Eco-Friendly Toys Nab Environmental Award
John Deere toy front loader, dump trucks, made from GreenDot sugarcane-based PE.
A nearly 100% bio-based line of toys being molded for John Deere were recently named the Bio-based Product of the Year Award, presented in September at the Bio-Based Live conference in San Diego.
The John Deere EcoRigs are molded by BeginAgain, Ft. Collins, Colo., from material furnished by Green Dot Bioplastics, Cottonwood Falls, Kan., specifically one of Green Dot’s Terratek bio-based biocomposites, which combine PE derived from sugarcane with corncob fibers sourced from Midwest farms. The first two toys are modeled after a front loader and dump truck, the same vehicles used in the harvesting of the sourced materials.
The project began when BeginAgain commissioned Green Dot to formulate a bio-based biocomposite for the toy. Green Dot formulated a nearly 100% renewable material, combining corncob fibers with Braskem America’s ‘I’m Green’ bio-based PE made from sugarcane ethanol. Compounded, molded and assembled in the Midwest, the new bioplastic toys were created to promote reclamation and the use of regionally produced agricultural byproducts.
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