Manufacturing Green Products with Cast Polymer and Solid Surface
While most cast polymer manufacturers are struggling to find orders, Monroe Industries is experiencing a surge of momentum. The secret: Make a product that has environmental benefits and then promote it effectively among specifiers and end users.
At Composites 2010, Bonnie Webster of Monroe Industries will talk about the company’s experience developing and marketing Robal Glass products, which combine recycled post-consumer, pre-landfill glass and bio-based resins. “I’m going to discuss the advantage of bringing in green products to your repertoire, how to market to your architects, designers, and kitchen and bath dealers using current terminology and trends instead of the term of cultured marble,” she says.
For instance, the term “cultured marble,” doesn’t communicate the benefits of environmentally friendly products like Robal Glass. Instead, Webster prefers the term “Engineered Composites.”
Architects concerned about LEED points are hot prospects for “green” products, but making these products requires changes to the manufacturing process, and many manufacturers are reluctant to change. “Our industry needs to go as green as possible, because everybody talks about styrene, but there are resins out there that don’t have styrene,” she says. “There are bio-based resins. I’ve got bio-based resins coming out of my ears that I’ve trialed.”
