As the world in general slows to a crawl right now, there’s no time like the present to
celebrate Earth Day. But the ways a lot of folks like to celebrate this little holiday are, for many, off the table at the moment; no farmer’s markets, no rallies, no community gardening. Beyond planting a few flower seeds around the house and fixing leaky pipes to reduce water waste (or donating to charity, which is always a worthy choice, of course), one of the best things we can be doing right now is to simply reflect on how we’re treating the world around us.
So how is Trim-Tex celebrating Earth Day? By doing what we always do — finding ways we can make our business more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
For instance, Trim-Tex recently partnered with ComEd, Illinois’ most prominent electrical utilities company, to install energy-efficient LED, motion-sensitive lighting throughout our entire plant. We’ve also performed an air leak audit, and replaced a part of our facility’s roof to newer, energy-efficient standards.
But Trim-Tex is proud to be green on many levels of our business beyond these more recent efforts. While being a manufacturer of vinyl materials may not sound like a very environmentally friendly practice at first, there’s a world of difference between our PVC products and something like a plastic water bottle.
First off, a water bottle is designed to be used once and then wind up in a landfill; our vinyl drywall corner beads are designed to last for the entire lifetime of the building it’s installed in, and are built to withstand all kinds of impact and wear-and-tear. They won’t rust like metal corner beads can, either, elongating its lifespan even further as a more sustainable product.
Secondly, we’re actively preventing plastic from ending up in landfills — our vinyl 
beads are made with a minimum of 70 percent post-industrial recycled content, up to 80 percent in most cases. Through this process, we’re saving literal millions of pounds of plastic from being discarded into landfills. Over 99 percent of the PVC material that doesn’t get used the first time around (like in the punch-outs down the mud legs and imperfectly produced products) isn’t wasted, either; it’s recycled back into the manufacturing process to form new, long-lasting product.
Trim-Tex remains proud and committed to being green, especially on an occasion like today’s. This Earth Day, we hope you’ll be able to make a positive impact on the world around you, and maybe even get a little fresh air today (with the proper protective measures, of course!).