ESG Strategy: Sustainable Credentials, Durable Products

Trex’s carefully planned ESG strategy aligns with its commitment to long-lived products, energy efficiency, and circularity.

Although Trex Company has split in two—the wood alternative decking manufacturer sold its commercial products segment in late 2022, leaving Trex Residential as its flagship—the company’s environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) mission remains.

Trex’s recently released annual ESG report highlights how the manufacturer continually integrates sustainable thinking across all areas of the business as it advances its most-material ESG priorities.

During construction of the company’s new corporate headquarters in Virginia in 2022, more than 12,750 pounds of Trex scrap material was diverted from landfill and recycled into its manufacturing operations. Courtesy Trex Company

• There is a focus on circularity and energy efficiency. In 2022, the company upcycled nearly 340 million pounds of waste polyethylene (PE) film, retaining its position as one of the largest recyclers of PE film bags, wraps and packaging in North America. Trex has diverted and recycled more than 5 billion pounds of recycled PE film since its founding more than 30 years ago. The company is working to reduce its energy use and climate impact and is positioned to make further progress in developing a strategy for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 
• Trex prioritizes employee safety and career growth. Driven by its proactive focus on improving health and safety, Trex in 2022 achieved a 50 percent decrease in its lost-time incident rate (LTIR) compared with 2021. The company also continued to invest in employee learning and development, expanding the portfolio of education for leadership, team building, occupational safety and other topics. In addition, Trex refreshed its onboarding process to provide more support for new hires on core values, workplace safety and business approach. 
• Diversity in leadership continues. Efforts to foster diversity and inclusion with a particular focus on management positions continued. In 2022, the company’s proportion of women and ethnically diverse employees in management increased to 30 percent and 12 percent, respectively. Women also held three of nine positions on the board of directors in 2022. 
• Governance and ethics remain resolute. The company continued to emphasize to employees at all levels the imperative of working with integrity without exception, and ensuring business activities align with Trex values. The company’s governance processes ensure oversight of ESG and sustainability priorities at board level and among senior leadership. 
• Continual support of communities where Trex operates. Trex supported a broad array of charitable organizations through donations and volunteering in 2022. The company and its employees contributed more than $300,000 to the United Way and other community-based organizations. Meanwhile, the company’s NexTrex community recycling programs enlisted more than 3,300 schools and civic organizations to help divert nearly 2 million pounds of plastic film from landfills. 

“Our success is not only driven by the quality and durability of our products, but also by their sustainability credentials,” says Trex Company President and CEO Bryan Fairbanks. “An increasing number of our customers care about sustainability and try to choose products with this in mind.”

Trex Company prides itself on investing in employee learning and development, and a greater focus on workplace safety. Courtesy Trex Company

The manufacture of ever more environmentally friendly composite decking and railing remains at the top of Trex’s operational goals for 2023 and beyond. Courtesy Trex Company