Innovative Michigan Businesses Use Plant-Based Products in Unexpected Ways
In partnership with: Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
Michigan is home to numerous pioneering companies forging the way in plant-based products. Plastics made from hemp, cauliflower-based oatmeal, vegan egg substitutes and more unique products are making a splash and providing consumers with alternative options in their daily lives. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what is being done with plant-based materials.
Going Greener
In 2002, Green Cell Foam launched in the packaging market as a material that would protect fragile or sensitive items from damage during shipping.
KTM Industries Inc., based in Holt, created the technology behind the product, realizing there had to be something more environmentally friendly than the packing peanuts commonly used.
“After a couple of years of development, we created a sheet of cornstarch foam through an extrusion process,” says Timothy Colonnese, president and CEO of the company. “This material had cushioning properties similar to synthetic foams used in packaging applications, yet all the environmental benefits of an organic material.”
Over the years, Green Cell Foam has been used to protect everything from automotive and aerospace parts to wine bottles, computer components and more. In 2009, Green Cell Foam was tested as a thermal insulator and performed as well as the industry standard, polystyrene. With this data, Green Cell Coolers were introduced into the cold-chain market to protect pharmaceuticals, foods and other temperature-sensitive products.
More than 25 million plastic shipping coolers have been taken out of the environment thanks to Green Cell Coolers in the past dozen years.
“Developing and marketing a plant-based product to compete with materials that dominated the market from huge companies was a longshot at best,” Colonnese says. “Originally, there was a tremendous amount of resistance in the marketplace. After assembling a really good team and a lot of tenacity, Green Cell Foam is not only supplanting nonsustainable materials, it’s educating the public that plant-based products work really well.”
See more: Michigan Growers Are Excited About the Potential of Industrial Hemp
Safer for Soldiers
Lansing-based TopDuck Products manufactures natural, eco-friendly products including Superzilla, a plant-based solvent for cleaning, lubricating and penetrating for the home and industrial markets, and Gunzilla, which is recommended as a CLP (cleans, lubricates and protects) of guns for military, law enforcement and sportsmen.
Don Kettles founded the company in 2004 after his son’s friend, who was in the military, told him how the experience of using the gun cleaner in the field without gloves wreaked havoc on the soldier’s hands.
Kettles did some research and learned the product the military was using could cause damage to the user’s lungs, liver, kidneys, blood supply and nervous system due to the dangerous chemicals involved.
“I couldn’t believe we were giving this to our troops with no gloves or warnings,” he says.
Another conversation with someone higher up revealed even scarier news – if troops were in a firefight in a sandstorm for more than 30 minutes, every gun would jam if not cleaned on the half-hour.
Armed with that information, Kettles set out to find a formula that could help. In 2006, Gunzilla was released, and everyone who tried it said the guns didn’t jam.
Meanwhile, Superzilla, known as “The Green Wonder,” is nonhazardous and a testimonial to the superior power of plant materials working together to create a safe and effective product for the most difficult jobs performed by mechanics and homeowners. It’s a different formula than Gunzilla but has some of the same components.
“Plant-based materials are superior cleaners, superior lubricators and superior penetrating products; however, they are a lot more expensive to make, and it takes a much more complicated formula to make it successful,” Kettles says. “It takes about 16 to 18 hours to make one 2,000-gallon batch.”
But when it’s finished, unlike a petroleum product, there’s a nonionic charge. That makes both Superzilla and Gunzilla a longer-lasting lubricant without the sandpaper effect you would typically get from attracting sand and dust common with other products.
“And being plant-based, you don’t have to deal with all the hazardous chemicals you have to deal with when using petroleum distillates,” Kettles says. “If it did get into your body, your body is better equipped to process it as a normal plant material.”