In a market section not known for innovation , family loss leader FloraCraft has herald a breakthrough raw product that keep open unvoiced - to - recycle plastics from the landfill , enabling it to offer a “ green ” product to crafters and florists . The Northern Michigan manufacturer recently debut FōM with PolyRenew , a craft and floral foam line made with post - consumer recycled charge card . Available at trade and flowered retail merchant everywhere , FōM is the first extruded polystyrene , or XPS , product on the market made with post - consumer charge plate .
Using recycled garment hangers sourced from retailers across the country , FōM contains just about 20 % recycle vinylbenzene . FloraCraft is work to extend the amount of recycled content in FōM , with a goal of being 100 % in the next several years . Mixing recycled with virgin peeled material allows the Company to make the same amount of ware it unremarkably does , but takes out the equivalent of near 1,000 miles of charge plate , or the length between New York and St. Louis , per year .
harmonize to wide consumer examination , FōM is still the lightweight material crafters and florists love , only still and less brickly than the Company ’s legacy foam , score painting and cutting well-off while producing less dust , so cuts can be made with minimal fresh up . Its sturdier excogitation also reduces the hypothesis of the material denting during function and it stay expectant for holding stems in billet .
Innovation“FōM represent the first true design in this category in more than 70 years , ” said CEO Eric Erwin . “ The craft and floral foam manufacture manufacture has never used post - consumer materials to give rise Cartesian product until this point . By tot up PolyRenew to our product process , we ’re taking plastic that would usually end up in a landfill and make it into a mellow - tone foam product – a win for the consumer and the surround .
“ We mind to our consumer , who told us they really want to use products that have been responsibly made . They want to know the foam used in their foxiness and floral projects is created with environmentally conscious material , it does n’t contaminate the water supply supply and is made right here in the United States . We listen : FōM is our first response , but it wo n’t be the last . ”
The new merchandise stock comes after more than a decade of research and development with significant multi - yr capital investment , including the company becoming vertically integrated in 2019 . FloraCraft now designs , engineers and produces its own XPS from its Michigan headquarters , allowing it to maintain not bad control over the quality of its products .
PolystyreneThis ability grant the society to extrude more than 20 million board feet of XPS needed to make its product that crafters , teachers and flower store around the globe love to practice . By get its own XPS in - household , FloraCraft continues to reduce intimately 400,000 air mile of truck traffic each yr from its former supplier to its military headquarters .
“ With FōM , we have find a agency to monetise recycled polystyrene , a charge plate that is n’t traditionally considered a reusable cloth , while farm it all in house , ” read Vice President of Extrusion Phil Gable . “ Most multitude in our manufacture would consider this a magniloquent task because of the difficultness in recycling polystyrene and the resource it takes to become vertically integrate , but our team play indefatigably for class to bear witness it can be done . ”
FloraCraft start using Styrofoam Brand Foam in the backwash of World War II when company laminitis Lee Schoenherr realized it provided a stable theme for dry and painting the branches of leave , ferns and grasses used to create dry floral arrangements . The cloth had been created accidentally during the war in the quest to produce synthetic caoutchouc . Its irrepressibility made it the perfect textile to use in bulkheads to help keep transport ships afloat after being torpedoed .
Polyusable polymerOnce the war ended , this need evaporate – and the United States was left with a nimiety of this foam . Schoenherr buy a truckload of the material to Ludington and experimented . As FloraCraft transitioned its business model to focus on the burgeoning craft market , Schoenherr realized this eccentric of foam was also an idealistic material to fabricate balls , cones , wreaths and other shapes .
After more than 40 years using Styrofoam , Schoenherr challenged his squad to “ chance a proficient way ” to get their craft and flowered foams . The company turned to Texas - based Americas Styrenics , or AmSty , a leading integrate producer of polystyrene and styrene monomer , to germinate the “ recipe ” for the raw XPS intersection . FloraCraft and AmSty locomotive engineer were able-bodied to create a new class of XPS FōM by utilizing AmSty ’s “ polyusable polymer ” called PolyRenew , made from recycled plastic garment hangers from retailers .
“ This is just the source for us as we rethink how we produce our products , ” Erwin said . “ Right now , we ’re making FōM with just about 20 % recycled material . We are hoping this will be a accelerator to arrive at our goal of using 100 % recycled textile in our products as we stay our dedication to environmental sustainability . “ AmSty has been an unbelievable partner as we reimagined what froth count like . They understood our visual sensation of creating a more sustainable ware without sacrificing performance . The end result was even better than we expected – and our customers think so too . ”
FloraCraft is drive by societal responsibleness , dedicate to building a sustainable company that apply best pattern for the environment , people and the residential area it operates in . The producer is attached to tighten its environmental wallop by recycling more than 98 % of its foam manufacture scrap , which is collected and reused in other FloraCraft products or sold to company who utilise recycled material .
For more information : FloraCraftwww.floracraft.com
