Locally Made Sustainable Products Right Here in Indiana

Atlanta, Georgia is hosting the International GreenBuild Expo and Conference November 18-22, 2019. Companies from around the globe will be there to share ideas, innovative solutions, and new green building products as part of a massive movement to make buildings more sustainable. Purdue MEP’s sustainability manager, Kelly Weger, attends this event each year to stay on top of the latest trends and technology in sustainability, as do many other Hoosier companies.

If you’ve never been, this is an enormous event filled with riveting speakers, creative workshops, world-renowned summits, and brilliant, passionate people who travel from all over to give and get new sustainability ideas with other in the building and construction industry. It’s sure to spark renewed motivation for those interested in sustainability, and wow others with some of the cool products that already exist.

Indiana is home to a number of manufacturers who are already producing green building products. Many of them have specifically targeted this growing trend for decades, others are just starting to realize what a large market there is for sustainable product design.

One great example of homegrown Hoosier sustainability comes from Knauf Insulation, located in Shelbyville, IN. Knauf is proud to produce fiber glass insulation with ECOSE® Technology. ECOSE Technology is a revolutionary, more sustainable binder technology born from five years of intensive research and development. ECOSE Technology features rapidly renewable bio-based materials rather than non-renewable petroleum-based chemicals such as phenol, formaldehyde and acrylics commonly used in traditional fiber glass insulation products.

Another example is a company in Syracuse, IN called PolyWood. They produce recycled plastic lumber products. Many of their beautifully crafted furniture products are made with materials recycled on site in their factory. PolyWood is just starting to recognize the valuable market and growing demand for sustainable products, both here in Indiana, and worldwide.

If your company is doing great things to reduce material usage, minimize water consumption, increasing energy efficiency, switching to healthier chemistry, or incorporating recycled content into your products, let us know! We’d love to feature you in Purdue MEP’s Made In Indiana campaign!

The best part about locally made sustainable products? They also reduce the carbon emissions and life cycle impact, by minimizing the distance that those products need to travel within state boundaries. Shop local, support Hoosier jobs, and help improve our planet while you’re at it!