Kickstart: Another staycation summer means another boom year for composite decks

It looks like the staycation economy is continuing for a second summer of the pandemic.

That's good news for companies making items for home improvement projects such as Trex Co. Inc., the maker of composite decking from recycled plastic and wood fiber. The Virginia-based company is bringing an expansion into operation 30 days ahead of schedule as it works to meet rising demand.

"We are running all of the assets we have and getting every single linear foot of decking and railing out to the marketplace," CEO Bryan Fairbanks said during a quarterly sales call with analysts.

Its sales were up 23 percent vs. the same quarter in 2020, and it anticipates a boost of 36 percent for the next quarter. Even better for the overall growth of composite decks, the rising price of lumber is making the plastic and wood fiber decks more cost competitive. Even a small gain over lumber decking makes a big difference.

"Our analysis indicates that a 1 percentage point market share gain from [wood] would translate to over $15 million of annual sales," Fairbanks said.

There's been a lot of talk about how to encourage people to get vaccinated. Many colleges and universities say they will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for students to attend in-person classes in the fall. In Michigan, reopening plans for in-person attendance at professional sports, movie theaters and restaurants are based on the percentage of vaccinated adults.

But in Ohio, leaders are going with plain old cash incentives.

On May 12, Gov. Mike DeWine said the state will hold a weekly drawing to give $1 million to an adult who has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Drawings will begin May 26, running for five consecutive weeks, our sister paper Crain's Cleveland Business reports.

In addition, the state will randomly choose one 12- to 17-year-old Ohio resident each week to receive a full four-year scholarship to any Ohio public university during that same time period.

Is it too late to move to Ohio for my shots?

Everyone has been sanitizing a lot more than they used to since the start of COVID-19, with spray bottles of disinfectant in offices, retail stores and manufacturing floors.

So making a disinfectant that can clean surfaces such as touchscreens and handles on injection molding machines seems like a logical step for companies, and a boost for products aimed at manufacturing during a pandemic.

Austrian machinery maker Engel is promoting a rapid surface disinfectant for its machines that is effective against coronaviruses (including the one that causes COVID-19) and also approved for Engel machines. It's currently sold in Europe.

A cleaning spray may not be the typical piece of auxiliary equipment, but during a pandemic, it certainly makes sense.