Collection corner

Toying around

From playgrounds and park benches to clothes and cars, recycled plastics can be found just about everywhere. For Luke’s Toy Factory, Danbury, Connecticut, using recycled plastics in its toy trucks was a priority.

The toymaker collaborated with Green Dot, a Kansas-based producer of secondary plastic resins, as well as of bioplastics and biocomposites. Green Dot’s Terratek WC wood-plastic composite combines sawdust from furniture mills and window factories with recycled polypropylene to create a pellet, which is injection molded to make the toymaker’s trucks. The toys and all of their components are 100 percent American made, the company says.

“Plastics are seemingly the ideal raw material for toys. They’re relatively inexpensive, easy to clean, durable and can be molded into just about anything,” says Kevin Ireland, communications manager for Green Dot.

Projects with purpose

© Boarding1now | Dreamstime.com

Curiosity killed the cat, but for a new nationwide school initiative, creative curiosity will be recognized and awarded.

Tom’s of Maine has launched the Green Your School Fund to inspire students to understand at an early age the impact they can have on the planet.

More than 250 projects from 40 states were submitted, and a panel of judges selected the 10 most creative ideas as finalists. Projects featured various environmentally focused topics, from air quality to recycling, with titles such as “Green Our Room: Recycling and Upcycling!” from Ashford, Connecticut’s Ashford School and “Less School Plastic in Landfills” from Orleans, Massachusetts-based Nauset Regional Middle School.

Tom’s of Maine and initiative partner DonorsChoose.org invite the public to vote for the most creative environmental project submitted by educators across the nation. To register a vote, visit www.greenschoolfund.com. One vote can be submitted daily until Oct. 17.

Deliberate design

Wearing plastic bottles to stay warm? That’s partially the idea from home goods maker In2green, which recently won an award for its recycled-content polyester knit fabric. In2green, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, makes indoor/outdoor blankets from 100-percent-recycled polyester yarn made from postconsumer plastic bottles. Launched at the end of 2015 and manufactured in the U.S., the products received an Icon Honor for Innovation award from the organizers of AmericasMart Atlanta that took place in Atlanta July 14, 2016.

The company says it is on track to recycle more than 100,000 bottles by the end of 2016.

Do you have a unique recycling-focused story that you would like to share? Please send a press release to Megan Workman at mworkman@gie.net.