Our Products - HMW - Black Utility

HMW - Black Utility - This is a black reground or reprocessed High-Molecular Weight (HMW) Polyethylene.  Some of our customers have asked for a cheaper alternative to our Easy-Slide Virgin HMW plastic.  We have listened to their requests and now stock 7 different sizes of rolls and 5 different sheet sizes.  See the graph below for the sizes we stock.  

The plastic industry can be fairly wasteful, so all the unused scraps are melted down and remade into other products.  Carbon (black) is added to the reground plastic for a couple of reasons: first, it creates a uniform color to cover up all the other colors of the original plastic and second, it gives the plastic UVI protection.  For the most part, Utility HMW and Virgin HMW prices go in lock step and Utility HMW is typically 15 to 25 percent cheaper per pound as compared to Virgin HMW.  The reason for this price difference is because there is going to be less consistency of the resin going into the Utility HMW as compared to the Virgin HMW.  Our HMW factory can certify our Virgin HMW but they cannot certify black (utility) HMW.

Lastly, there are a number of companies that sell black HMW as "virgin HMW" and the question that should be asked is "What are you trying to cover up by adding carbon to your plastic?  If it is really a virgin plastic, you wouldn't need to add carbon."

Rolls and Sheets - In Stock