Agrifiber-Plastic Composite Privacy Fencing Introduced

The usual attributes of composite wood apply: durability; low maintenance; lack of splinters; little appeal to insects; and good fastener retention. The composite mimics the appearance and use of natural wood, is available in four low-fading integral colors, and carries a 20-year residential warranty (five years commercial). Heartland BioComposites touts the line as more cost-effective than wood, vinyl, and the leading wood-plastic composites.

The material, in development since the mid-1990s, has been the work of Heath Van Eaton—himself a product of a Kansas wheat-farming background. Growing up, he saw “a high level of underutilization of wheat straw. Then, in the early ’90s, I learned about Trex [wood-plastic composite lumber], and that intrigued me beyond belief.” Van Eaton began research on straw-plastic composites while studying at the University of Wyoming, and in 1999 founded Heartland BioComposites to further develop and market the material. The company has blossomed into a $10 million manufacturing startup.