PlayMais is one of the international leaders in organic toys. The kits carry the “Natural Safe” certificate for healthy and natural toys, the renowned “spiel gut” seal for particularly pedagogically valuable toys, the “Toy Award” of the International Toy Fair and the 2019 German Brand Award in the category “Excellent Brand in Kids & Toys”. Luna Journal talked to the inventor and managing director of PlayMais, Hubert Loick, about his successful product.

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As early as 1994 the farmer Hubert Loick developed the idea of producing toys from a rapidly renewable raw material - corn semolina. The colourful airy things are one hundred percent biodegradable and can also be pushed into the mouth. This enables children to live out their creativity to the full. And parents can buy one hundred percent sustainable toys.

Where did the idea for Playmais come from?

Hubert Loick, Inventor and Managing Director of PlayMais: My favourite snack - the peanut flips - gave me the idea of the basic ingredient. The small, colourful particles can be moistened with water and glued together. In this way new shapes and play worlds emerge again and again, which children create for themselves. 2000 was the market launch. Today it is impossible to imagine children’s rooms without the environmentally friendly PlayMais craft kits. Last year, we generated a turnover of three million euros with the handicraft kits alone.

What is so special about Playmais?

PlayMais is a natural toy that is 100% biodegradable and does not pollute the environment. It is produced on the basis of corn semolina and water and coloured with food colouring. This allows PlayMais to be put in the mouth in a completely harmless way. The cultivation takes place close to the production site. The quantity used is disposed of in the form of biodegradable waste in the company’s biogas plant, which produces electricity, cold and heat for production. Even the residues from the biogas plant form the basis for the fertilizer for the next maize harvest. This process allows the entire natural cycle to be experienced during a production process. The raw materials and energy sources are conserved and nature - and children - benefit from it

How many years is PlayMais suitable for?

Children from the age of 3 can make their first experiences with it. If they are younger, it might be quite a “sticky affair”. Then it needs a little support from the parents. For the beginning it is also enough to glue the colorful beads on a white sheet of paper. Such real figures and works of art are created later. If the little ones accidentally swallow a PlayMais particle, it is completely harmless.

How is PlayMais made?

In technical terms, production is called an extrusion process. Because of the hygroscopic - the water-absorbing property - thermoplastic starch is used in combination with another biodegradable polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol or polyester. The organic residues resulting from the production process of Play corn are then used in a gas plant. Incidentally, the maize used is grown exclusively for industrial use and has no effect on food or feed prices.

In which countries can Playmais currently be bought everywhere?

In fact, we are virtually everywhere. From the Seychelles to Europe, South America and Asia. Especially the “Made in Germany” label is very popular with many traders.

 

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Link: Playmais

Image: PR

//AB