Closing the Loop
The origin of Hilex Poly LLC, based in Hartsville, S.C., dates back to 2003. The company entered the plastic bag and film manufacturing business at that time with the purchase of Sonoco’s High-Density Film Products division.
Hilex Poly began emphasizing recycling in 2005 with the opening of a closed-loop recycling facility. “Hilex made a commitment to becoming the plastic bag industry’s environmental leader and opened the world’s first and still its largest closed-loop plastic bag recycling facility in North Vernon, Ind.,” Phil Rozenski, company director of environmental affairs and marketing, says.
In 2006, Hilex Poly launched its Bag-2-Bag recycling program. This was followed by the introduction of its recycled-content plastic bag in 2008, Gray is the New Green.
Earlier this year, the company announced an expansion of its North Vernon recycling facility that enabled it to double its recycling capacity.
Here’s what Rozenski has to say about Hilex Poly:
Q: What do you specialize in? Why?
A: Hilex Poly specializes in plastic bag and HDPE/LDPE film recycling. Additionally, we partner with other companies to recover other HDPE plastics that support the growth of recycled content.
In order to turn our goals into action, we recognized that the most intelligent approach to improvement was to both recover [and] recycle plastic bags and film and to develop a shopping bag made with recycled content that would close the loop on recycling.
Q: Where do you see your company five years from now?
A: Our goal is to grow our recycling infrastructure to a point where our product line contains 40 percent recycled content.
At a Glance
Company: Hilex Poly LLC
Director of Environmental Affairs and Marketing: Joseph D. Hensel
Location: Headquarters, Hartsville, S.C.; recycled-content plant, North Vernon, Ind.
Employees: 1,300
Year Established: 2003
Web Site: www.hilexpoly.com or www.thetruthaboutplasticbags.com
Services Provided: This manufacturer of plastic bags features post-industrial recycling capabilities at all of its plants to support the sustainability of its operations and to integrate purchased post-industrial scrap. Its recycling plant was designed to process post-consumer materials brought in through supermarket take-back programs, such as Hilex Poly’s own Bag-2-Bag program.