How a million old plastic bags and 64 km of fishing rope became a new dock
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An entrepreneur in Stewiacke, N.S., hopes a new wharf in Hubbards will inspire Nova Scotians to use recycled plastic lumber in marine applications.
“Be able to walk on it, you know, touch it and get a good feel for the advantage that we can have by using the recycled material,” Dan Chassie, president of Goodwood Plastic Products, said.
Goodwood Plastic Products grinds up recycled plastic at its factory in Stewiacke and extrudes the plastic lumber in sizes from two-by-fours up to eight-inch-by-eight-inch beams.
Chassie claims his plastic boards will last many times longer than marine-grade, pressure-treated wood.
“Instead of having something that is going to last maybe 10 years, it’s going to last a couple of lifetimes,” Chassie said.
The boards on Greg Veinot’s wharf in Hubbards Cove cost him roughly $6,500.
They represent one million recycled plastic bags and 64 kilometres of recycled half-inch nylon fishing rope.
“I feel good about it … keep all that stuff out of the landfill, and get to use it over again,” Veinot said. “And this time [it] won’t be going back to the landfill, it’ll be here for another few years.”
Veinot rebuilt his wharf himself, using galvanized steel beams on top of the original steel pilings.
He says working with the plastic lumber was easier than wood, because he could sink screws near the ends of the boards without issue.
