X

Garbage turned into backyard fencing by FiberTech

Rollo, they are taking old plastic and turning it into backyard equipment.

Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Michael Kanellos is editor at large at CNET News.com, where he covers hardware, research and development, start-ups and the tech industry overseas.
Michael Kanellos

DAVIS, Calif.--It's like the Sanford and Son of green tech companies.

FiberTech Polymers takes old corrugated cardboard, plastic and other materials that don't make it to the recycler and turns it all into outdoor fencing, CEO Steven Mortensen told the audience at the GoingGreen conference taking place here this week. You can make other stuff out of it, too.

"We take this rejected material and turn it into a product," he said. "Our products will not rot, splinter or fade to gray...That's why you don't want it in landfills."

The company is actually a net consumer of waste, he added: it takes in more waste than it generates. Getting materials is not a problem--only 32 percent of waste is actually recycled, he said. It calls the process ThreeCycling. There are other garbage-to-plastic companies out there, as well as garbage-to-cement companies. Others are making plastic out of cornstarch rather than oil. $73 billion fencing gets sold on the wholesale level a year, he added.

I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth.