Bamboo better than steel? One company moves to Missouri, betting big on architectural and industrial bamboo

A manufacturing company creating a material gaining popularity in the United States recently moved from Illinois to Missouri, citing a better business climate
Published: May 13, 2025 at 10:30 PM CDT
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ST. CHARLES, Mo. (First Alert 4) - A manufacturing company creating a material gaining popularity in the United States recently moved from Illinois to Missouri, citing a better business climate.

Renuteq plans to fully ramp up operations next month after moving from Illinois to the city of St. Charles last year.

The company engineers bamboo — and builders will then use that modified wood instead of steel.

“So these are 20 foot slats of bamboo we get shipped from Columbia, South America,” said plant manager Brian Luebbert.

Luebbert made airplanes and automobiles in previous jobs, largely dealing with metals. He learned a lot about bamboo when he took this job last month.

“It has higher strength than steel,” said Luebbert. “It surprised me when I first starting here too.”

Renuteq is a company using raw bamboo — molding the plants together for several uses. It can be used for buildings, such as at the Veterans Airport in Marion, Illinois, or it can be used in data centers to help cool the technology because bamboo doesn’t get as hot as steel.

“Extremely strong and very durable,” said Renuteq founder and CEO Luke Schuette.

Schuette is optimistic this warehouse will become fully operational next month. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to pick up his operations in Illinois and start from scratch in St. Charles.

“Missouri is just a really great place to do business,” said Schuette. “Support for businesses, much more so than Illinois.”

Schuette cites particularly onerous taxes in Illinois as one reason for the move. And while many companies around Missouri and nationwide have bemoaned the impact of tariffs coming from President Trump’s administration, Schuette said they’ve actually helped them.

“We have truly positioned ourselves truly as a US manufacturer,” he said.

He said despite the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign countries — and their bamboo being imported from Central and South America — he tells First Alert 4 his operations have not been impacted. And now they are all under one roof — which saves money.

“The companies that are truly already structuring themselves to manufacture from the United States have only benefited,” said Schuette.

And you may see some of these products around St. Louis. Their bamboo is expected to be used on the new Crestwood Community Center.

Plus, they have international interest — working with BMW to create solar-powered charging stations.

“We were sending our materials all over the world for that and we want to continue that type of business,” said Schuette.