[MCS-CI-Heal] Plant-based plastics (fwd)

[Guest guest]

Plant-based sources create plastics future

Lori Ozzello

7/1/2006 1:01:58 PM

Retailers give up polyethylene-based plastic for sustainable packaging

choices

Cornstarch straws and sugarcane tableware may sound like something out of a

Willy Wonka remake, but they're not.

These sweet-sounding products are made of polylactide polymers, or PLAs, a

plant-based alternative to traditional polyethylene-based plastics.

Retailers and foodservice providers have begun to replace PET plastics with

PLAs. And a Florida company, BioBag, sells PLA trash, lawn and leaf, and

shopping bags as well as garden film.

" There's an increased interest in the market as people relate plastic

packaging to oil, " says Ann Tucker, public affairs and communications

director for NatureWorks, a Minneapolis-based producer of plastics from

renewable resources. Tucker and others say that as the cost of oil continues

to rise, retailers are searching for sustainable alternatives.

Full article at:

http://www.naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/ASP/articleDisplay.asp?strArticleId=

1961

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