Green Dot Holdings LLC

The air freshener business is a highly lucrative market that rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars per year for specialty shops and retailers. Exotic scents in the form of candles, sprays and plug-in gels line store shelves for customers to buy and rid their homes of unwanted odors, but the only alternative for the unpleasant smells of the family car are spray-mist pumps or the trusty freshener dangling from the rear-view mirror. At Green Dot we know how to incorporate scents and fragrances into the matrix of eco-friendly biopolymers. We can blend liquids, powders, or fibers, into the matrix to make a plastic with a very long-lasting scent. The fragrance could be anything from essential oils, to spices, to fibrous herbs. One concept would be to produce a scented compound to be formed into a stylish shape for use in the car interior – perhaps a key chain, floor mat, dashboard doo-hickey, or spinning air vent pinwheel. Many different fabrication techniques could be used, including molding, extrusion, die cutting, or origami folding.

There are all kinds of ties, wraps, nets, straps, harnesses and wires for holding plants to stakes during shipping, at the wholesalerretailer, or in the garden. When conventional petroleum-based plastic is used, the ensuing broken ties become trash, litter, or waste. If a biodegradable plastic was used the discarded ties and wrap would eventually become plant food and soil enhancements. Green Dot has several bioplastic formulations that could make ties of different types – soft, stretchy, rigid, or brightly colored. The ties could be simple, tape-like, strips or more complicated molded shapes. Tape in a wider format could be used as a tree wrap or bark protector.

At Green Dot we make a lot of wood plastic composite materials. Most are used in tough, demanding, applications like toys or furniture. Somewhere along the way while experimenting with various materials for architectural uses, we discovered how to make very light wood plastic sheet and molded products. We think it looks like balsa wood – but a lot more durable, tough, water resistant, and impact resistant. The appearance is nearly indistinguishable from real wood. Even the feel and smell are real wood.

This is a turn-key business opportunity for someone. Green Dot owns a mold to manufacture this luggage tag. We use it internally to make samples for various bio-based and biodegradable plastics. It’s even been used by the band Pearl Jam to make promotional items for their fans. The tag can be colored and printed for any design feature the customer wants. Green Dot would be happy to collaborate or assist the right partner in using this mold and manufacturing process. Ad specialty companies, promotional items, event sponsors, corporate giveaways, brands, OEMs, retailers, NGOs or environmental causes groups might find this a useful item to demonstrate their message. The back of the luggage tag is essentially a mini billboard for whatever message you want to deliver. It will be frequently viewed for a long time. The eco story will resonate with the user. And, when all is finished, it will gently degrade back into the environment.

The six-pack ring was one of the best packaging solutions ever. it was very lightweight and minimalist in design. It was strong, yet sleek in form and function. It was perhaps the easiest way to carry drinks with very little packaging waste to deal with when the party’s over. The manufacturing footprint was amazing – only a few grams of material to make the packaging for pounds of beverage containers. But photos of six-pack rings floating in lakes, washed up on the beaches, and entangling wildlife prompted public outcry. The famous pictures of dead sea birds with six-pack rings around their necks, or sea turtles nearly cut in half as they grew with a ring around their middle, led to tremendous backlash against the product; and it’s almost immediate withdrawal from the shelves. If only the manufacturers would have used a biodegradable material and a plastic that would sink instead of float if accidentally dropped in the water. Green Dot has such a resin. The right company could resurrect a great product and have a very good environmental story to go with it.

An industrial designer built a 3D model in SolidWorks for a floating Bat Ray toy. We always thought it looked like something we wanted in the pool when we were kids. And, since we would make it from a NSF Child Safe approved bioplastic, it would be something every mom would be glad to have her kids play with. This soft and flexible bioplastic contains no plasticizers, BPA, heavy metals, PVC or other toxic chemicals. The key feature of this toy is that it would be buoyancy neutral – the body would float slightly above the surface while the wings drifted slightly below the surface; giving the appearance of a real bat ray in the ocean. We envisioned several size options – as much as 3′ across for a very cool pool toy, or perhaps 6-12″ wide for something in the bathtub.

Simple figurines of army men, farm animals, super heroes, or cartoon characters are staples of every child. So are biting the heads off, blowing them up with firecrackers, and burying them in the sandbox. We always thought these action figures could be improved in two ways – make them from a Child Safe approved material, and use a material that would biodegrade instead of waiting for them to be chopped into a million pieces by the lawnmower. Green Dot has these kinds of bioplastic materials.

There are many fabulous wooden toys. We remember train sets, stackable blocks, wooden puzzles, construction sets, dolls, farm animals, and hundreds more. Environmentally, wood is a good material. It is relatively sustainable and has a good end-of-life story. Unfortunately, many of theses products are made in China with dubious manufacturing processes. Frequently the paint and coatings contain lead, heavy metals, or BPA. All to frequently the paint comes off when wet. Moms never know if the wooden toys are safe to chew. Many toys break too easily. Wood is hard to form; requiring either hand-cutting (think sweatshops) or CNC milling (think mass production & simple shapes & expensive). At Green Dot we know how to simulate the look, feel and even the smell of real wood in a biocomposite. Our wood-plastic composite products are real wood held together by a matrix of plastic which allows them to be formed by traditional plastic manufacturing techniques including molding, vacuum forming, or extrusion.