Thomas Nosker, Inventor of Recycled Plastic Lumber, Receives Highest Honor for His Work
December 9, 2024
Rutgers engineer has been named a 2024 National Academy of Inventors Fellow
The recycled plastic lumber that Rutgers Professor Thomas Nosker invented decades ago is now used all over the world in bridges, railway ties, docks and picnic tables.
It’s less dense than water, yet strong enough to support 120-ton locomotives. It is a nontoxic material, made from milk containers, coffee cups and other recycled plastics. It’s been used to make about 1.5 million railway ties in the United States alone. Since each tie weighs about 200 pounds, that means roughly 300 million pounds of plastics have not ended up in landfills, won’t choke marine life, and won’t soil beaches.
The material is so ubiquitous, Nosker even spotted it on walkways and fencing when he was vacationing in the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, earlier this year.