Innovation

ACRE is a wood alternative that is made from upcycled rice hulls. It utilizes the husk of a grain of rice by taking it out of the waste stream and grinding it to flour. It is is then mixed with PVC and gets extruded into a sheet to be sanded and textured. This product can be used to create any wood-based exterior for houses and resembles hardwood.

Modern Mill's CEO was traveling in Germany when he discovered the patent for ACRE. Up to that point, Modern Mill had been using it to produce Resysta, a water-resistant material with the look and feel of wood that is sustainably sourced and fully recyclable. This product had been produced for over 20 years. With the purchase of the patent, Modern Mill was able to produce a different product with a similar idea. Through a different manufacturing process, they created a sustainable wood alternative made in the United States.

This innovation has an impact on UN SDGs 9, 11, 12, and 13. The product works to reduce environmental waste and overall deforestation, which works to limit climate change. Further, the innovation of the product promotes the use of sustainable building materials and overall responsible production.

Inspiration

During a business trip to Germany, Modern Mill's CEO came across the patent for ACRE. It had been used for the last 20 years but with a different profile. The CEO returned from travel and talked to his investors. Silas, a Regional Sales Manager, stated in the interview, "They thought it could be a really big product here. They pushed that it could be really competitive since it had attributes you could find in any other composite material." With the help of his brother, sister, and a team of investors, Modern Mill developed the modified product to better the environment and the town in which the product was manufactured.

Overall impact

“There are three pillars to the company: community, innovation, and sustainability,” Silas stated in the interview. Modern Mill developed a product that by itself can make leaps in the world of positive environmental impact; however, the positive impact of the company did not stop there. Through the formation of their company in a rural town with high levels of unemployment and poverty, they were able to provide a significant job market. Lastly, their focus on the content of their material and the sourcing through recycling leads to a huge environmental positive impact.

At this time, we found no quantifiable way to measure the short- and long-term impact of the product, as it is difficult to measure directly how much rice hull is going into the landfill. However, any company that actively removes a product that cannot be composted is making a positive impact.

By taking over the demand from natural hardwoods, Modern Mill makes a huge impact on deforestation and helps to preserve land by limiting the number of trees cut for the production of hardwood products.

Business benefit

In regards to the building industry, Modern Mill faces a special challenge. It is difficult for clients in the building industry to compare directly on environmental impact unless one is specifically targeting another competitor. Further, since it is a sustainable product, it does not measure up to the revenue from products that were sourced in unsustainable manners. As such, the impact is difficult to quantify unless a specific competitor is being targeted. However, the company is averaging between $75-125 million in gross revenue sales.

Because the business was opened in a town with minimal jobs, it offered over 100 new jobs to people, many of whom were previously unemployed. These jobs improved the overall well-being of the employees, as they came with important benefits. The company offers high-paying jobs with health insurance and automatic 401k benefits. Modern Mill offered jobs in a place where there were not many and stepped in to help decrease the unemployment rate.

Social and environmental benefit

As mentioned earlier, one of the company's primary goals was to do something that gave back to the community. For this reason, the plant was built in McComb, Mississippi, which is a town that is virtually forgotten. About 50 percent of the local population has been unemployed or under the poverty line. By building the plant in this town, the company was able to give well-paid jobs with many benefits, including placing 3% of each employee's paycheck into a 401k. Overall, this company was able to create over 100 jobs in a town where there are not many jobs available.

Modern Mill has a great positive environmental impact. First, by taking rice hulls out of the waste stream. Given that the US is a top-five exporter of rice, the US also leads in the production of rice husks. Silas explained in the interview, “By nature, rice husks don't absorb water. So insects can’t digest the product and it is low on heat retention, which means it won’t compost like an organic material would. This leads to it filling up a landfill in an area that will probably last for a couple hundred years.” While it is difficult to measure directly how many rice hulls go into the landfill versus how many are removed by Modern Mill, any product that removes a significant portion of that waste is making a positive impact. Finally, Modern Mills' landmark product, ACRE, claims some demand that would otherwise go to natural hardwoods, thereby helping to preserve more land and forest.

Interview

Silas Betz, Regional Sales Manager