By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: February 17, 2014 9:58 am ET
Updated: February 17, 2014 10:01 am ET
IntegriCo Composites Inc. has formed a supply alliance with recycler Astro Industries.
IntegriCo — a plastic railroad tie maker in Tyler, Texas — will use recycled resins supplied by West Monroe, La.-based Astro in its products, officials said in a Jan. 17 news release. Astro President Jim Green already is a member of IntegriCo’s board.
In the release, Green said that the alliance “will fundamentally strengthen both companies through vertical integration for raw materials.”
IntegriCo’s processing technology uses landfill-bound plastic to create railroad products that officials said “outperform others by virtually every measure including the most important — long life in track.”
The 7-year-old firm raised $9 million in venture capital funding in late 2013 to expand its composite railroad crosstie business. The company makes crossties from recycled plastic, including post-industrial polyethylene and PVC.
Astro was founded in 1998 and provides reprocessed, regrind and densified materials. The firm — formerly known as Bayou Plastics — also offers compounding. Resins recycled by Astro include high and low density polyethylene, polypropylene and PET. | 
