Compression molder Innovative Resin Technologies is working with a local recycler to boost development of new recycled-content products.
Walker, Mich.-based IRT, a division of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Davidson Plyforms Inc., molds components for auditorium and arena seating, office chairs, bed frames, school furniture and medical carts. IRT uses 100 percent recycled plastics to make its products.
Until now, the company did in-house blending to make recycled materials. Now it will leave the job to Bata Plastics Inc., a Grand Rapids recycler.
“[Bata's] in-house chemist helps determine which [materials] would be best for our application,” said Joe Jacques, sales manager for IRT and Davidson, both of which are units of furnishings and fixturings giant Leggett & Platt Inc. of Carthage, Mo.
“We never had a real viable outlet for some of our recycled materials,” said Lee Hammond, president and CEO of Bata. “Now we can utilize them 100 percent.”
Bata's materials come to IRT in a variety of forms, but are usually finely chopped or ground. Bata expects to provide IRT with more than 1 million pounds of material per year that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill.
Bata recently was awarded LEED Silver Certification under the LEED-NC version 2.2 certification system. The company was awarded 34 points out of 69 points that are possible under the scoring guidelines.
Bata is located on a manufacturing campus in Grand Rapids formerly run by office furniture maker Steelcase. Bata in 2007 moved into a 121,000-square-foot ex-Steelcase warehouse and has since mated the structure with a newly constructed 2,200-square-foot office building.
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