By Teri Banas / The Flint Journal
BURTON, MICHIGAN — Burton-based Landaal Packaging Systems likes to use the expression “green is the new brown” in describing its newest technology to develop more recycling-friendly container products.
As the family-owned business with deep roots and operations in Flint and Bay City marks its half century birthday, it is pioneering new processes and using new biodegradable products to help reinvent Landaal and provide a future that looked bleak only two years ago, corporate officers said Wednesday.
“We’ve been a traditional auto-centered organization and we are now shaping our future for the next 50 years,’’ said President Steve Landaal.
Landaal, in partnership with Lansing-based KTM Technologies, the developer of a cornstarch-based Styrofoam substitute called Green Cells, is pushing to open new markets for corrugated boxes and biodegradable inserts that will decompose in, rather than fill up, landfills. The earth-friendly containers are expected to be attractive to pharmaceutical and chemical industries, in particular, that seek government approvals.
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