Corporate Social Responsibility: How Tangent Cares for the Environment from Raw Material to Finished Product

Corporate social responsibility is a “newer” term that has recently risen in popularity and importance for both companies and consumers. It’s important because it ensures that company activities are aligned with social, economic and environmental expectations. It includes the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making.

Consumers are also interested in companies who participate in corporate social responsibility. In a recent study, it has been reported that 76% of American consumers would refuse to purchase a company’s product or service upon learning they supported a contrary belief or issue.

At Tangent, not only are we interested in social corporate responsibility, we are passionate about it. We focus on the environment and working to protect it for generations to come. The environment and our communities are important to us, that is why we pride ourselves on using recycled material in our plastic lumber and know for future generations that our product is recyclable. In the 20+ years Tangent has been around, we have kept millions and millions of plastic milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles out of the landfills.

From Process to Finished Product

Nowadays, it’s pretty common for companies to claim they are environmentally-friendly or “green”, but what does that actually mean?

For Tangent, this means we use recycled material, including household milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles and other recycled HDPE to produce our plastic lumber products. Our manufacturing process reduces energy consumption. We don’t use as much energy because we don’t need to create a new product. The product is just being repurposed. Our manufacturing process also minimizes waste because we can continue to recycle our waste by reusing scrap material to manufacture our plastic lumber. You can even recycle our finished product!

The finished product (under normal intended usage) is non-toxic, meaning that the material emits no carcinogens, reproductive toxicants or irritants. It is low-maintenance and doesn’t require staining, painting, sealing or chemical treatment. To maintain appearance our product can be washed off with a mild soap and water mixture using a power washer to remove dirt and grime. Unlike treated lumber, our products don’t use harmful chemicals that can be detrimental to the environment.                                                                                                                         

Going Green

There is a huge array of benefits to purchasing and installing green products including:

• Reduced air and water pollutants – the recycled HDPE composite plastic lumber doesn’t emit toxins and irritants into the air or water

• Reduced toxic exposures – our structural plastic lumber doesn’t need to be chemically-treated, so there’s no leaching of chemicals into the ground or water

• Reduced landfill pile up – because our product is made out of recycled milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles, we take potential waste and create a highly durable and cost effective product

• Reduced waste disposal – since our product can be recycled, we reuse scrap material to manufacture more product. The extra material can be processed again and again

• Low maintenance – our product doesn’t have to be replaced as often as wood, therefore using less material and saving natural resources (trees)

• LEED – see what points our products may be eligible to qualify you for at the USGBC

Interested in Learning More?

Contact us today to get more information about our environmentally-friendly products for your project applications!