HydroBlox, Goodwill form JV to recycle plastic, make drainage products

Warrendale, Pa.-based HydroBlox Technologies Inc. will open a third manufacturing plant for its stormwater drainage products, which are made from all-recycled material in a unique process with machines built in-house.

The new facility will be constructed in Muskegon, Mich., where HydroBlox officials are partnering with Goodwill Industries of West Michigan to divert the nonprofit group's unusable plastic donations from landfills. Goodwill's low-grade, mixed-color, commingled plastic will be turned into regrind and then resource-saving construction products for industrial, commercial and residential uses.

Founded in 2008, HydroBlox Technologies manufactures porous planks that are trenched to filter and direct the flow of stormwater for road projects, trails, retaining walls, hydroponic farms, solar fields and green roofs.

The company's main plant, a 126,000-square-foot facility, is in Meadville, Pa. The original factory in Conneaut Lake, Pa., now manufactures a product called HydroNoodles.

HydroNoodles are sold for agricultural uses, while HydroBlox planks act like underground roof gutters and divert the water back to the aquifer or a routed destination such as a gravel pit or retention box, according to HydroBlox Technologies founder Ed Grieser.

The products have solved drainage problems for California-based SolarCity, CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads, Shell, Sunoco and Spectra Energy.

Although HydroBlox Technologies takes on big projects, it hasn't had to buy material for four years thanks to relationships with companies and communities looking to avoid landfills. The company takes in about 270,000 pounds of recyclables every week.

Corporate customers send post-industrial scrap to HydroBlox Technologies' plant in Meadville. In some cases, they pay a size-reduction fee to turn the waste into regrind that is processed into the plastic planks.

The relationship helps customers meet sustainability goals with HydroBlox's "zero landfill conversion technology," as Grieser calls it.

At the Meadville plant, the regrind is manufactured into HydroBlox products in a process that doesn't use glue, heat, binders or any hazardous materials, nor does it generate exhaust fumes or waste water.

"It's not extruded or injected or blow molded. None of those processes would work because you have all these different types of plastic with all these melt ranges," Grieser said. "We use a process I developed that's pretty neat. We don't even have floor drains in our building. Unfortunately it's our IP [intellectual property] and I can't say more."

When it comes to plant visits, he jokes about first leaving a kidney at the door.

"We've been successful only because of heightened protection of our trade secrets," Grieser said. "Because of that, we don't do Brownie tours, and I've told you as much as I can about how we make it."

The processing machine he developed internally — down to the controls — is referred to as BAM, which is an acronym for "big-ass machine." With the BAMs producing the planks from the comingled waste stream, HydroBlox Technologies can offer drainage systems with a price advantage.

"We've had other companies make something that looks like our HydroBlox, but they can't compete with us," Grieser said. "If you have to buy the plastic, it would be very difficult."

HydroBlox Technologies passes along price breaks when it can.

"In direct contrast to everything else on planet Earth right now, this year we've lowered our prices twice," Grieser said. "As we do that, the value proposition of the end product goes up."

The core of HydroBlox planks looks like a maze of zigging and zagging tunnels, or as Grieser puts it, redundant pathways for water.

A company video shows water quickly disappearing into the labyrinth of crevices, which increase drainage capacity.

"This is why we're having this conversation," Grieser said, pointing to a website video. "See how fast the water goes away when it hits the board. This moves water below grade faster than sand can [percolate] water to it, so we're extremely popular with the departments of transportation."

HydroBlox products also drain stormwater at amusement parks, railroad yards, professional sports complexes and along the Appalachian trail — almost anywhere there's a need for water to go away very quickly.

Grieser describes a bioswale project in San Francisco as a giant swimming pool of HydroBlox.

"The water runs in, stays in the bioswale until the surrounding soil can accept it and then it goes back down into the aquifer instead of running into the street, sewers or ocean, where we don't need it," Grieser said.

Another big installation was used at a SolarCity facility in Maryland.

"The solar panels are like a roof that doesn't have a gutter," Grieser said. "When the water sheets off that it washes everything out, runs down the road and takes soil with it."

With the installation of HydroBlox, the water sheets off, hits the porous planks and makes its way to a designated drainage area.

"Because this works so much better, Maryland allowed SolarCity to move the solar arrays closer so they could get more energy out of the same site," Grieser said. "And they reduced the maintenance requirement from one person five days a week to one person once a month. It was win-win-win."

The recycling side of HydroBlox Technologies provides landfill alternatives for a growing list of thermoplastics and businesses, including Winnipeg, Manitoba-based packaging manufacturer Winpak Ltd.

"Whether it's coming from Winpak in Canada on down, these companies are all very anxious to work with us," Grieser said. "We haven't bought material in four years."

While the planks are produced largely from polyethylene, polypropylene and some polystyrene, problem plastics also are being mingled in more, including hard-to-recycle items like chip bags, candy wrappers and pet food bags. These items come through Reynolds Consumer Products' Hefty EnergyBag program, which provides community collection grants for challenging plastics.

Grieser said plastic film is the bane of the recycling industry.

"This multilayered feedstock causes problems everywhere," Grieser said, pointing to packaging like foil-lined PP. "We handle this better than anyone else. Chemical recycling cannot handle this type of plastic."

Although the name of the Hefty program mentions a film bag brand, it also accepts foam carryout containers, plastic cutlery and frozen fruit bags.

"We're able to take it in, and it works fantastic for us," Grieser said.

PP with nylon is a recent addition, too, and PE with fibers is being studied along with polyurethane used to produce mattresses.

"Everything that comes through our door, if it's not for us, it's for the landfill," Grieser said.

The two exceptions are PET and PVC. Because of the high value of PET, it's sold and the money is donated to the American Cancer Society. PVC isn't accepted out of an abundance of caution due to the high chlorine content.

HydroBlox products passed aggressive ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, leachate tests performed by Indiana, Pa.-based Environmental Service Laboratories Inc. in December 2021. The tests involved agitating products for 18 hours, soaking them for 96 hours and then checking for dozens of volatile organic compounds, Grieser said.

"And we were undetectable at every single one. We take [stormwater] in and we don't do any harm," he said.

The company doesn't process any plastic that has hydrocarbon exposure, Grieser said.

"The reason we are 99 percent certain that we don't have any slipping in is because the boards wouldn't pass our quality assurance testing," he added.

The core of HydroBlox planks feature the redundant pathways for water that the company calls HydroNoodles in its loose form.

Loose noodles can replace soil and be used in hydroponics applications for green roofs and medical marijuana operations.

"Plants go from seed to harvest in eight weeks," Grieser said.

One farmer bought gaylords of HydroNoodles to cultivate some acres on a hilltop where even weeds wouldn't grow, Grieser said.

"It fractured the soil and allowed for the microbial growth needed," he added, likening the product to perlite.

Another new application related to septic systems also is in development.

In the meantime, the third facility set for Muskegon is in the planning stages. A site is being selected and equipment is being built.

Goodwill Industries will provide plastics recycling and manufacturing through a joint venture with HydroBlox Technologies expected to create 20 jobs.

"In keeping with Goodwill's focus on sustainability and the triple-bottom line, we are excited to launch a new business line that diverts landfill-bound plastic, while also providing good-paying jobs," Jeanette Hoyer, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of West Michigan, said in a news release.

HydroBlox checks all the boxes in terms of evaluating a new startup, GIWM Business Development Director Nick Carlson added.

"Recycling unwanted plastic into useful, environmentally friendly stormwater products will reduce Goodwill landfill fees, provide good jobs, while generating revenue to support Goodwill employment and training programs," Carlson said.

The recyclable plastics will come from Goodwill sites in the area and other sources.

"Goodwill generates a phenomenal amount of plastic. There's no way it will be sold and there's no other outlet for it," Grieser said. "They get dumped on pretty hard."

In addition to diverting waste from landfills, Goodwill gets to add employees. Grieser said HydroBlox Technologies' jobs typically pay about $5 an hour over the prevailing wage in the area.

"It fits Goodwill's mission to give people opportunities for work. Everything really came together," he said.