Identity
At RESOURCE PLASTICS Inc., we operate a major plastic recycling, manufacturing, compounding and raw material distribution facility located just outside of Chicago. Since our founding in 1994, our ‘little’ company has grown from a raw idea by three young entrepreneurs into a progressive player processing more than 75 million pounds a year of mostly post-industrial type plastics that are distributed to extruders and molders throughout the United States and overseas. Resource Plastics continues to be built upon honesty, dedication, ingenuity, hard work and quality service. The company's principals firmly believe that customer service is the key to successful business and long-term relationships.
Process
We buy and sell scrap plastic in all shapes and sizes, as well as pre-ground material, repelletized material, wide-spec and prime. All of the plastic is processed at our 175,000-square-foot plant, located in the Chicago southern suburb of Alsip. Our company transforms rolls, bales and scrap into clean plastic regrind or flake and pellets, which are completely QC’d, packaged and shipped to customers around the globe in order to make a completely diverse range of products from packaging to pipe to horticultural trays, to bottles, corner bead edging and lawn edging that’s decorated Walt Disney World.
History
In 1994, Resource Plastics got its start as a one-man brokerage of plastic raw materials in Illinois. It floundered along until joining forces with current owners Robert Murphy and William Steinhaus in early 1996, setting up shop in an old 6,000-square-foot warehouse in Posen, Illinois. Acquiring a used Rapid grinder and single forklift, the plastic recycling business kicked off. Processing mostly PVC and polystyrene, Resource chugged along with its first few employees and owners grinding plastic and loading and unloading trucks. The company took on a new identity in 1998 when Murphy and Steinhaus took sole ownership. Additional granulators were purchased, larger warehouse space procured, and new employees trained for a second shift. Resource branched out further on raw material types, among them vinyl for floor tile and pipe, styrene for the horticultural market, PET for retail packaging, and PETG for window well covers. By 2004, Resource Plastics had outgrown its humble beginnings and decided to move and centralize its operations into an 85,000 square-foot old abandoned fencing factory in Blue Island, Illinois. While the much larger space began business with one single load of polypropylene white scrap, it quickly filled with new Cumberland granulators, conveyor systems and balers, along with a few million pounds of various raw materials for recycling. And in 2005, Resource Plastics braved another new world with the creation of a second new startup company, RPI Extrusion. RPI kicked off in an adjacent 35,000-square-foot warehouse to Resource, operating five profile extruders to toll manufacture lawn edging and brick paver edging out of plastic raw materials supplied by big brother, Resource. As the two companies continued to grow, so did its surroundings until bursting at the seams in 150,000 square feet of disconnected space. So in 2014, Resource and RPI pulled up stakes, making a major move five miles down the road to Alsip, Illinois, and a newer, state-of-the-art, 175,000-square-foot facility with 19 docks, rail spur, heavy electric, and plenty of outdoor space for future expansion. What began with three individuals, an idea and a dream, transformed into nearly 100 employees, and full-cycle and full-scale recycling from scrap to regrind to resin to new products. At Resource Plastics and RPI Extrusion Co., we are making tomorrow’s products, possible today.
People
Our steady, rapid growth stands as a true reflection of our long-term and loyal employee base, from administrative staff to shipping and receiving team, from QC specialists to our sorting crew, grinding personnel, line operators, plant managers, production manager, shift supervisors, maintenance staff and every valuable member that comprises our plastic operation.
