Green Dot and Bixby International Partner To Develop Environmentally Friendly Plastic Solutions
Bixby International is a custom thermoplastic sheet extruder and laminator offering one of the industry’s broadest polymer and substrate selections. The company delivers practical solutions to the most challenging plastic mono- and multi-layer film and sheet applications.
Over the past several years, Bixby has been working with Green Dot, a full-service bioplastics company dedicated to meeting the growing demand for biobased and compostable materials. The company’s mission is “Science-based. Style driven. Socially conscious.” As a bioscience social enterprise, Green Dot’s goal is to bring new, exciting, more sustainable options to the world of plastics.
Together the companies are developing environmentally friendly plastic solutions for the future.
Green Dot recognized early on that its success relied on the need to collaborate with industry partners who shared its passion for new ideas, new technology, and new ways of doing things. Bixby is one of those companies.
Green Dot reached out to Bixby in late 2012 for one overwhelming reason: to work with Marc Gagnon, Bixby’s Vice President R&D/Product Development. Green Dot’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Remmert, praised Gagnon by saying, “Marc is not only a recognized leader in plastics technology and plastics processing, but he is also the rare blend of knowledge, experience, energy, passion, and honesty. Marc never tires of explaining processes and investing his time in understanding customer needs and struggles. He is a great guy to work with.”
Several months after connecting, Green Dot and Bixby ran their first development prototypes for making elastomeric-coated textiles. Since then, the programs developed by the companies have focused on renewable/biodegradable products in textiles, wood-filled composites, foamed extrusions, extrusion coated natural fibers/fabrics, natural fiber reinforced sheet, and elastomeric film and sheet. The development cooperation between Bixby and Green Dot, which is quite special, goes a long way in helping generate environmentally friendly plastic solutions that have a positive impact on Green Dot’s customers, as well as on our planet.
Marc Gagnon affirmed, “Bixby has been very excited to work with Green Dot because of their unique bioplastic resin technologies. Their polymers have allowed us to explore and compete against conventional plastics with both elastomeric and rigid extruded applications where their biodegradability brings enhanced value to the applications of our end-users.” Gagnon continued by declaring, “The most exciting fact is that we have not had to sacrifice on performance – either in physical properties or processing – in order to deliver the additional benefits of a true biopolymer. If you add to that the support of a great team and the creativity of Green Dot’s people, we feel like we’ve hit a home run in this business relationship.”
Mr. Remmert echoed Gagnon’s sentiments, “Bixby has tremendous product development capabilities. They can go from idea, to concept, to prototype, very quickly. The product development staff has the experience, equipment, and material know-how, to help customers turn their imagination into reality. And do it quickly.”
About Green Dot Bioplastics
Green Dot Holdings LLC is a bioscience social enterprise headquartered in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. The company serves the plastics industry and style-conscious consumers with a full line of biobased and compostable materials sold under the Terratek® brand name. Green Dot aspires to improve the environment in which we live by building a more sustainable world with renewable biobased resins and promoting their use through invention, creation and research.
About Bixby International
Bixby International Corporation is a custom thermoplastic sheet extruder and laminator offering one of the broadest polymer material and substrate selections in the industry. Now in its second century of manufacturing in the USA, the company specializes in delivering practical solutions for the most challenging mono- and multi-layer plastic sheet applications in the world. Bixby leverages their core competencies of material, process, and application expertise to meet the most demanding design, engineering and manufacturing challenges of their customers in markets ranging from agriculture to energy and mining to medical devices.
