Whispering Roots received $50,000 from the OPPD Greener Together program to work with students from grade school through high school on sustainability, STEM and agricultural fields of study. Whispering Roots is building raised garden beds using lumber made by First Star Recycling and Solutions Plastic from hard-to-recycle plastic waste diverted from the landfill. The nonprofit works with students who live in socially and economically underserved communities. You can read more about the project here.

Firstar Fiber was featured in a terrific article by Recycling Today about how our company is creating a circular business model by processing hard-to-recycle plastics from the Hefty® ReNew® orange bags and turning them into feedstock for Solutions Plastic Lumber in-house. Click here to read the full story.

This case study by the U.S. Plastics Pact takes a look at how Firstar Fiber is developing a comprehensive approach to make it relatively convenient for both residents and for the MRF to recover far more plastics than ever before, and how it is being achieved in a sustainable market-driven manner. Click the link to read the full story.

KMTV News coverage: Plastics in the orange Hefty EnergyBags from Omaha-area residents are now being used to make plastic lumber at Firstar Fiber. They were being used to make fuel for concrete production in Kansas City. Click here for the full news article on YouTube.

Channel 6News First Aleart - Plastics that would have gone to the landfill (like chip bags, single-use plastic bags, straws, plastic utensils) are now being made into plastic lumber. The orange bag contents goes onto a conveyor belt for sorting, then into a grinder and a cleaning process ready to be transformed into plastic lumber. Click here to see the YouTube Video.

At the 2023 Annual Fall Conference, Nebraska Recycling Council awarded Solutions Plastic the 2023 Waste Diversion Project of the Year Award! Our plastic lumber is made in Nebraska from “hard-to-recycle” plastic. Most of the materials come from the Hefty Orange Renew program. Click here to view the YouTube video.

One Omaha company recycles the world's derelict fishing gear. Solutions Plastic Lumber is just a few in the U.S. that create plastic lumber out of hard to recycle plastics. And word made its way across the Pacific Ocean and nearly 4,000 miles away to the Hawaii Pacific University Center for Marine Debris Research in Honolulu. Click here for the story!

This interview and video produced by the KMTV 3 News Now Metro Blend captures the early days of the Hefty® EnergyBag® program. The Bourke family was interviewed about their experiences and encouraging recyclers to start using the orange bags in your house or business to recover hard-to-recycle plastics. Click here to watch the FaceBook video.

The Synthetic Turf industry has a great use case for Solutions Plastic’s ReClaim plastic lumber nailer boards. The nailer boards secure the turf. Since turf is typically an outdoor feature, using plastic helps the project remain evergreen with no rotting or insect issues. We are grateful for customers like Nebraska Synthetic Greens and Sportzturf who have several proven installs and are happy to share their success! And we are happy to be attending the annual STC Conference this year!

We’re excited to celebrate the launch of Keep Omaha Beautiful’s new webpage highlighting how orange bag plastics collected through the orange bag program are transformed into durable plastic lumber—right here in Omaha.

This new community resource further spreads the news about the circular economy in action and the power of local partnerships to turn hard-to-recycle materials into long-lasting products that benefit our community.♻️