend a UV inhibitor into the resin during the original coloring process, which protects our products from sun damage so the color stays vibrant, true and beautiful for years.

Process

LLDPE comes to us in the form of little pellets, about the size of a grain of rice, which go into a pulverizing machine where they become a fine powder. That powder is taken into a color blend machine where we add pigments and dyes.

After the color is blended, the resin is weighed into a predetermined amount, which is poured into a clamshell mold. The mold is sealed shut and placed into an oven to cook. As the mold is rotated on two axis, the powder melts and liquefies. It cakes onto the mold from the outside in, and builds into itself, inside of the mold of the planter, light pole, or whatever is being molded.

Our ovens are powered by natural gas heat and the cooling chambers use reclaimed water. Not only is our resin recyclable material made from up to 100% recycled material, but our processes and practices are also environmentally conscious and sustainable.

Go the Distance

Using environmentally friendly resin greatly enhances the beauty, durability and longevity of any project. Whether it’s the creation of a new project or structure, or renovation or redevelopment of a site, Resin saves money, time, and the environment.

TerraCast® products leave a smaller carbon footprint, because our process has less of an impact on the environment, from manufacture to delivery.

Green Building

TerraCast® understands the US Green Building Council’s Green Building Initiative, and certified for the Leadership in the Energy & Environmental Design Program. If you or your organization is looking to get LEED points and credits for your project, you need look no further than TerraCast®.

If the delivery site is within 500 miles of one of our shipping points (we have one in Tennessee, and one in California) then those items qualify for MR5 credits.

Recycled

Resin is made from up to 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Materials. No trees are cut down, no stone is quarried, and no metal is mined to make our resin.

We say that our black is green, because our black actually is 100% green.

Your old canoes, kayaks, trash cans, and other items can all get a second chance at life as a TerraCast® Planter or PolySteel™ light pole. The Low Density Polyethylene is reground, re-stabilized, re-powdered and reincarnated into a new product like a planter or a light pole. .

Recyclable

Our Resin products are recyclable. Any one of our finished pieces, when it reaches the end of its life, should go in the recycle bin.

The products we make should never end up in a landfill. When a TerraCast® product has fulfilled its destiny and reached the end of its economic life, it can find an afterlife as another product through our manufacturing process.

From the recycle bin, it returns to the factory, joins its formula brothers to go back to the mold, and becomes a new item.

We are a truly “green” company from our practices, to our process, to our products, TerraCast® is aware and conscious of the impact that we can make on the environment and the world with every choice we make.

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