As much as it might annoy anti-plastics zealots, you can’t really say infrastructure without mentioning plastic pipes. The federal infrastructure bill is pumping some money into replacing aging, corroded, and often lead-laden iron pipes, and the material of choice is plastic for engineers, contractors, and municipal officials.
Data from the Plastics Pipe Institute Inc. (PPI), which represents North America’s plastic pipes industry, bear this out. “During 2022, according to our data, shipments of pipe from our members grew by more than 20%, and the use of recycled post-consumer content increased to its highest level ever,” said PPI President David M. Fink. The trade association also had a record number of submissions in its annual awards program recognizing outstanding achievements in plastics piping projects.
The winners in each of the five PPI divisions — Building & Construction, Drainage, Energy Piping Systems, Municipal & Industrial, and Power & Communications — were announced during the group’s annual meeting, held this year in Maui on May 9 to 12. They are featured in this slide show.
During the meeting, the PPI also honored the members of the year in the same five categories. They are:
PPI Building & Construction Division — Rich Houle, Reliance Worldwide Corp. (Atlanta, GA)
PPI Drainage Division — Greg Baryluk, Advanced Drainage Systems (Hilliard, OH)
PPI Energy Piping Systems Division — Chris Ampfer, WL Plastics (Ft. Worth, TX)
PPI Municipal & Industrial Division — Gerry Groen, P.Eng., Infra Pipe Solutions (Mississauga, ON)
PPI Power & Communications — Christian Herrild, Teel Plastics (Baraboo, WI)
