| April 5, 2002
News Release Plastic lumber boasts an impressive list of benefits. Recent developments in the building supply industry are beginning to place an even greater significance on the fact that plastic lumber is free of toxic substances. In February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the building industry would voluntarily stop producing and using arsenic-treated wood by the end of 2003, arsenic is a known human carcinogen. The action affects all wood treated with chromated copper arsenate commonly used to build decks, picnic tables, fencing, patios and raised garden beds. The phase-out will have a dramatic effect on the $4 billion a year pressure-treated-wood industry. A local company, Recycled Plastics Marketing Incorporated (RPM) in Redmond, Wash. - a member of King County's LinkUp Program - will help to fill the industry's gap. Plastic lumber is an important market for plastic containers collected from area curbside recycling programs. Support for manufacturers that use recycled materials in the products they make is the crux of King County's LinkUp program, established in 2000 to create markets for priority recycled materials. LinkUp, sponsored by the King County Solid Waste Division, provides manufacturers with a variety of technical expertise and promotional services. Currently, RPM and nine other area businesses are participating in the LinkUp program. For more than a decade, RPM has produced garden and outdoor products made from 100 percent recycled post-consumer plastic such as milk jugs and liquid detergent containers. The products are long-lasting, low-maintenance, graffiti-resistant and will not split, fade or chip. RPM's 50,000-square-foot facility, located at the Port of Tacoma, is the only plant in Washington state that manufactures plastic lumber from 100 percent recycled plastic. It is marketed under the trade name of DuraBordä . The RPM facility also acts as a collection and resale site for scrap plastics sold around the globe. One of RPM's best-selling products is its raised bed garden kit. The garden bed frame is non-toxic, maintenance-free and environmentally-friendly. The raised design offers gardeners a number of additional benefits including:
RPM also makes an easily assembled compost bin from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic, 50 percent of which is collected locally. The bins' circular design has an interchangeable top and bottom lid made from recycled car battery polypropylene, while the exterior walls are made from recycled milk jugs. The bins will be available May 4 and May 11 at the Great Backyard Compost Bin Sale, an event sponsored by King County, Seattle Public Utilities and area cities. For more details, call the Natural Lawn and Garden Hotline at (206) 633-0224 or visit www.metrokc.gov/soils. More information on Recycled Plastics Marketing Inc. and its products is available by visiting www.rrpm.com. For more information on the LinkUp program, visit http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/linkup/ or call Erv Sandlin, LinkUp program manager, at (206) 296-0233, Toll-Free (800) 325-6165 Extension 60233 or TTY (800) 833-6388.
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