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The holiday season is not always the best time to be spreading the word about “saving the trees”, but the other 364 days of the year, it is a selling point that most of us consider when purchasing products for our home, business or family.  With that in mind, allow us to expand on a great alternative to wood in many applications…Recycled HDPE Plastic Lumber!

Recycled plastic lumber products have begun to be used more and more each year in a variety of applications and industries, ranging from park and recreation, playgrounds, marine, industrial and agriculture. Bedford Technology supplies plastic lumber products to many boardwalks, playgrounds, marine fender and bridge protection systems, industrial cribbing and matting companies and many more all across the United States and internationally. Our key brands include: SELECTFORCE®, FIBERFORCE®, BARFORCE®, SEAPILE® AND SEATIMBER®. Each of these brands supply varying capabilities and unique properties that are useful to all of these industries as well as others. The question then becomes, Why Not Plastic Lumber? If you are using wood in a non-structural application, then why not try plastic lumber?

Let’s get back to why this might be a “Gift” that keeps on giving… Here are some things to consider when thinking about using recycled plastic lumber products…one pound of our plastic lumber equates to 8 milk jugs! As milk jugs are a primary source of HDPE used in our products, in each foot of a 2”X6” board there is 3.2 pounds of recycled material, which means roughly 307 milk jugs are diverted from a landfill and used to manufacture a 2”X6”X12’ board. That becomes a large number when you start adding up all of the milk jugs, laundry detergent containers, shampoo bottles and other HDPE bottles and containers that are recycled to become useful plastic lumber products. All of Bedford Technology products specify that they are durable, made by a resource efficient manufacturing process, have an identifiable recycled content, are recyclable themselves, and have low to no negative impact on environmental quality making them a “Green” product…keeping plastic out of landfills and saving the trees, at the same time! Sounds like a win-win for everyone!

Bedford Technology’s SELECTFORCE®, FIBERFORCE® and BARFORCE® Hard Tool and Continuous Extrusion products have a textured surface finish and come in a variety of colors. The Hard Tool lumber is more useful in commercial playground equipment, park and recreation applications, signage, boardwalks, decks, piers, parking curbs, landscaping boards, cribbage, swamp mats and any harsh weather environment application. The Continuous Extrusion lumber is more suited for use in the outdoor furniture market. Items such as Adirondack chairs, patio furniture, tables, stands and shelving to name a few are made with our high-quality CE plastic lumber. Bedford Technology plastic lumber looks great and is long lasting and resistant to: rotting, splintering, water damage, termites (pests), etc.  Bedford Technology’s plastic lumber also doesn’t require painting and is very low maintenance (compared with traditional wood) and is a high quality, carpenter friendly product that can be drilled, sawn, cut, routed and worked just as wood lumber.

Bedford Technology’s recycled HDPE plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, including custom molded products (ie: pipe supports, bench frame shapes, lids). Contact us today at (800)721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnology or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

This blog will cover Hard Tool (molded) recycled plastic lumber products and applications in the BARFORCE® brand.

BARFORCE® Hard Tool recycled plastic lumber is an ultra-strong, durable product utilizing fiberglass strands in the plastic makeup, which encapsulate fiberglass reinforced rods to increase rigidity. This added rigidity creates characteristics suited for many structural applications where a wider span, dimensional stability, increased strength or stiffness is required. BARFORCE® Hard Tool HDPE plastic lumber is formed in molds in various traditional lumber profile sizes. (See our Hard Tool (Molded) process for more details on the actual process) This product is a coarse, rigid and rough textured material in appearance and feel. This makes it great for projects requiring particular lumber profile sizing and added strength characteristics over traditional Continuous Extruded products.

Our BARFORCE® Hard Tool product is a continuous single piece that has a foamed center end-cut appearance, textured surface finish and comes in standard marine colors (yellow and black – with custom colors available) making it most useful in commercial marine applications. Other examples where BARFORCE® has been used are: retaining walls, pedestrian bridges, guide walls, marine fenders, Wales and piles and many other applications. BARFORCE® Hard Tool Plastic Lumber looks great, is long lasting and resistant to: rotting, splintering, water damage, termites (pests), etc.  BARFORCE® plastic lumber also doesn’t require painting and is very low maintenance (compared with traditional wood.)  BARFORCE® Hard Tool product is a high quality, carpenter friendly product that can be drilled, sawn, cut, routed and worked just as wood lumber. If the job requires the label “Heavy Duty”, then Bedford Technology recommends BARFORCE® for your application.

Bedford Technology’s BARFORCE® recycled HDPE plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, including custom molded products (ie: pipe supports, bench frame shapes, lids). Contact us today at (800)721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.bedfordtech.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnologyor follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

Continuing this series of blogs focusing on Bedford Technology products and applications in the FIBERFORCE® brand, this blog will cover Hard Tool (molded) recycled plastic lumber products.

FIBERFORCE® Hard Tool recycled plastic lumber is a strong, durable product utilizing fiberglass strands to increase rigidity. This added rigidity creates characteristics suited for many structural applications where a wider span, dimensional stability, increased strength or stiffness is required. FIBERFORCE® Hard Tool HDPE plastic lumber is formed in molds in various traditional lumber profile sizes. (See our Hard Tool (Molded) process for more details on the actual process) This product is a coarse, rigid and rough textured material in appearance and feel. This makes it great for projects requiring particular lumber profile sizing and added strength characteristics over traditional Continuous Extruded product.

Our FIBERFORCE® Hard Tool product also has a foamed core end-cut appearance, textured surface finish and comes in variety of colors, making it more useful in commercial playground equipment, park and recreation applications, signage, boardwalks, decks, piers, parking curbs, landscaping boards, cribbage, swamp mats and any harsh weather environment application. FIBERFORCE® Hard Tool Plastic Lumber looks great and is long lasting and resistant to: rotting, splintering, water damage, termites (pests), etc.  FIBERFORCE® plastic lumber also doesn’t require painting and is very low maintenance (compared with traditional wood.)  FIBERFORCE® Hard Tool product is a high quality, carpenter friendly product that can be drilled, sawn, cut, routed and worked just as wood lumber.

Bedford Technology’s FIBERFORCE® recycled HDPE plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, including custom molded products (ie: pipe supports, bench frame shapes, lids). Contact us today at (800)721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.bedfordtech.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnologyor follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

Continuing this series of blogs focusing on Bedford Technology products and applications in the SELECTFORCE® brand, this blog will cover Hard Tool (molded) recycled plastic lumber products.

SELECTFORCE® Hard Tool recycled plastic lumber is a strong, durable product formed in molds in various traditional lumber profile sizes. (See our Hard Tool (Molded) process for more details on the actual process) This product is a coarse, rigid and rough textured material in appearance and feel. This makes it great for projects requiring particular lumber profile sizing and added strength characteristics over traditional Continuous Extruded product.

Our SELECTFORCE® Hard Tool product also has a foamed core end-cut appearance, textured surface finish and comes in variety of colors, making it more useful in commercial playground equipment, park and recreation applications, signage, boardwalks, decks, piers, parking curbs, landscaping boards, cribbage, swamp mats and any harsh weather environment application. SELECTFORCE® Hard Tool Plastic Lumber looks great and is long lasting and resistant to: rotting, splintering, water damage, termites (pests), etc.  SELECTFORCE® plastic lumber also doesn’t require painting and is very low maintenance (compared with traditional wood.)  SELECTFORCE® Hard Tool product is a high quality, carpenter friendly product that can be drilled, sawn, cut, routed and worked just as wood lumber.

Bedford Technology’s SELECTFORCE® recycled HDPE plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, including custom molded products (ie: pipe supports, bench frame shapes, lids). Contact us today at (800)-721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnologyor follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

The Adopt A Stream Foundation (AASF) was established as a private non-profit 501(C)(3) corporation in  August 1985.  Its adopted mission is “to teach people how to become stewards of their watersheds.”

The Elevated Nature Trail is located in Everett, WA on a beautiful 20-acre site leased from Snohomish County Parks and Recreation in McCollum Park.  Two salmon streams flow on the grounds that are covered with complex wetland systems and pockets of upland old second growth forest.

Snohomish County Parks and Recreation (Parks) and AASF established a partnership in 1992.  Parks offered AASF a long term lease on 20-acres of McCollum Park to develop a regional environmental learning facility.  The result of that partnership is the NW Stream Center. Part of the education process of the NW Stream Center is to expose visitors to native vegetation and wildlife.  A proposed ¾ mile elevated boardwalk was envisioned and designed through the wetlands of the Center.

After much consideration and research on what material to use in the construction of the boardwalk, the board of directors of AASF selected FIBERFORCE® recycled plastic lumber manufactured by Bedford Technology.  This product was selected due to its past use in boardwalk construction, minimal impact to the environment, recycled plastic content, and its strength, durability and minimal maintenance requirements.

Bedford Technology’s plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, flow molding, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a custom plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, so contact us today at (800) 721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnologyor follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

Bedford Technology has been featured in the 2014 – Quarter Two (Volume 11, No. 4) issue of PDCA’s PileDriver Magazine, the official publication of the Pile Driving Contractors Association.  As a participating member of the Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA), Bedford Technology was given the opportunity to provide more details and information about the plastic lumber industry and the origins of our company. The article was written by Lisa Kopochinski, who conducted interviews and gathered information and photos with the help of Bedford Technology.

Some of the many applications where Bedford Technology’s products have been used in the pile driving industry include dock and pier fender systems, bridge pier fender systems, camels, backing beams/wharf logs, navigation aids and markers, guide walls, retaining walls, locks, pedestrian bridges, wales, dolphins, clusters and piles. These end-products are manufactured using our multiple stage extrusion process, also known as Multi-X. It is used for large cross-sectional, long-length products like SeaPiles and SeaTimbers, for the marine marketplace.

The article can be read by following this link to a PDF version

Bedford Technology is a plastic lumber manufacturer in Worthington, Minnesota. Bedford Technology’s plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional wood profiles, wood piles, concrete piles, steel piles and hollow piles (fiberglass). Bedford Technology can also design a custom plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, so contact us today at (800) 721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnologyor follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

This next series of blogs will focus on products and applications for each of our three unique processes.  We will start this series out with Bedford Technology’s Selectforce continuous extrusion recycled plastic lumber product.

SelectForce continuous plastic extrusion product allows flexibility in shapes and long lengths with a smooth surface appearance and feel. This makes it great for projects requiring various lengths and unique profiles. Our SelectForce continuous plastic extrusion product also has a consistent end-cut appearance, smooth surface finish and comes in a variety of colors, making it highly useful in the outdoor furniture market. Items such as Adirondack chairs, patio furniture, tables, stands and shelving to name a few, look great and are long lasting and resistant to: rotting, splintering, water damage, termites (pests), etc. SelectForce plastic lumber doesn’t require painting, is very low maintenance, and can be color matched for your specific project needs.

Other areas where a SelectForce recycled HDPE plastic lumber product are utilized include: boardwalks, parks and recreation applications, playground equipment, signage as well as many others. SelectForce continuous extrusion product is a high quality, carpenter friendly product that can be drilled, sawn, cut, routed and worked just as wood lumber.

Bedford Technology’s SelectForce recycled HDPE plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a custom plastic lumber product to suit your specific application. Contact us today at (800)-721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnology or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

Once again, Bedford Technology is proud to offer three uniquely distinct plastic board manufacturing techniques: Molded (Hard Tool), Continuous Extrusion (CE) and Multi Stage Extrusion (Multi-X). Our final process explored in this series of blog postings, is referred to by Bedford Technology as Multiple Stage Extrusion (Multi-X) plastic lumber manufacturing. This process is used to produce 100% recycled plastic boards in our SeaPile®, SeaTimber® and SeaCamel® marine product lines.

The Multiple Stage Extrusion, also known as co-extrusion (or Multi-X) process, involves two or more extruder machines, each producing one extrudate material. The multiple materials are channeled through a single die. This usually produces a skin of material on the product surface, which is different from the material at the core of the final product.

Multiple Stage Extrusion recycled HDPE plastic lumber is utilized for large cross sections, at long lengths (up to 100’ or more) to be used in a structural application. This would include, but is not limited only to, many marine applications such as: fender piles and systems, structural piles, bridge protection, guide walls and locks, corner fenders, dolphins, navigational markers, wales and bullrails.

Bedford Technology’s plastic lumber serves as a replacement to traditional wood profiles, wood piles, concrete piles, steel piles and hollow piles (fiberglass). Bedford Technology can also design a custom plastic lumber product to suit your specific application, so contact us today at (800) 721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnology or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.

Bedford Technology has been featured in the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of “Connect”, the Minnesota Southwest Initiative Foundation’s (SWIF) newsletter.  As a former loan client of SWIF, Bedford Technology was given the opportunity to provide more details and information about the plastic lumber industry and the origins of the company.

The Connect newsletter is sent to about 14,000 people twice per year in the Southwest Minnesota area.  This newsletter highlights a range of products and regional connections as a way to let people know what SWIF can offer, and to show our donors and partners the impact of their support, mentions Karen Grasmon, Communications Director for Southwest Initiative Foundation. To find out more about SWIF their website is www.swifoundation.org

Bedford Technology is a plastic lumber manufacturer in Worthington, Minnesota. The plastic lumber Bedford Technology produces serves as a replacement to traditional parts made from injection molding, rotational molding, vacuum forming, aluminum extrusion, flow molding, lumber profiles and wood profiles. Bedford Technology can also design a custom plastic lumber product to suit your specific application. Contact us today at (800) 721-9037 and talk with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives. Visit us online at www.plasticboards.com, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bedfordtechnology or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticboards.