US rail car maker TrinityRail joins Cyclyx

Railcar supplier Trinity Industries Inc.'s TrinityRail division has become the newest company to join recycling consortium Cyclyx.

The Texas-based railcar manufacturer and management group is the first company of its kind to join the consortium. With over 140,000 leased and managers railcars in its fleet, TrinityRail will allow Cyclyx to access and transport waste plastic across the United States, Canada, and Mexico more sustainably.

“Moving goods by rail reduces greenhouse gas emissions and increases fuel efficiency compared to trucks,” noted Ron Sherga, vice president, membership engagement of Cyclyx.

TrinityRail’s sustainability initatives includes its TrinityRail Sustainable Railcar Conversion (SRC) program, which reuses and repurposes railcar components, while reducing energy consumption and preserving resources. To date, the program has salvaged over 54 million pounds of raw materials.

Cyclyx draws on over 1500 post-use plastic chemical characterizations to assesses each source of waste plastic to understand its chemical profile. It then uses artificial intelligence and big data to sort those profiles into the various mechanical and chemical recycling pathways that the plastics can be used for. Finally, the company aggregates and pre-processes the products according to costumers’ needs. 

The resulting products include recycled polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, PET, polypropylene and polyethylene. Cyclyx processes are ISSC PLUS certified, ensuring their compliance with sustainability and traceability requirements along the supply chain.