Mathew Zachariah is an entrepreneur and artist living in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the Founder of Seraphim Plastics LLC, an industrial plastic recycling facility that handles a portion of NAL’s plastic scrap. Mathew has been working in the plastics industry for nearly 30 years, and for the past six years, he’s been turning post-industrial waste into unique art pieces. His company recycles rigid plastics like knockdown bins, pallets, crates, totes, buckets, office water jugs and scrap from NAL’s acrylic headlights and taillights. Seraphim Plastics grinds the plastic down to 3/8” pieces called regrind, and supplies the clean, industrial regrind to customers who use recycled material in their end products. Mathew shared that his company recycles almost one million pounds of plastic per month.
Not only is Mathew on a mission to reduce waste, he’s also passionate about giving the scrap new life through art form. When Mathew moved from Flint, MI to Memphis, TN, he said he didn’t know many people in the city, but he knew his hands and art drew him back to his youth. As the Founder of Seraphim Plastics, he has a colorful array of post-industrial plastic at his disposal to use on his recycled masterpieces. His canvases range in size from 24”x30” to 5’x7’, and usually takes 6-10 weeks to complete.
“Being able to breathe new life into something terminal has always been a joy of mine,” said Zachariah. “To create images from my heart and mind onto a canvas is even more satisfying.”
NAL is proud to work with Seraphim Plastics through our main recycler, Cross Industries. Together, we are improving the overall waste reduction in our facilities and giving new life to our scrap.
“The NAL plants make every effort to reduce scrap to lowest possible volumes,” said Bill Fisher, NAL Environmental Engineer. “But, NAL has made arrangements for recycling nearly all production plastic scrap that does result.”
Don’t miss Mathew’s feature on our Instagram reel!
Mathew has multiple canvases available for purchase and is also available for commissioned work. You can check out more of Mathew’s artwork by visiting mjz-art.com or his Instagram account, @mjzac_art.
If your industrial company is looking to recycle large quantities of plastic scrap, we highly recommend working with a company specializing in business to business recycling. Residential customers who wish to recycle household scrap are encouraged to call their local city residential recycling center.