Dive Brief:
-
Luxemburg, WI-based N.E.W. Plastics, manufacturers of blow plastics (such as containers and plastic lumber from recycled materials) has acquired St. Paul, MN-based Fulcrum, which makes 100% recycled rigid plastic containers. Through this transaction, N.E.W. will further its capacity in the Midwest.
-
The expansion will bring additional product offerings to the custom blow plastics customers while both facilities will be able to offer view stripping with materials such as PETE, PP, LDPE, ReHDPE, and HDPE.
-
Fulcrum will continue operations at the N.E.W. Family Company called Fulcrum Container, LLC. Fulcrum's 23 staff and upper management will retain their jobs adding to N.E.W.'s 200 employees. Terms of the deal were not announced.
Dive Insight:
As plastics technologies advance, more companies are joining forces to expand portfolios and market reach. They are tapping into increasing demand for resins like HDPE, polypropylene, and LDPE.
The boom in blow plastics and rigid plastics in particular is feeding markets within niches from the automotive industry to container manufacturing. That demand is increasing as these manufacturers look to become more sustainable in their operations, and with evolutions in packaging and other product designs.
Whether processors can deliver the plastics demand depends on stable, healthy resins pricing and MRFs' ability to continue boosting their sorting and processing capabilities. Companies like Trex handle many of the hard-to-recycle plastics to meet and create demand, as the industry looks to boost a collection infrastructure.
