Green Current Solutions: Helping the environment, one pallet at a time

EAST MOLINE — A new company in this community has big goals — save thousands of trees and turn junk plastic into a useful product. These goals are happening — one new, plastic pallet at a time — at Green Current Solutions, a plastic injection molding company located at 401 12th Ave., East Moline. (It is located in the former home of the McLaughlin Body Co. near The Bend.) That 100,000-square-foot plant recently began producing plastic pallets that can be used at thousands of companies around the world. The Green Current pallets are already being used by companies in the ag industry, food and beverage field, consumer products firms and other sectors of the business world.

“It’s been a long road for us. We got into this business at a tricky time. … But for the long-term outlook, I get very excited about where we are headed,” said Tammy Becker, CEO of Green Current Solutions, who co-owns the startup with her environmentalist husband Chad Pregracke. If all goes according to plan, this is where Green Current is headed: It will eventually be running almost around-the-clock operations, making hundreds of pallets every day, making a good profit and helping save the environment. Helping the environment was the driving force behind starting the company for the duo. Ms. Becker and Mr. Pregracke — the founder of Living Lands & Waters (LL&W), an East Moline-based organization helping clean up many of the nation’s waterways and rivers — saw a problem. They also saw a solution.

That problem centered on the intensifying growth of pollution and wasteful habits. For instance, LL&W workers have pulled about 13 million pounds of garbage from U.S. rivers over the years. They saw that some of that trash — such as some types of plastic — could be recycled and turned into useful products.  They also saw that many trees were being cut down and turned into wooden pallets; many of those pallets are broken and trashed after just a couple of cycles of use. (Information from Green Current states that 43% of hardwood trees are cut down to make wooden pallets.) “Our goal is to reduce waste, save trees and help curb the global ocean plastic problem, one pallet at a time,” Green Current Solutions says on its website. That goal began to take shape in 2018 when the husband-wife team started a “serious game plan” for the company and hired a consultant. After years of planning and a few setbacks spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company launched production of its black plastic pallets in August. That first pallet made by the company’s injection molding machine is currently in the Green Current main meeting room — sitting next to a wall filled with the many awards and honors presented to Mr. Pregracke.  Those honors include everything from the Order of Lincoln and CNN Hero to honorary degrees and many merit awards. Ms. Becker joked that until recently, those awards were all placed in storage bins at home. “We had to buy a factory just to show them off,” she added.

Today, that factory features a lot more than Mr. Pregracke’s awards. To date, it has brought in thousands of pounds of old plastic, recycled it and has made several hundred pallets for customers. “We’re getting good feedback from everybody. ... They really like the pallets,” Ms. Becker said. She added that her hope is to eventually make 240 pallets a day. And at some point, with more machinery, the company could make 1,000 pallets daily. Ms. Becker said that a huge part of accomplishing those lofty goals is getting this message across to potential customers: Green Current’s plastic pallets are much better than today’s wooden pallets. The new pallets cost about three times as much as wooden pallets, but they will last much longer (perhaps 20 times longer than wooden pallets); customers don’t have to worry about fees for trashing old wooden pallets (Green Current will buy back worn-out plastic pallets, recycle them and turn them into new pallets); and plastic pallets are much better for the environment by saving trees and saving old plastic from the waterways and landfills. “This is the way the world is going to go,” said Ms. Becker, referring to companies’ use of more recycled products in order to help the environment. The company CEO recently gave the QCBJ tour of Green Current’s two-building facility in East Moline. Here’s how the production process works: The raw materials — the old plastic — arrives at the smaller black building at the site to be recycled. The company uses a type of plastic called HDPE (high density polyethylene). Some of that material comes from the actual waste that LL&W workers have pulled from rivers on their nationwide cleanups. Additional material comes from other supplies of HDPE plastic and some comes from the company’s customers. For instance, Green Current recently received 1,600 old hard hats that were used as raw material to make pallets for that customer. That old plastic goes through a machine that shreds and grinds the materials and turns the plastic pieces into small bits that resemble cereal flakes. The machinery can process up to 3,000 pounds of plastic an hour. (The company also gets raw material plastics from suppliers that have already gone through a grinding process. Those plastics are in the shape of small circular pellets.)

The small pieces of plastic will eventually go to the company’s larger building that houses a massive injection molding machine. The plastic is put into the machine, melted down and turned into black plastic pallets. Even though the company is just getting its pallet-making work off the ground, it has caught the attention of many people in the community including East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman who said he’s “thrilled” the company is moving forward. “We are thrilled to have Green Current Solutions in East Moline. It’s a fantastic initiative that promotes sustainability and reduces waste. Green Current Solutions creates job opportunities in the community while helping to preserve the environment. We look forward to seeing the positive impact they will make in East Moline as they contribute to a greener future,” the mayor said. Ms. Becker also hopes the company has a big positive impact in the months and years to come. “Obviously, we want to grow. We’d love to fill our existing factory with a couple more injection molding machines,” she said. “We also want to diversify our pallet portfolio with a few more sizes and styles of pallets, too. “But Chad and I didn’t start this business to make tons of money.  We started this to save more trees and recycle more plastics so we can do more good for the world,” she stressed. “We also want to be the best company to work for.  We want to pay our employees well, have the best benefits around and promote a safe, yet fun culture and be really supportive of our Quad Cities communities.”  

At a Glance

What: Green Current Solutions is a startup plastic injection molding company. Location: 401 12th Ave., East Moline. Company leaders: The husband-wife team of Chad Pregracke and Tammy Becker. Ms. Becker is the company CEO and Mr. Pregracke is the company president. Size of facility: The plant spans 100,000 square feet and sits on 16 acres on East Moline’s riverfront. The facility includes two buildings: the larger building has the plastic injection mold machinery to build plastic pallets. A second, smaller building is used to process the raw material plastics coming to the plant that will be turned into pallets. What it makes: The plant makes plastic, injection molded pallets. The pallets are made of 100% recycled HDPE (high density polyethylene) plastic. This plastic comes from ocean-bound plastics collected by Living Lands & Waters during river cleanup operations, and other HDPE from other sources. Green Current says its new plastic pallets are 10 times more durable than traditional wooden pallets. Features of pallets: The 48-by-40-inch pallets weigh around 50 pounds. Other features include: weather and chemical resistant; bar codes on pallets; stackable; company logos can be placed on pallets; options include glass-filled nylon or galvanized steel beam inserts in the pallets. Advantages of plastic pallets: According to Green Current Solutions, plastic pallets help reduce plastics pollution and they save trees. That’s because 43% of all hardwood trees are cut down to make single-use pallets. Making and using 100,000 plastic pallets will save 12,500 trees. Workforce: Three full-time employees and about three contractors. (CEO Ms. Becker said she hopes to hire many more employees in the future.) Phone: (309) 236-0740 Website: greencurrentsolutions.com