A (Plastic) Chip Off the Old Block

In the shadow of the last sawmill still operating in this depressed timber town, Werner Zink grinds up old mop buckets and shampoo bottles to produce what’s known as plastic lumber.

With the decline of an economy long built on forests and fishing along the southern Oregon coast, the former machine shop operator decided not to bail out like so many others but to try something different.

“We’re slowly creeping up on the wood guys,” Zink said, showing off the machinery he designed to wash, grind and mix recycled plastic.

Zink’s company, Resco Plastics, stands as a symbol of what can rise from the rubble of a dying industry. In fact, the factory is built on the site of a former shingle mill.

“He is an outstanding example of what the rest of us have to do, and that is diversify,” said Loran Wiese, director of economic development for Coos County.

For as long as anyone can remember, timber and fishing were the lifeblood of the southern Oregon coast. Anyone graduating from high school could expect to find a job in the many lumber and plywood mills. Those of a more independent mind could buy a one-man boat and troll for salmon.

But the timber boom times came to an end in the late 1980s as biologists began to understand that treating forests like tree farms destroyed habitat for the threatened northern spotted owl and salmon. Increased Canadian imports and growing competition from southeastern pine filled the gap, keeping prices low.

The mills that everyone took for granted closed down. Salmon seasons were steadily shortened, until most trollers gave up trying to make a living. About 6,000 people left Coos County in search of jobs. Their places were taken by retirees attracted by the mild weather, scenic beaches and nearby forests.

Unemployment has settled in around 10%, the highest in Oregon.

Coos Bay is working hard to bring in a natural gas line and more electrical capacity to woo a steel mill, but innovative operations like Resco Plastics are seen as an important part of the economic mix for the future.

A native of Munich, Germany, who studied music in college and plays blues guitar, Zink and his wife, Sabine, fell in love with the West Coast while on vacation. They had started a machine shop that produced specialty parts for loggers and fishermen. When the bottom fell out of those industries, they had to find something else.

Zink’s first steps toward producing plastic lumber came 10 years ago with his invention of machinery to clean off glue and labels on recycled plastic, such as milk jugs, plastic barrels and shampoo bottles. He produced raw material for other manufacturers who made pipe and other materials.

As timber prices rose, plastic lumber producers have been springing up around the country. Plastics News lists 40 manufacturers from Hawaii to Florida, and U.S. Plastics Lumber in Boca Raton, Fla., claims to be the biggest, with 16 subsidiaries.

Three years ago, Zink decided to give it a try.

He makes dimension lumber from 2-by-4s to 12-by-12s, as well as specialty pieces, such as mailbox posts, bench frames and posts with a pipe inside that campgrounds use for water spigots. Zink has been experimenting with milling the finished lumber to make tongue-and-groove decking.

Pressed out of a 150-horsepower extruder at 10,000 pounds pressure into a steel mold, the lumber comes in such colors as brown, gray and blue, with a wood-like grain.

Though plastic lumber has good compression strength, it is too floppy on a span to frame a house, and expands and contracts too much with temperature changes to be used for railroad ties. But it is finding growing acceptance for decking.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Prineville District in eastern Oregon is using Resco 4-by-6s to make picnic tables for campgrounds.

Recreation technician Roy Tidwell says the plastic is hotter than wood to sit on when it has been out in the sun, but it stands up better to vandalism and doesn’t need painting.

“It costs probably a third more than regular structural material if we were to buy 4-by-6 wood,” he said. “But we feel that over the long run we do better because of the annual maintenance it no longer requires.”

To comply with a state policy of promoting recycled materials, the Oregon Marine Board specifies plastic lumber for the tie-up railing on floating docks at state boating facilities.

The neighboring Georgia-Pacific Corp. lumber mill has little reason to worry about losing much market share to plastic just yet because the plastic lumber operation is still small.

And while Zink refused to divulge sales figures, he said Resco Plastics is the only plastic lumber producer between Vancouver, British Columbia, and San Francisco, and has distributors in Hawaii and Canada.

“We’ve just hired a vice president of marketing,” Zink said. “We’re ready to rock ‘n’ roll.”