demand for products from PGCX
At present, the fiberglass industry exceeds $7 billion annually, with growth rates expected to exceed 7% each year through 2016. In a report published by Owens Corning, the growth rate in fiberglass building material exceeds that of wood, steel, and aluminum. But hidden beneath these numbers is the growing problem of fiberglass waste produced in North America. In 2011 alone, the industry produced some 14 million metric tons of fiberglass waste. That total is expected to balloon to 17 million metric tons or more, annually, by 2017. Currently, the fiberglass industry pays millions each year in tipping fees just to dispose of their waste in landfills. Many state and municipal governments are encouraging, and in some cases mandating, a reduction of waste going to the landfill, creating a necessity for our recycling process. Due to our patented technology, VSI is uniquely positioned to take advantage of an untapped market being forced to adapt to new regulations. In addition to the waste produced by manufacturers, many of the manufacturers’ customers share similarly intractable disposal issues. As America’s dependence on lightweight fiberglass and composites has grown since the 1950's, increasing numbers of industries have found a use for these durable, multi-purpose products. It is this durability that contributes, in many instances, to the problem of disposal. Recently, green initiatives in energy creation have found a significant use for fiberglass and composites. Wind farms, in seeking to create a solution to the energy problem in the United States, have ironically created their own disposal issue. After roughly 30 years, in most cases, the enormous blades on windmills are at the end of their useful lives. Often spanning in excess of 100 feet, these blades contain an enormous amount of fiberglass that currently has no outlet other than a landfill. Conservative estimates on the amount of time these materials take to decompose begin at 400 years. It is the goal of VSI to reduce this problem, one that otherwise spans generations.
