CHICAGO - Mark Phillabaum, whose Indiana company, Poly-Wood Inc., makes plastic lumber outdoor furniture, is bullish on recycling's future. He travels the lecture circuit - not at recycling conferences, but at grade schools, speaking to the consumers of tomorrow. ``I think it's going to grow. One reason is because of the children that are really learning it in the schools. When I do speeches in schools, the children really have an interest in the products and usage of it,'' Phillabaum said. ``As they grow older, they're very much aware of it.''
Children go home and urge their parents to check out Poly-Wood products.
Poly-Wood of Syracuse, Ind., goes through about 10 million pounds of plastic lumber a year, through its joint venture with lumber maker Eaglebrook Products Inc. of Chicago.
Poly-Wood boasts that one rocking chair uses about 500 high density polyethylene milk bottles. The company exhibited at the International Casual Furniture Market, Sept. 18-22 in Chicago, going head-to-head against classic wood furniture.