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Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Trex Company Publishes 2024 Sustainability Report Highlighting How Circular Innovation Is Adding Value to the Business
WINCHESTER, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX), the world's leading manufacturer of high-performance, wood-alternative decking and railing, today announced the release of its 2024 Sustainability Report. The comprehensive report details the company's continued leadership in materials circularity, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility—core to Trex's identity since its founding more than 30 years ago. 'I am proud of how Trex has seamlessly integrated sustainability into our business—not as an add-on, but as a core strategy,' said Bryan Fairbanks, President and CEO of Trex Company. 'Our sustainability program is built into our distinctive brand, enhances resilience, and drives stronger returns for our shareholders. This makes sustainability a win-win for both our business and society at large.' The company's 2024 Sustainability Report charts progress across the board. Key points include: Commitment to Circularity: In 2024, Trex sourced over 1 billion pounds of reclaimed polyethylene (PE) film and wood scrap—including 377 million pounds of waste plastic, making Trex one of one of North America's largest recyclers of PE. Innovative Products: Trex decking and railing products are designed for durability, aesthetic appeal, and long-lasting performance, with limited warranties of up to 50 years. Our Enhance deck boards, built and priced to compete directly with wood, come with a 25-year warranty—about twice the lifespan of typical wood decking in outdoor conditions. This extended longevity significantly reduces the need for replacements, lowering the environmental impact. Efficiency in Manufacturing: Trex maximized resource efficiency by recycling nearly 100% of its production scrap. Trex also recycled 31% of its general waste that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Creating Opportunity for Employees: Trex expanded its learning and development programs and increased employee engagement. In 2024 alone, employees benefited from over 62,000 hours of training. External Recognition: Trex was recognized as a Green Builder® Sustainable Brand Leader, included in Barron's 2024 list of Top Sustainable Companies, and received the Greater Good Award for Large Business of the Year from The Top of Virginia Regional Chamber. The report also outlines forward-looking initiatives, including expanded end-of-life product recycling pilots and new sourcing strategies to build resilience amid growing demand for recycled materials. 'Sustainability has always been integral to who we are,' said Amy Fernandez, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer of Trex Company. 'Our 2024 report reflects our unwavering commitment to responsible growth, innovation, and continuous improvement.' The full 2024 Sustainability Report is available at About Trex Company For more than 30 years, Trex Company (NYSE:TREX) has invented, reinvented and defined the composite decking category. Today, the Company is the world's #1 brand of sustainably made, wood-alternative decking and railing, and a leader in high performance, low-maintenance outdoor living products. Trex boasts the industry's strongest distribution network with products sold through more than 6,700 retail outlets across six continents. Through strategic licensing agreements, the Company offers a comprehensive outdoor living portfolio that includes deck drainage, flashing tapes, LED lighting, outdoor kitchen components, pergolas, spiral stairs, fencing, lattice, cornhole and outdoor furniture – all marketed under the Trex ® brand. Based in Winchester, Va., Trex earned top honors in this year's Environment + Energy (E+E) Leader Awards. Trex ® composite decking was not only named Product of the Year but also the Judges' Choice Winner as the top-scoring entry in the Consumer + Residential category. Trex is proud to have been named America's Most Trusted ® Outdoor Decking * 5 Years in a Row (2021-2025). The Company was also included on the Barron's list of the 100 Most Sustainable U.S. Companies (2024 and 2025), named one of America's Most Responsible Companies 2024 by Newsweek and ranked as one of the 100 Best ESG Companies by Investor's Business Daily. For more information, visit You may also follow Trex on Facebook (trexcompany), Instagram (trexcompany), X (Trex_Company), LinkedIn (trex-company), TikTok (trexcompany), Pinterest (trexcompany) and Houzz (trex-company-inc), or view product and demonstration videos on the brand's YouTube channel (TheTrexCo). *: Trex received the highest numerical score in the proprietary Lifestory Research 2021-2025 America's Most Trusted® Outdoor Decking studies. Study results are based on the experiences and perceptions of people surveyed. Your experiences may vary. Visit
Digital Trends
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
I played Lumines Arise and now it's my most anticipated game of the year with a bullet
June 4 was a big day for me, as I got my Nintendo Switch 2 that morning. You think that I would have rushed to try out Mario Kart World even Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour first, but neither christened my device. Instead, the first thing I played was Lumines Remastered. The PSP puzzle game has become a go-to console testing game for me over the years, as it's a great test for control precision and screen latency. As I was playing it, sinking back into its familiar rhythm, a very serious question crossed my mind: Is Lumines the best game ever made? Then, came a second, more pressing question: Why the heck haven't we gotten a new one in ages? Little did I know that my prayers would be answered hours later when Sony's State of Play kicked off with the shock announcement of Lumines Arise, the latest project from the developers of Tetris Effect. I couldn't believe it. It felt like I had willed it into existence somehow. I couldn't wait to play it — and I wouldn't need to. As fate would have it, it turned out that I already had an appointment to demo it at Summer Game Fest (one I booked for a then 'unannounced' game by Enhance). I was nervous to try it out. Could it really live up to what had ballooned into some very lofty expectations? Recommended Videos Yes, it could. Lumines Arise is everything I have ever dreamed of and so much more. Return of the king If you've never entered the church of the block, let me hand you a brochure. Lumines is a rhythm puzzle series that began its life as a PSP cult classic. In it, players drop two-toned square blocks into a horizontal, rectangular grid. The goal is to match colors together to create 4×4 squares, chaining them together as much as possible. There's a twist, though: Matched squares don't clear until a line, that moves to the beat of the soundtrack, passes over them. The real skill comes from creating combos out of boxes before the line comes back around. There's no good comparison point for it. You could point to Puyo Puyo as an insufficient reference, but Lumines is just Lumines. That classic hook hasn't been changed for Lumines Arise. As soon as I pick up the control during my demo, I'm able to start dropping blocks and making chains without missing a beat. It's an immediate pleasure to do so, too, as the Enhance delivers the tight controls and snappy feel that the series needs to succeed. That alone would already constitute a job well done. Enhance isn't just dropping the same game again with a few new songs, though. It's offering its own spin on the formula in the same way that it did in Tetris Effect. The twist here is a new burst system. As I play and make combos, a number ticks up next to the screen-crossing line. When that number hits 40, I can press a button to enter burst mode. Doing so will create one mega block that I can build a combo off of as a timer ticks by. The longer I wait to use my burst, the longer time will stay in burst mode and allow me to set up an even bigger chain. If I play my cards right, I can create a block that takes over the entire well by the time the burst window ends. It's a smart addition, because it tests an entirely different skill for Lumines players. While the core game is usually about creating setups to elongate combos, burst time tests how well I can continue to build off of one square. I need to keep the color I'm matching free during burst time, lest I accidentally box myself in and waste the bonus period. It's a subtle, but different change to the puzzle format that builds out on an elegant idea without throwing what works away. Of course, what's especially about Lumines getting the Tetris Effect treatment is the psychedelic imagery surrounding the puzzle board. My demo run took me through three themes, each one soundtracked by the original new music by Tetris Effect's composer. For instance, the second phase gave the board a mechanical theme with my blocks turning into metal crates. The third one was the most memorable of the run, as the screen was surrounded by neon lizards and fireworks-like explosions. It's a total spectacle and I am dying to see how it all looks in VR. When I finished my run, a developer from Enhance looked a little surprised. He noted that the demo usually takes around 20 minutes, but I had racked up my score so fast that I was done in eight. He asked if I wanted another go since I still had 20 minutes left in my appointment. I didn't hesitate: Hell yes I did. If that's already my response after my first session of Lumines Arise, I can't imagine how many runs are in my future. Lumines Arise launches on PS5 and PC. It will feature PlayStation VR2 support.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Legal tech platform Definely raises $30M Series B to make contract reviewing more efficient
Nnamdi Emelifeonwu was always curious about what work life was like for his colleague Feargus MacDaeid, one of the few registered blind lawyers in the U.K. Both practiced law at the global firm Freshfields. When asking about what would make his life easier, the answer was clear: 'Help me navigate definitions in complex contracts without losing context,' Emelifeonwu told TechCrunch. He realized the fix to MacDaeid's request would be useful to every lawyer. So in 2017, Emelifeonwu and MacDaeid teamed up to launch Definely, an AI legal tech startup allowing lawyers to more seamlessly review and edit complex contracts. The company, based in the U.K., announced earlier this week a $30 million Series B from a mix of European and North American investors, including Revaia, Alumni Ventures, and Beacon Capital. It had previously raised a $7 million Series A last May. Definely offers a productivity suite to streamline the legal drafting and review process. It has a Draft feature that lets lawyers read contracts and navigate definitions and clauses without losing their place in the document; it has a Vault, that lets users insert clauses with a single click; it has a Proof feature, which uses AI to check for inconsistencies and broken cross-references, and it has a PDF feature that lets users extract and analyze points from scanned legal documents. 'Looking ahead, we're building on these capabilities with an agentic AI system we recently launched called Enhance,' Emelifeonwu said, adding that it has AI agents that work with Microsoft Word. 'These agents collaborate to complete tasks across drafting, reviewing, and proofreading, streamlining work for legal professionals where they already operate.' Emelifeonwu described the fundraising process this time around as 'arduous.' 'A close second [word] might be rewarding,' he said. The company met this round's lead investor, Revaia, through an introduction. The rest of the investors came to the company directly. 'We didn't reach out to one investor during Series B.' The fresh capital will be used to further the company's expansion into the U.S., which now accounts for 30% of the company's revenue, it says. It also hopes to further invest in the AI space and hire more employees. Others working in the legal contract space in this way include the companies Luminance, Robin AI, and ContractPodAi. Emelifeonwu, a Nigerian immigrant in the U.K., said he dreamed of being a lawyer since he was a kid but once he became one, he was hit with the entrepreneurial spirit. 'I've always had ideas, and I explored a few, but when the right idea came along, one that tapped directly into the challenges I experienced firsthand as a lawyer, I knew I had to pursue it,' he continued. He also understands the importance of such a big round when Black founders don't, statistically, account for much of the annual venture fundraising activity. 'Having raised fresh capital and building toward a truly global business, it's both a personal milestone and, I hope, a signal to others that it's possible,' he said. 'I want this to inspire the next wave of builders who may not come from traditional paths but have just as much potential to create lasting impact.' Sign in to access your portfolio
TechCrunch
12-06-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Legal tech platform Definely raises $30M Series B to make contract reviewing more efficient
Nnamdi Emelifeonwu was always curious about what work life was like for his colleague Feargus MacDaeid, one of the few registered blind lawyers in the U.K. Both practiced law at the global firm Freshfields. When asking about what would make his life easier, the answer was clear: 'Help me navigate definitions in complex contracts without losing context,' Emelifeonwu told TechCrunch. He realized the fix to MacDaeid's request would be useful to every lawyer. So in 2017, Emelifeonwu and MacDaeid teamed up to launch Definely, an AI legal tech startup allowing lawyers to more seamlessly review and edit complex contracts. The company, based in the U.K., announced earlier this week a $30 million Series B from a mix of European and North American investors, including Revaia, Alumni Ventures, and Beacon Capital. It had previously raised a $7 million Series A last May. Definely offers a productivity suite to streamline the legal drafting and review process. It has a Draft feature that lets lawyers read contracts and navigate definitions and clauses without losing their place in the document; it has a Vault, that lets users insert clauses with a single click; it has a Proof feature, which uses AI to check for inconsistencies and broken cross-references, and it has a PDF feature that lets users extract and analyze points from scanned legal documents. 'Looking ahead, we're building on these capabilities with an agentic AI system we recently launched called Enhance,' Emelifeonwu said, adding that it has AI agents that work with Microsoft Word. 'These agents collaborate to complete tasks across drafting, reviewing, and proofreading, streamlining work for legal professionals where they already operate.' Emelifeonwu described the fundraising process this time around as 'arduous.' Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW 'A close second [word] might be rewarding,' he said. The company met this round's lead investor, Revaia, through an introduction. The rest of the investors came to the company directly. 'We didn't reach out to one investor during Series B.' The fresh capital will be used to further the company's expansion into the U.S., which now accounts for 30% of the company's revenue, it says. It also hopes to further invest in the AI space and hire more employees. Others working in the legal contract space in this way include the companies Luminance, Robin AI, and ContractPodAi. Emelifeonwu, a Nigerian immigrant in the U.K., said he dreamed of being a lawyer since he was a kid but once he became one, he was hit with the entrepreneurial spirit. 'I've always had ideas, and I explored a few, but when the right idea came along, one that tapped directly into the challenges I experienced firsthand as a lawyer, I knew I had to pursue it,' he continued. He also understands the importance of such a big round when Black founders don't, statistically, account for much of the annual venture fundraising activity. 'Having raised fresh capital and building toward a truly global business, it's both a personal milestone and, I hope, a signal to others that it's possible,' he said. 'I want this to inspire the next wave of builders who may not come from traditional paths but have just as much potential to create lasting impact.'
Digital Trends
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
The best games we played at Summer Game Fest 2025
The summer has truly begun. Last week, Geoff Keighley christened June with his annual Summer Game Fest stream. While a bit less exciting than previous years, the two-hour stream unveiled plenty of new games from Code Vein 2 to Resident Evil Requiem. Following the event, Digital Trends attended the show's three day long Play Days event. The show featured playable demos of several games revealed during the show, as well as Sony's State of Play, Day of the Devs, and more. Over those three days, we played tons of upcoming games and walked away excited for what's coming in the back half of 2025 and beyond. While we can't talk about everything we got to play yet (stay tuned to Digital Trends over the next week for more coverage), we have plenty of games that we can tell you about. From the psychedelic puzzling of Lumines Arise to Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's fast-paced 2D action, these were the games that impressed us most at this year's show. And trust us: it's only the tip of the iceberg. Recommended Videos Game of the Show: Lumines Arise I've been waiting a very long time for a proper sequel to Lumines. The cult classic PSP rhythm game has always been one of my all-time favorites, to the point that its remaster was one of the first games I played on my Nintendo Switch 2. So, my expectations were very high when Tetris Effect developer Enhance announced Lumines Arise. Thankfully, the team did not disappoint. During my demo, I played a quick run that featured three different songs. It completely blew me away. The color matching rules of the original are the same, but that hook has been buffed up by some dazzling visuals. The levels I played were spectacular, full of thumping music and neon iguanas. there's also one new trick in the form of bursts. When I have enough energy built up, I can activate a special effect that lets me build up one giant color block as big as it can go. It's a genius addition to the formula that rewards players who can match blocks fast. It doesn't have a release date yet, but I'll be clawing at the gates of Enhance's offices until I can play more. Sword of the Sea There may not be a game released in 2025 that feels as good as Sword of the Sea. The latest game from Giant Squid plays like a mix between Journey and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The minimalistic game has players surfing through biomes on a sword, solving puzzles in the environment and doing a bit of platforming. What makes it all special is how incredible the movement feels. Surfing feels remarkably smooth and Giant Squid takes advantage of that with levels that are built like skateparks. In my demo, I rode up half pipes and grinded down enormous chains. I was able to nail every trick I attempted thanks to how forgiving movement is. You can feel it for yourself on August 19, and I suggest you do. Mixtape If there was one game on everyone's tongue during Summer Game Fest, it was Mixtape — and not just because it features the sloppiest French kissing minigame ever put into a video game. The narrative adventure from the creators of The Artful Escape is 90s teen slacker comedy in video game form. During my demo, I'd follow the tale of three small town teens yearning to break free. The bit I played told the story through interactive vignettes chronicling their escapades, all soundtracked by an excellent selection of songs. I skateboarded along to Devo, tapped buttons in time with music to headbang through a car ride, and escape a busted house party with a daring shopping cart chase sequence as the cops tailed me. Every sequence was hilarious, sincere, and full of jams that placed me directly into its 90s setting. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance I wasn't expecting too much from Shinobi: Art of Vengeance when I stepped into my first demo of it. After all, you've played one retro-inspired 2D action game, you've played them all, right? Wrong. Sega's surprising revival is much faster than your average side scroller, full of lightning quick combat encounters that let me clear out an entire room full of ninjas in no time flat. Developer Lizardcube has done a bang-up job here, keeping the series in line with its roots while crafting a highly stylized 2D action game dressed up with lovely hand-painted art. It's one heck of a return for Shinobi. Blighted When I first saw Drinkbox's latest game, Blighted, I thought it was a total departure for the studio. Now that I've played it, I now see it as a perfect culmination of everything it has done. It's a top-down action RPG, not unlike Nobody Saves the World. It's a Metroidvania too, just like its Guacamelee series. The art style even calls back to Severed, my personal favorite of its catalogue. All of that comes together in a tough action experience that's inspired by Soulslikes, but still very much a Drinkbox game. My favorite innovation here comes in the form of its blight system, which will gradually buff players' strength while making enemies a little tougher. It's a dynamic approach to difficulty that happens at an in-game level rather than in menus. Plus, it's a game that involves fighting horse-spiders and eating their brains to get powers. That part seems worth mentioning too. Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School A few years back, a group of escape room designers decided to form a video game studio and put their talents to good use. The result was Escape Academy, a great set of co-op puzzle boxes that felt just a little too brief. Now, Coin Crew Games is returning with a much bigger sequel in Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School. In my demo, I solved a great introductory escape room with a friend that had us decoding clues together by using split screen to our advantage. What's new this time, though, is that we also got to explore the actual academy, which is full of little side-missions and objectives that almost turn it into a puzzle Metroidvania. It's a great expansion of what was already a solid game, making the sequel feel like a more fully realized version of Escape Academy. Toem 2 It didn't take long in my Toem 2 demo to remind me why I loved its predecessor so much. The first Toem was a charming little photography game full of critters to snap and puzzles to solve. The sequel delivers more of its black and white joy, and even a few new tricks along the way. This time, I'm not just taking pictures and giving them to villagers to solve their requests. I'm also doing more platforming, using a hammer function in my camera to break blocks, solving riddles, going on a mission to make sure a guy turned his stove off, and more. My demo doled out constant surprises through the end, which made it hard to wrench myself away from the controller when my time was up. Dosa Divas After finding success with Thirsty Suitors, Outerloop Games is back with its most creative game to date. Dosa Divas is a turn-based RPG in which two sisters take on a nefarious corporation, ride giant mechs, and occasionally stop to cook a meal or two. It's a genre hybrid in the same way that Thirsty Suitors was, but all of its disparate parts feel much more connected now. There's too much to break down in a quick blurb, but I'll call out its great battle system, which plays like a combination of Bravely Default and Paper Mario. I can both stack up turns to perform more powerful attacks and add extra power to my attacks by pressing a button at the right moment. If you love Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, this is another mechanically creative, narrative-driven RPG that should be on your radar. Snap & Grab I've played a lot of heist games, but never one quite like Snap & Grab. This one is all about casing the joint, as I play the role of a woman whose job it is to stake out a loot location and snap photos of every potential obstacle standing in the way of stealing it. The goal of each level is to create a perfect scenario that will allow your accomplice to perform the theft, all by stringing together snapshots in a logical sequence. One heist had me trying to steal a key stuck in an ice statue's hand. By taking photos, I pieced together that I could keep guards occupied while turning up the heat in the mansion to melt the statue. Doing so would give my pal a clear path to get the job done. It's an incredibly clever idea full of heist scenarios that have some immersive sim charm to them, as there isn't just one solution to every problem.
