Bedford Circular Materials

Bedford Circular Materials | HDPE, HIPS & PP Scrap Recovery Partner
An Initiative of Bedford Industries

Your Scrap Plastic Is Someone's Next Product.

Bedford Circular Materials sources HDPE, HIPS, and PP from manufacturers, retailers, and brands and puts it back to work in products like PolyScape® structural lumber. If you're generating a plastic material stream and looking for a real end market, not just a collection bin, we want to talk.

Backed by Bedford Industries — family owned since 1966, now in its third generation, engineering plastic-based products for manufacturers nationwide.
Reprocessed plastic regrind material moving through Bedford's material recovery process
Recovered material in process at a Bedford facility.
Closing the Loop at Bedford

We Don't Just Recover Material. We Manufacture With It.

Since 1966, Bedford Industries has turned raw material into products for agriculture, packaging, labeling, and construction. Bedford Circular Materials is our initiative to source, recover, and reprocess plastic materials so they can go back into productive use instead of a landfill.

As a manufacturer, we understand materials end to end: how they're sourced, processed, engineered, and built into products people use every day. We're putting that expertise to work identifying, qualifying, and converting recovered plastics into new manufacturing inputs.

  • Recovers plastic materials from customers and partners
  • Develops long-term feedstock supply relationships
  • Qualifies materials for real manufacturing applications
  • Feeds Bedford's own production needs, starting with PolyScape
  • Reduces material sent to landfill across the product lifecycle
Interior of a Bedford Industries manufacturing facility in Worthington, Minnesota
Where We Are Today

Three Programs Are Live. The Rest Is In Development.

TagBack is our original, proven program and has diverted more than 226,000 pounds of ties and tags from landfill and into upcycled material since it began. Our CNC Router Shavings program, which collects HDPE shavings and chips directly from PolyScape OEM customers, and our Lumber Cut-End Recovery program, which collects PolyScape and HDPE lumber cut ends and scrap from OEM manufacturers, are also active today. The additional recovery programs described below, including broader industrial scrap and film streams, are in active development and pilot testing. We'd rather tell you exactly where a program stands than oversell it.

Material Sourcing

Priority Materials

We're building long-term supply relationships around three resins. If you generate one of these streams, consistently or in volume, we want to hear from you.

HDPE

High-Density Polyethylene

What We Look For

  • Post-industrial router shavings and machining scrap
  • Rigid containers and molded parts
  • Production trim and off-fall
  • Obsolete or excess resin inventory

Typical Sources

  • Plastic fabricators, contract manufacturers, and OEMs with rigid packaging or parts scrap
HIPS

High Impact Polystyrene

What We Look For

  • Rigid packaging scrap
  • Retail display and fixture scrap
  • Consumer product housings
  • Production trim

Typical Sources

  • Packaging converters, display manufacturers, and consumer product OEMs
PP

Polypropylene

What We Look For

  • Caps and closures
  • Woven and rigid packaging scrap
  • Production trim and regrind

Typical Sources

  • Food and industrial packaging manufacturers, injection molders

We also evaluate mixed or combined material and color streams case by case. If you're not sure your material qualifies, submit it — that's what the evaluation process is for.

Recovery Programs

Three Proven Programs. A Growing Portfolio.

Bedford Circular Materials operates as a portfolio of programs, each built around a specific material stream. TagBack, CNC Router Shavings, and Lumber Cut-End Recovery are live today. The rest are how we're scaling.

Live Program TagBack collection box in a grocery store produce section, used to return tags and ties for recycling

TagBack®

TagBack is Bedford's original take-back and recycling program. Customers return eligible Bedford tags, ties, clips, and related products after use, and we separate and recover the wire and plastic for new applications. More than 226,000 pounds of ties and tags have been diverted from landfill and upcycled since the program began.

What started as a recycling program helped spark PolyScape, Bedford's line of structural plastic lumber.

Visit TagBack.com
Active Program

CNC Router Shavings

HDPE shavings and chips generated when PolyScape OEM customers CNC-cut and fabricate our structural lumber into finished products. We collect this scrap directly from PolyScape customers and reprocess it back into new PolyScape material.

Enroll your facility →
Active Program

Lumber Cut-End Recovery

PolyScape and HDPE lumber cut ends, trim, and scrap generated by OEM manufacturers building with our structural lumber. We collect this material directly from those customers and reprocess it back into new lumber.

Enroll your facility →
In Development

Industrial Scrap Recovery

HDPE router shavings, machining scrap, and trim waste from fabrication. Built for plastic fabricators, OEMs, and contract manufacturers.

Start a conversation →
In Development

Film Recovery

Multilayer film and flexible packaging streams that are hard to recycle through conventional channels. Built for food manufacturers and co-packers.

Start a conversation →
Material Qualification Program

How It Works

1

Submit

Tell us about your material: type, volume, form, and current disposition.

2

Evaluate

Our team reviews composition, contamination, and processing characteristics.

3

Sample & Test

Qualifying streams move to lab evaluation and processing trials.

4

Qualify

We confirm manufacturing compatibility and long-term supply fit.

5

Recover

We establish an ongoing collection and offtake partnership.

Why Bedford

Why Manufacturers Partner With Us

We take materials others pass on

Off-spec, mixed, or hard-to-place streams are exactly what our evaluation process is set up to assess.

We're an end market, not just a collection point

Qualified material goes directly into Bedford manufacturing, starting with PolyScape structural lumber.

We simplify your sustainability reporting

One partner, one qualification process, one point of contact for your recovered material stream.

We're built to scale with you

Whether it's a few pallets a month or multiple truckloads a week.

We're a manufacturer first

Family owned since 1966, now in its third generation — we've spent decades turning raw material into finished product.

We've already proven the model

TagBack has diverted more than 226,000 pounds of material from landfill and into new products since it launched.

Material Qualification Program

Submit Your Material for Evaluation

Have plastic material looking for a home? Tell us about your stream. Following an initial review, we may request representative samples for lab evaluation, processing trials, and application testing.

  • Material type
  • Estimated annual volume
  • Form (pellets, regrind, sheet, parts, trim, etc.)
  • Current disposition method
  • Material location
  • Available sample quantities
  • Any known specifications or test data

Prefer email? Send details to Bedford@bedford.com. Information you submit is used only to evaluate potential material partnerships.

From TagBack to PolyScape

This Started With a Twist Tie.

TagBack proved that a manufacturer could take responsibility for its products beyond the point of sale. That thinking led directly to PolyScape, Bedford's line of structural plastic lumber and furniture built from recovered material. Bedford Circular Materials is how we scale that same idea across new material streams and new partners.

See What PolyScape Is Built From
PolyScape structural plastic lumber furniture, a table and chairs made from recovered material, installed on a lakeside dock
Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

What materials does Bedford Circular Materials accept?

We're actively sourcing HDPE, HIPS, and PP, including post-industrial scrap, production trim, obsolete inventory, and excess resin. We evaluate mixed or combined material streams case by case.

Does Bedford buy plastic scrap, or is this a donation program?

Terms vary by material, volume, and program. Submit your material for evaluation and we'll discuss whether it fits a purchased offtake, a collection partnership, or another arrangement.

What is TagBack?

TagBack is Bedford's original take-back program for tags, ties, clips, and related Bedford products. It's live today, has diverted more than 226,000 pounds of material from landfill since it began, and was the starting point for Bedford Circular Materials.

What happens to the material after it's recovered?

Qualified material is reprocessed and reintegrated into Bedford manufacturing, including PolyScape structural plastic lumber and furniture.

How much material do I need to generate to work with Bedford?

We work with partners generating anywhere from a few pallets a month to multiple truckloads. Consistency matters as much as scale.

How long does material qualification take?

It depends on the material and how much testing it needs. After an initial review, we may request samples for lab evaluation and processing trials before establishing an ongoing partnership.