Dave Phillips envisions a day when ceiling tiles conjure thoughts of coffee cups.

Phillips has launched The ReWall Co. LLC, which will use a European technology to recycle polyethylene-coated cups and cartons into building products.

He plans to manufacture the products in Des Moines for distribution in Iowa and North America.

For Phillips, the company has been more than two years in the making, with much of that time spent lining up investors and persuading Kruc Co. Ltd. of the Slovak Republic to introduce its manufacturing processes in this country.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development was impressed enough with the idea that it provided a $150,000 demonstration fund grant to ReWall last month so that it can continue product testing in the United States in order to be certified by the International Code Council.

Phillips also hopes to have the material certified as a green building product that would help building owners qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

Preliminary testing has been conducted at Iowa State University’s Institute for Physical Research and Technology. The results of those tests will be used as benchmarks to determine the overall quality of ReWall’s finished product – a fiberboard that can be used for interior and exterior walls, ceiling tiles, roof sheathing, floor underlayment, structural insulated panels and countertop substrate.

ReWall will serve two functions, Phillips said. It will grab material that is difficult to recycle and produce building products that are durable and moisture resistant.

“As with any enterprise, you have to figure out what problem you’re solving,” he said. “The first problem we are solving is garbage.”

In this case, the garbage is the 2 million tons of polyethylene-coated cups and cartons that enter landfills every year. Metro Waste Authority should receive results of a study next month that will indicate how much of those materials is going into its landfill, said spokeswoman Amy Hock.

“The municipal waste stream is where we are going to have the most impact,” Phillips said. “There isn’t enough consumer waste alone in Iowa to fuel our operation. We’re going to start with commercial and industrial applications … then we’ll go to municipalities and ask them to include cartons in their collections.”

Those products have been recycled in Europe in a process that involves stripping away the plastic, removing the ink and salvaging the remaining paper for use in consumer products such as napkins and tissues.

To make the process more environmentally friendly, Kuroc developed a procedure that shreds, heats and compresses all of that plastic, paper and ink into one product.

“It’s trade secret technology, so I’m being kind of circumspect,” Phillips said. So secret that the manufacturing process will not be for public display, he said.

The construction materials have been tested and certified in Europe, where they have been in use for more than a decade, he said. The key ingredient for moisture resistance is the plastic that remains embedded in the recycled product.

“The contamination is buried into the board,” Phillips said.

ReWall will employ about 15 people when it is up and running, with staffing done in collaboration with the Jacobson Cos., which will also provide transportation services, he said.

Phillips is finalizing details for leasing a 20,000-square-foot warehouse on East 18th Street.