By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA—Not all important technological advances flow from the types of companies we usually think of as high tech such as IT, biotech and alternative energy companies. Atlanta-based American Trade Products, a nearly 20-year old firm that specializes in recyclable thermoformed plastic products for painting, storage and plumbing lines, has come up with a revolutionary plastic material that is 100 percent biodegradable.

The company introduced its “Earth Plastic” this month, a material made from recycled plastic and a proprietary blend of additives that enables microorganisms to break it down into a non harmful soil like material in landfill and compost environments. It is also 100 percent recyclable.

While American Trade Products is making paint trays and sundries using the Earth Plastic, it will also license use of the material. Even the paint trays are not to be sniffed at.

“People buy stuff they don’t want to clean up, so you have to make it disposable. Most people when they’re done painting throw a lot of this stuff in the trash bag,” says company President Dan Limerick.

The company says it can be used to manufacture thousands of eco-conscious plastic products which have the identical look, durability, function and shelf-life of non-biodegradable plastic products and are competitively priced.

“We believe it can transform the plastics industry,” Limerick says.

Limerick tells TechJournal South that making environmentally friendly plastic products is nothing new for the company. “We stay away from virgin plastics,” he says. ATP uses only recycled plastic now, preventing more than 60 million plastic bottles from entering landfills annually.

But Americans discard that many plastic water bottles daily. They end up in gutters along streets, in landfills, in parks and waterways, and never, ever decompose.

Earth Plastic, says Limerick, is a way to make stuff “truly disposable and come away with a clear conscience.”

ATP did not invent the additives they use to make Earth Plastic, they found it. That has a benefit: the additives has already been tested and “has all the credentials,” says Limerick.

The company looking at selling the Earth Plastic to makers of molded plastic trays, storage organizers, kitchen utensil organizers, bird cage and kitty litter liners, dog food and water bowls and other items.

“It could be used to make thousands of items,” says Tommy Campbell, ATP’s director of operations.

Online: www.earthplastic.com

© 2009, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.