What Does Sustainability Mean for Trim-Tex?

It may sound strange to hear that a vinyl manufacturer cares deeply about sustainability, but at Trim-Tex, it’s the truth. This Earth Day, as folks take stock of their actions and how they affect our environment, we want to encourage everyone in the building materials and construction industries to consider what sustainability means to you. In this article, we’ll share what sustainability means for Trim-Tex.

Check out the video below, where Trim-Tex Vice President of Operations Rich Boun will guide you through our commitment to sustainability in the manufacturing process. There’s all kinds of ways we practice sustainability, but they come down to three main principles: recycled materials, waste reduction and longevity.

Sustainability means recycled materials

Trim-Tex’s drywall finishing accessories are predominantly made from recycled materials. What does that mean? We source the PVC materials we use in our manufacturing process from other manufacturers’ scrap, and rather than winding up in a landfill, they’re reused to create solutions that will actually stand the test of time. In total, this process keeps 17-18 million pounds of PVC out of landfills every year.

“At the core of our business, we are a recycled company — we take recycled materials, and we reuse it,” says Boun. “PVC manufacturers, specifically in the packaging industry, produce a lot of waste and scrap. And we take that waste and scrap and turn it into high-grade, high-quality, long-lasting corner bead.”

Sustainability means waste reduction

As Boun says, many PVC manufacturers tend to create a large amounts of waste. Trim-Tex’s process is engineered from the ground up to ensure we are keeping our own waste as close to zero as possible. Those holes you see on the legs of most of our corner beads? The vinyl scrap “punched out” of those beads are collected and put back into the manufacturing process. Beads we produce that don’t meet our high quality standards? Those “out of tolerance” products are reused as well.

“It would be hypocritical to take 17 million pounds of plastic and turn it into a bunch of waste, right?” Boun told us. “So, we do everything in our power to reuse and utilize all of the PVC. Whether it’s punch-outs or scraps or stuff that’s out of tolerance, it all gets put back into a requalifying inspection. We’ll just re-grind that up and use it so that the user has the right product.”

Sustainability means longevity

In the construction industry, sustainability is also about choosing materials that last. Think of this like choosing a heavy-duty, Nalgene-style water bottle designed to last you years, instead of a one-time-use disposable water bottle you’d get at a convenience store. Committing to sustainability means thinking about the long term. Unlike corner beads that you’ll just need to throw out the moment they’re damaged, Trim-Tex’s drywall accessories are unbeatably durable, rust-proof and flexible — you’re getting an interior finish that will go the distance, even in the face of wear-and-tear and structural movement.

“In the building material construction industry, you want products that last,” Boun says. “Buildings last 50, 100 years. The last thing you want is an installer or an end user to install something, and it just doesn’t work: it breaks, it cracks — buildings move, you know, everything moves and shifts. So the nice thing about working with a PVC corner bead or PVC material is that it’s flexible, and it moves, but it lasts!”

Whether or not you use Trim-Tex, we hope this Earth Day, you’ll take some time to think about ways you can commit to sustainability in your own business. Choosing recycled materials, reducing our waste and considering the longevity of each product we create are just three of the many ways Trim-Tex aims to pay it forward this Earth Day — and every other day of the year!