Composite Decking and Sustainability: Trex Touts Recycled Content in 2021 ESG Report

Composite decking manufacturer Trex boasts a 95 percent recycled and reclaimed content rate in its products.

The company's 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report highlights its continued efforts to reduce environmental impact and promote circular systems.

“Collectively, our Company achieved significant objectives in 2021,” said Bryan Fairbanks, President and CEO of Trex, in a statement. “As we added capacity and drove record sales, we remained focused on growing the business in a sustainable and socially responsible manner and accelerated our commitment to people and the planet.”

Trex utilizes plastic bags and sawdust scraps in its manufacturing process in its composite decking, using more than 850 million pounds of polyethylene film and reclaimed wood fibers in its products in 2019 and surpassing 900 million pounds in 2020.

The Virginia-based company's 2021 figures indicate that it has upcycled more than 1 billion pounds of recycled waste polyethylene film and reclaimed wood for use in its products. Trex also subtracted Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 33 percent from 2020.

Occupational health and safety efforts were a focus at Trex in 2021 as the company onboarded more than 400 full-time workers. Trex enhanced its safety strategy and bolstered its Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) staff 60 percent from 2020. The company also touted its employee and development program, which provided works with more than 65,000 hours of leadership, safety, onboarding, and professional development training.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives included mandated training across the company's workforce and an effort to recruit and attract women and ethnically-diverse employees.

In the area of governance and ethics, Trex continued to align its business activities with its values including "fostering a culture of integrity." Measures include solidifying ESG oversight and "ingraining" sustainability at the C-suite level.

Support of charitable organizations and volunteer efforts were apparent as the company's community recycling program NexTrex recruited more than 2,500 schools and civic organizations to divert more than 1 million pounds of plastic film from landfills in 2021.

Editor's Note: Learn more about Trex's sustainability efforts in this recent episode of Stef Talks Trash.