Brooke Taylor has plenty of inventory ready to go to your cottage or backyard.
It started with a few pieces of recycled plastic “lumber”.
Brooke Taylor wanted to build a couple of chairs that could withstand the weather and a producer in Lindsay was looking for someone to purchase their plastic wood material. A carpenter by trade, Brooke took the material and started building. He is seen as a pioneer in recycled plastic, creating virtually indestructible outdoor furniture and a variety of custom applications. What began as a side business soon took off, until at its peak, it boasted 18 full-time staff operating out of the original Fraserville location with 90% of the product selling to US customers. Much of these sales were for custom products, from schoolyard items to animal pens and even components for portable outhouses. The material was heavy, making it stable, easy to clean and boasted a life cycle whose limit had yet to be reached. In 1994 Taylor found a natural market at a cottage show in Toronto and soon the cottage chair became his signature product.
The September 11th 2001 attacks in the U.S. had a significant impact on his export business. On that fateful day he was called by a school from New Jersey about an order. He expressed surprise that the caller was spending time on this issue given the events of the day, but until that moment she had been unaware of the attacks. In the aftermath of this event, shipping to the US became extremely challenging, forcing him to focus on other markets.
Later he moved to his current location at 581 County Rd 28 just north of Bailieboro, where he continued to operate until 2023 when he received an offer he couldn’t refuse and decided to retire.
Two years later with energy to burn and inventory to sell, Taylor has reopened the business on a smaller scale, applying his 35 years of experience in the recycled plastic business to offer outdoor furniture, plastic lumber and sheeting in a wide variety of styles, sizes and colours which is ideal for decks, docks and other out-door projects.
These days there are many competitors in the recycled plastic business, but not all products are alike. Plastic is nota light-weight material: think of the weight of a stack of vinyl records. Products differ in their weight which depends on the scale of materials used, and the contents of the materials. Taylor products use one of two types of raw material: extruded product has a very smooth surface and can be seamless while the composite product has as light grain on the surface and comes in specific sizes. All of Taylor’s products are 100% Canadian. Raw material is now sourced from plants in Stratford and Barrie. Composite material includes at least 60% recycled plastic, whereas the recycled content in the extruded product is slightly lower. Purists looking for a higher con-centration of recycled material are limited in colour selection as the bright colours are only in the material with more virgin plastic content.
Brooke’s Plastics is open for business on Wednesday through Friday from 9 am until 4pm, but he is available at other times by appointment. To learn more, visit www.brooketaylormade4u.ca or call 705-750-8601