Danny Mishek, VistaTek LLC | Notable Leaders in Sustainability 2023

Danny Mishek started in the industry selling plastic and metal containers from Minneapolis to Montana. He knew that "a lot of products were made and most needed some sort of packaging to get them from vendor to consumer."

"Simply, it was job security," Mishek said.

His parents started VistaTek LLC in 1996. Mishek graduated from Mount Mercy University in Iowa with a bachelor's degree in marketing and public relations in 1997, then he joined the company in 1998.

Stillwater, Minn.-based VistaTek started off in rapid prototyping with one machine and zero customers and has since evolved into a custom manufacturer with in-house capabilities such as mold making and injection molding.

"It took us about five years to rebrand ourselves and let people know we're no longer really your prototype guys," Mishek told Plastics News in 2020.

Mishek said the company has developed products made from plant-based plastics "to ease the burden and use of single-use petroleum plastics."

"We have designed around the flaws of these plant-based plastics to make them more functional and useful. By creating premium products, we have changed the perception of Earth-friendly plastics," he added. "Our products are being celebrated instead of tolerated."

Mishek noted that while he does not "oppose petroleum products," he believes consumers "should use those materials for medical devices, aerospace products and other products that need to last and hold up against heat, UV, sterilization and tensile strengths."

"We need to be wiser in our material selections so we don't back ourselves into a corner because of poor, shortsighted decisions," he said. "Plastics have enhanced our lives, but our end-of-life approach and our lack of vision to change certain behaviors have made knee-jerk reactions and policies that are not sustainable in their own right."

Mishek said he is most interested in the industry of composting.

"If we could bring more organics to industrial compost sites, we could subsidize farmers with this compost. This compost adds years of nutrients to the topsoil and would limit the amount of fertilizers that they use, which run off in the waterways," he said. "Once we compost more, we can then add more plant-based compostable products to this collection stream, which then creates a circular economy."

SelfEco is an independent company launched from VistaTek's ownership to manufacture foodservice and horticultural items from plant-based plastics. It has "incorporated traditional manufacturing with forward thinking and processing to create a revolution in how green products are purchased, utilized and disposed of."

"We want to be aware of our environment and the precious gifts that Earth supplies us with. To mindfully manufacture with the intent to compost, recycle or reuse our products gives us great pride," according to the company's website.

In its Kickstarter campaign, the SelfEco Pot claims it is "the first self-feeding seed-starter garden pot" that automatically feeds the roots to produce bigger, healthier plants.

Mishek originally raised $25,000 in 24 hours from the campaign to make a mold for a 4-inch square garden pot. He shipped samples to more than 20 states and four countries, "all to realize that my biggest customers wanted round pots." Mishek said this misstep taught him a valuable lesson in market research "and how you cannot have enough of it."

"One of the benefits for us, in our opinion, was to kind of be our own customer," Mishek told PN in 2015. "We've always been a contract manufacturer, so it's nice to build parts that we have patent pending and that we have ownership of."

VistaTek was honored with Sustainable Stillwater's Green Business Award in 2020, 2021 and 2022; the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal's Minnesota Manufacturing Award for Sustainability in 2022; and Business Intelligence Group's Sustainability Award in 2023. SelfEco's compostable garden pots were named the winner of the In-Mold Decorating Association Awards' Sustainable Use of In-mold Processes category.

Mishek is involved with the U.S. Composting Council, BPI and AmericanHort. He is also an adviser at St. Paul College in St. Paul, Minn.

To expand its efforts in sustainability, Mishek said, the plastics industry should, first, be realistic: "Police itself before the government mandates unachievable or costly goals."

Second, Mishek said, "the industry needs to embrace composting so organics stop ending up in the landfills." And third, recycle: "Make it happen, from producing it and collecting it. No more lip service as it has not been revamped for two decades. It is an outdated and underperforming system. New number codes, limited colors, limited materials and incentives to use recyclable products and buy recyclable products," he said.

A major challenge is "trying to unite people around the practice of being more sustainable."

"Unfortunately, the topic of sustainability or climate change has been politically divisive. When we have a patch of plastic/trash the size of Texas floating between California and Hawaii, or that we found microplastics in freshly fallen snow in the Arctic, how are we OK with status quo? If you are not changing it, you are accepting it," he said. "I am not OK with accepting microplastics in the fish or birds that I eat. I know we can do better."

Mishek noted the impact of younger generations embracing VistaTek's mission and product. "They are already [educated] and motivated to make small changes for large impacts," he added.

In the future, Mishek would like to be a motivational speaker on making better decisions regarding sustainability.

"I feel people want to be more sustainable but aren't giving enough tools to do so," he said. "This drives frustration and slows the process of change. More tools, more knowledge and more support get us over the goal line."