Maximum Yield Interview with Founder Mike Donaldson

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From the “YOU TELL US” section of the “Maximum Yield” magazine.

MAXIMUM YIELDS TALKS WITH GLOBAL GARDEN FRIENDS’ FOUNDER AND FOUNDER MIKE DONALDSON ABOUT THEIR PATENTED ULTIMATE PLANT CAGE™, BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS AND GREENER PRODUCTS FOR A CLEANER PLANET.

Maximum Yield (MY): What made you decide to develop the Ultimate Plant Cage™?

Mike Donaldson: I spent years in the trenches of the indoor and outdoor gardening, frustrated with the lack of products that supported and nurtured plants. After about seven years of research and development, I created and patented the Ultimate Plant Cage™ (UPC) and its accessories. Once the product was developed, I wanted to be sure that the UPC, and future products, would be earth sensitive. I researched green certification eventually partnering with ENSO Plastics LLC, manufacturers of ENSO™, an organic, non-starch based and non-destructive additive that renders plastics biodegradable.

Synthetic plastics don’t easily break down in the environment because they are made from organic compounds called monomers. Scientists found a way to combine monomers into long molecular chains, called polymers. Polymers do not exist in nature, and this is what makes plastic so useful. But it also creates a problem. As a result, regular plastic does not easily biodegrade and will last in the environment for centuries, maybe forever. Until now.

MY: What material is the Ultimate Plant Cage made from that makes it so environmentally friendly?

Mike: Global Garden Friends’ premier product, the Ultimate Plant Cage ™, is made of high density polyethylene with ENSO, which is added to help Mother Nature accelerate degradation of the plastic in a two to five year period when placed in an active landfill. This product is revolutionary in its design and material, plus its 100 percent American made and 100 per cent certified biodegradable.

When ENSO™ is mixed with raw plastic at one per cent mixture rate; it allows the plastic to break down when placed in a microbe rich environment, such as our landfills.

MY: What is ENSO™ technology?

Mike: ENSO™ technology is a process that enables the microbial organisms in our landfills to metabolize the molecular structure of most common plastics into an inert humus-like form that is harmless to the environment. ENSO™ process takes organic compounds, mixed with nutrients to enable the biodegradation of polymers. After space is created within the plastic’s matrix, ENSO™ attract colonies of micro-organisms that metabolize and neutralize the plastic through intense quorum sensing rapidly increasing the time frame of biodegradation.

MY: What features of ENSO™ will excite end-consumers?

Mike: It provides the best of both worlds. The plastic is useful, durable, safe and convenient, which customers appreciate. At the same time, they can rest assured they are not leaving a nightmare for their children’s children. We have to remember that what we do today does matter tomorrow.

MY: What makes ENSO™ a “green” material?

Mike: First ENSO™ is made of a renewal natural resource. Second after the product has completed its useful life, if it is not recycled, which we hope it is, it gets thrown into the trash. Then it begins biodegrading and ENSO™ begins to work. It allows microbes to break down those synthetic polymer chains into organic monomers that they can feast on. It does this by expanding the molecular structure of the plastic, scissoring the polymer chain and adding in nutrients that attract the microbes to colonize in and around the plastic. These microbes secrete acids that further break down the long molecules. Like any organic material that is biodegradable, the plastic creates by-products, including humus and methane. In fact, landfills all over the country are beginning to tap the methane from the natural breakdown of organic materials to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources. This biodegradation process can take place aerobically or anaerobically. It can take place with or without the presence of light, heat or moisture. The physical properties of plastic products remain the same during their useful life. Only when disposed of does the difference manifest itself.

MY: How can you be so sure this eco plastic works as you say?

Mike: The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) and ISO test the biodegradable plastics. These tests show that under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, ENSO™ biodegradable additive works in most major polymers.

MY: What makes ENSO™ different from other degradable plastics in the market?

Mike: Many of these products use catalysts that are heated up at variable rates. These products do not attract microbial communities to the plastic in order to break down the polymer’s molecular structure, but rather are broken down by light, heat, mechanical stress and moisture. This can take ages depending on the polymer’s weight and mass. Other products are starch based plastic substitutes that simply do not have the same superior characteristics of plastics, and some depend on raw materials that must be grown on farmland that could be used for food production.

ENSO™ biodegradable plastics are the answer to environmental concerns related to traditional plastics. Now manufacturers can make products with the same physical properties, tensile strength and in some cases improved performance of their current products. It’s exciting stuff!