One Michigan Company Brings Corn to the Fight Against Plastic Waste

BY TIMOTHY COLONNESE, PRESIDENT, KTM INDUSTRIES

Cornstarch is not generally considered biotechnology. But when Holt-based KTM Industries works its magic, cornstarch becomes an exciting technology that is solving one of the world’s biggest problems – plastic pollution.

In its most-recent figures, the EPA states that half of all the plastic in has ever existed was made in the last 13 years, and that only 9% of the annual plastic sold in the United States is recycled. When considered together, that adds up to really bad news for people and the planet.

While much of the focus of plastic pollution is on consumerbased activity, i.e. retail food containers and shopping bags, a growing amount of plastic use – and resultant waste – is tied to packaging used in e-commerce and other one-time uses. For these applications, most companies select plastic packaging to protect products from breakage in the form of polyethylene or polyurethane foam and to protect from thermal damage in the form of polystyrene (Styrofoam) foam. These materials have been used for over 50 years and are generally considered the standard.

That’s the environment where, in 2002, KTM Industries launched Green Cell Foam as a well-performing substitute for the fossil fuel-based foams that dominate the packaging industry. The cornstarch-based product is an environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional plastic packaging and it doesn’t require recycling. Green Cell Foam is a BPI-certified safe, compostable material that is designed to easily melt-down-the-drain.

Despite some initial successes, most notably with Sony, sales of Green Cell Foam were quite meager over the next several years. The cost premium was considerable and very few companies were really interested in making a switch to new and unproven “green” technologies. Additionally, KTM struggled to persuade major packaging companies to incorporate Green Cell Foam in their supply chains. In short, despite having a breakthrough product that could help solve a global problem, KTM was in trouble.

By 2010, with cash running out, the company changed its approach to the market and began to offer Green Cell Foam directly to companies, bypassing the market’s normal distribution supply chain. Additionally, Michigan State University-trained packaging engineers were hired to offer technical support to prospective customers. With this new approach, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals soon came on board, followed by probiotics-manufacturer Garden of Life. KTM doubled-down on this “DIY” strategy and added fabrication and then testing equipment. With these new value-added services, the list of steady customers grew and the company entered financially stability.

Fast forward to 2019, KTM now supports hundreds of companies across North America in the pharmaceutical, specialty pharmacy, nutritional supplement, food, wine and equipment markets from its 85,000 square foot facility just outside of Lansing.

The team of MSU packaging engineers has expanded to 6 and are supported by an ISTA-certified laboratory capable of providing results accepted by the FDA and URAC. With their bio-tech product KTM supports, among others, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Companies looking for a sustainable approach to their packaging consult directly with engineers to design, test, validate and manufacture Green Cell Foam-based solutions that perform as well – or better- than their current plastic materials. The current customer base is a veritable who’s

who of corporate America, including Pepsi, Novartis, Sandoz, Novo Nordisk, Jenny Craig, Garden of Life, Isagenix, Perdue Chicken and ultra-fine wine producers Harlan Estate and Fairchild Wines.

There are several reasons that companies - big and small - have switched to Green Cell Foam. The main reason is that it works remarkably well as a protector of products, but the cost has also decreased over 50% in the last 5 years. The professional, cordial, timely technical support from the packaging engineers is offered at no charge and, made from non-GMO corn grown in the upper Midwest, Green Cell Foam is the most affordable and most sustainable of all packaging foams.

KTM is continuing to invest in growth. Its new 60,000 square foot facility in Reno, Nevada is poised to open in January 2020 and the company has entered into discussions for European and Australian expansion. KTM is looking at new, complementary “green” technologies to add to its product offerings.

While cornstarch is not the first thing people think of when they think of the bio-industry, KTM’s bio-based solution is now well-positioned to help support Michigan’s growing biotechnology industry.

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