Grant will expand ‘green’ product line

A Cedar Rapids company will use a green technology grant to expand its plant marker product line.

MCG BioComposites was approved for a $49,875 i6 Green Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. The company will use the grant to build new tooling for a larger plant marker.

Sam McCord, founder and chief executive officer of MCG BioComposites, said botanical and arboretum garden customers using the company's 9-inch flat and 13-inch angled markers want a version that can be easily seen with taller plants.

'We went to work with a designer and the injection molding company that makes our current line and produced a new 24-inch-high plant marker with an angled face plate that is 5 inches wide by 4 inches high,” McCord said. 'The new marker will be promoted to all the public and private arboretum and botanicalgardens throughout the U.S. and Canada.”

BioMarkers are made with a proprietary blend of corn cob fiber and post industrial recycled plastics. The markers received the 2012 Green Thumb Award through the Direct Gardening Association.

MCG BioComposites uses Green Dot Holdings in Cottonwood Falls, Kan., for product development and testing in the continued research and development of new biocomposites materials and researching additional biomass fibers.

Iowa was awarded $1 million in 2011 from the i6 Green Challenge Grant program. MCG Biocomposites received an initial grant in May 2012 to build two molds for its 9-inch flat and 13-inch angled markers.

McCord said the i6 Green Challenge Grant, administered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority board, has provided his company with the resources to continue the development of new products and materials for the industrial, agriculture, lawn and garden markets.

Comments: (319) 398-8366; george.ford@sourcemedia.net