VistaTek and MCC Label Partner in Industrial-Compostable Garden Pot

By Cori Watkins, writer, Plastics Decorating

While there is much evidence to support that in-mold labeling (IML) is a more sustainable process than other labelling methods, the SelfEco Compostable Garden Pots take IML and sustainability to a whole new level. Danny Mishek, together with the team at custom injection molder VistaTek (White Bear Lake, Minnesota) and Brian Fleming of MCC Label (Verstraete) based in Batavia, Ohio, created an industrial-composable garden pot made from polylactic acid (PLA). PLA is a substance that comes from starchy, renewable plants like corn.

The SelfEco pot is not only industrial compostable, but also has organic plant food built into the material itself. The garden pot can be planted directly into the soil with the plant or seeds, and then it breaks down to provide nutrients and sustenance for the plant to thrive. The gardener either can plant the entire pot in the ground and let it break down over a few growing seasons or the pot can be used for industrial composting.

To create a 100% industrial-compostable pot, Mishek and his team had to overcome many obstacles. Not only did the pot itself have to be compostable but so did the labeling material, ink on the product, packaging and all shipping materials.

It All Started with Resin
“This project began in research and development,” said Mishek, “because from the beginning, the question was ‘is this even feasible?’ Is there a label out there that is industrial compostable? Is that label compatible with our current product? Is there an ink out there that will allow us to become industrial compostable? And then will the label and ink work in the automated manufacturing process? It was a five- or six-year journey.”

Resin was the key for both the garden pot and the label film that was molded into the pot. Once the plant-based resin used in molding the garden pot was determined, the proper configuration of resins to create the appropriate label film had to be considered, studied and tested. “When I looked for a partner,” Mishek said, “I needed somebody who could document this from a quality-assurance perspective but also understood the journey, because we couldn’t just start changing materials or changing chemistry.”

“Our R&D efforts began in MCC’s Belgian facility,” Fleming explained. “In Europe, there’s always work going on with recycling and sustainability, but this application was different because we were creating something new. We’d never done something like this before.”

In addition to meeting compostability standards, the label film also needed to consider the expectations of the horticultural industry. “We had to understand how these films hold up in the greenhouse for eight to 18 weeks, with humidity, being watered every day and bugs,” Mishek said.

Once the appropriate resin composition has been determined, a new challenge arose. Film manufacturers generally create massive quantities of film needed for production; however, the quantity needed for the film used for the SelfEco pots originally was much smaller than normal production runs. This led Mishek and the team into a complicated dance in finding the right manufacturing partnership to make this unique compostable film.

IML Met Sustainability and Design Goals
While industrial compostability was the ultimate goal, the product also needed to be commercially successful – which meant the label appearance was of utmost importance. “If it looks bad at a retailer or independent garden shop,” Mishek said, “no one is going to buy it.”

MCC was up to the challenge. “We were working with a customer who has extremely high standards and who wants visibility for the product on the shelves,” said Fleming. “The brand means something to the customer, and Danny didn’t want to compromise.”

Using in-mold labeling (IML) for the compostable garden pot label was the best choice for a multitude of reasons. From an appearance standpoint, in-mold labels can be designed and printed in full color without the numerous post-mold steps required to develop multiple colors with screen printing or pad printing.

Decorating with an in-mold label also avoided moving the product from an injection molding machine to a label decorating machine, reducing the carbon footprint of the production process. “With the living wage going up and consumer expectations of what the cost should be for a product, it made more sense that, when that product came out of the injection mold, it was complete,” Mishak explained.

Encountering Challenges
There were other obstacles along the way in creating the compostable garden pots – namely, static. The organic, plant-based film material being used created static that caused issues when diecutting the labels and during the production process.

While static is a necessary part of the in-mold process and enables the adherence of the label in the mold, too much static can be a problem, making it difficult for the automation to peel the labels from one another prior to placement. Some of the typical solutions to static would have compromised the industrial compostability of the pots, so a potato-starch substance was used instead.

Mishek described the entire process as an exciting, complicated balancing act to create a useful, appealing, fully compostable product that pleased everyone involved and, ultimately, the home gardeners that would be using it.

The End Result
Mishek is passionate about the success of the compostable garden pots and values the incredible journey that he and his team traveled to get to the finish line. He explained, “I just cannot repeat enough that people want to be more sustainable, but they don’t know how to be. They don’t have the tools in their toolbox. I feel like this product is a tool for people to use – a step to take and feel good about themselves, because not everyone can drive electric cars or put solar panels on their roof.”

Mishek and his team created a successful product that not only checked all the boxes for their clients, retailers and the home gardener, but also was a winner in the 2023 IMDA Awards Competition for sustainable use of in-mold processes.