Recycled Plastic Lumber for Railroad Ties

This story isn't directly about California, but since we have railroad tracks...I thought it is good info.

From PlasticsResource.com:

Plastic Railroad Ties

For example, the railroad industry replaces approximately 14 million wooden ties a year out of the nearly 700 million ties used annually and this number is growing. It is estimated that replacement and installation of new wooden ties, which only last an average of seven years and as little as three, costs the railroad industry over a billion dollars a year. Since 1994, the Army Corps of Engineers, Rutgers University, Earth Care Products, Conrail and Norfolk Southern have been working on a project using recycled-content plastic railroad ties as an alternative to traditional wood ties. The railroad ties market is huge since each tie requires 200 pounds of plastic -- equaling 1,200 bottles! At Conrail's Altoona, PA train yard ten 100-percent recycled ties were intermingled with wood ties in October 1995. The plastic ties' performance so impressed the company that in 1996, they installed six more plastic railroad ties on the main line between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Additionally, the Association of American Railroad's Transportation Technology Center located in Pueblo, Colo. tests trains almost 24 hours a day and now has 25 plastic railroad ties in place along the toughest part of the training loop with no signs of deterioration.

Internationally, the use of plastic lumber for railroad ties is not a new concept. Japan, for instance, uses composite ties made from virgin materials -- foamed polyurethane with a continuous glass reinforcement, which help the trains run quieter. The appeal for recycled-content plastic railroad ties is due to the fact that wooden railroad ties - like decks - need regular maintenance and eventually need replacing.

....isn't that fantastic! What a huge application for recycled plastic. Think I'll go throw a few more bottles into the recycle bin! :-)