LINDAR Now Offers NatureWorks™ PLA
Derived from 100% annually renewable resources such as plants, Ingeo natural plastic, made from NatureWorks' biopolymer, is the worlds first polymer showing a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The World's first and only performance plastic made from annually renewable resources.
Commonly asked questions about NatureWorks LLC and NatureWorks® PLA resin
Who is NatureWorks LLC?
What is PLA?
How is NatureWorks PLA made?
Where is the NatureWorks® PLA plant located, and how much can it annually produce?
Why would customers want to switch to food packaging and service ware made from NatureWorks® PLA?
How is NatureWorks® PLA more environmentally responsible material?
Does NatureWorks® PLA have food contact approval?
What are the disposal benefits of articles made from NatureWorks® PLA?
What is the difference between biodegradable and compostable?
How long will it take for a container or plate made from NatureWorks® PLA to fully compost?
What are the requirements for composting NatureWorks® PLA?
Will NatureWorks PLA degrade on shelves?
What are the raw material sources for Ingeo™ biopolymer?
Is Ingeo™ biopolymer edible?
What about those with corn allergies?
Is there GMO (genetic material) in NatureWorks® PLA?
Is genetically modified (GMO) corn needed to make NatureWorks® PLA?
Can NatureWorks® PLA containers be used for hot foods?
What are the shipping and storing considerations for parts made from NatureWorks® PLA?
Who is NatureWorks LLC?
NatureWorks LLC is a joint venture between Cargill and Teijin Limited of Japan. Dedicated to meeting the world’s needs today without compromising the earth’s ability to meet the needs of tomorrow, NatureWorks LLC is the first company to offer a family of commercially available low carbon footprint polymers derived from 100-percent annually renewable resources with cost and performance that compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fibers. This biopolymer currently uses 65% less fossil fuel resources to produce, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80-90% compared to traditional petroleum-based polymers. The company applies its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create the proprietary polylactide biopolymer Ingeo™.
What is PLA?
PLA stands for polylactic acid, or Polylactide, a versatile polymer produced by NatureWorks LLC. PLA is made from lactic acid. Lactic acid is made from dextrose by fermentation. Dextrose is made from starch and starch is made from carbon dioxide and water. Ingeo™ biopolymer is the world's first and only performance plastic made from 100% annually renewable resources. Corn-based Ingeo™ biopolymer offers the cost and performance necessary to compete with traditional petroleum-based materials in the packaging and serviceware markets. Clear and strong like petroleum-based plastic, yet Ingeo™ biopolymer can be commercially composted.
How is NatureWorks® PLA made?
NatureWorks LLC’s proprietary process for manufacturing NatureWorks® PLA centers on the fermentation, distillation and polymerization of dextrose, a simple plant sugar made from field corn. The company essentially harvests the carbon stored in the sugars to make polylactic acid (PLA), a polymer with similar characteristics to traditional thermoplastics.
After harvesting, corn is transported to a corn wet mill where the starch is separated from the other components of the corn kernel and into dextrose. In the subsequent process, the dextrose is fermented into lactic acid. Lactic acid is the naturally occurring material that gives the “tang” in yogurt and makes your muscles ache after working out. From lactic acid, a molecule is created called lactide. The water is removed, crystallized and a polymer is created. The polymer is a small, clear pellet commonly referred to as resin.
Where is the NatureWorks® PLA plant located, and how much can it annually produce?
NatureWorks LLC’s plant is located in
Why would customers want to switch to food packaging and service ware made from NatureWorks® PLA?
Today’s consumers have embraced nature-based packaging in efforts to bring fresh, wholesome and convenient meal solutions with “Natural-in-Natural” appeal home to their families. This packaging includes clear, rigid thermoformed containers and packaging film and bottles. In research conducted with more than 3,500 consumers in the
Foodservice operators are also winning over consumers by offering a more responsible choice in service ware and packaged grab-and-go foods and beverages. Grocery retailers are offering customers fresh food items such as fruits, vegetables, and deli and bakery products in corn-based packaging. These food containers, plates, bowls, cups, bottles and cutlery made from NatureWorks® PLA offer disposable convenience with the assurance that the materials are made from safe, natural and annually renewable resources. The ability to industrially compost articles made from NatureWorks® PLA positions foodservice operators and grocery retailers as innovators and establishes that there is no need to sacrifice limited natural resources for convenience.
How is NatureWorks® PLA more environmentally responsible material?
NatureWorks® PLA is derived from corn, a 100% annually renewable resource, instead of oil. NatureWorks currently uses 65 percent less fossil fuel use and a 65 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions versus petroleum-based polymers. With the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), NatureWorks® PLA will use 68 percent fewer fossil fuel resources than traditional plastics and become the world's first greenhouse-gas-neutral polymer. NatureWorks® PLA is also compostable in industrial composting facilities.
Does NatureWorks® PLA packaging cost more than traditional plastic?
NatureWorks® PLA is cost-competitive with many petroleum-based plastics.
What are the disposal benefits of articles made from NatureWorks® PLA?
NatureWorks® PLA can be disposed of like many traditional petroleum-based plastics (land filled, incinerated, and recycled). In addition, NatureWorks® PLA can also be composted in an industrial composting facility.
What is the difference between biodegradable and compostable?
Biodegradable: The degradation results from the action of naturally occurring microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae under various conditions.
Compostable: The degradation results from biological processes during composting that yield carbon dioxide (CO2), water, inorganic compounds and biomass at a rate consistent with other compostable materials and leaves no visible, distinguishable or toxic residue. Because NatureWorks® PLA requires specific conditions of heat and moisture to degrade, it falls into the category of compostable.
How long will it take for a container or plate made from NatureWorks® PLA to fully compost?
In an industrial composting facility, where specific conditions of heat and moisture are optimal for microbial life to exist, it would take approximately 47 days* for an article made of NatureWorks® PLA to compost into carbon and water.
The ASTM D-6400 (American Standard Test Method) outlines the acceptable conditions and timeframes for plastics to be referred to as compostable. This standard requires that the object needs to fully compost in 90 days or less.
*Actual days can vary depending on the shape the thickness of the article.
What are the requirements for composting NatureWorks® PLA?
A properly managed composting facility, with mature compost, constant temperature under normal thermalphylic conditions and specific relative humidity for good biological growth, are required to begin the process of composting for parts made from 100% NatureWorks® PLA.
Will NatureWorks PLA degrade on shelves?
No, NatureWorks® PLA will not degrade on shelves. NatureWorks® PLA is carbon-based, making it very shelf stable, and has a shelf-life similar to other petroleum-based plastics.
What are the raw material sources for Ingeo™ biopolymer?
The basic raw materials for Ingeo™ biopolymer is carbon dioxide and water. Growing plants, like corn, take these building blocks from the atmosphere and the soil. They are combined in the plant to make carbohydrates (sucrose and starch) through a process driven by sunlight called photosynthesis.
Today, NatureWorks LLC uses dextrose, a natural sugar derived from the starch in kernels of corn (maize) as the primary raw material for Ingeo™ biopolymer. (Other agricultural raw materials, such as rice, sugar beets, sugar cane, wheat and sweet potatoes, can also serve as sources for the starch or sugars used to make Ingeo™ biopolymer, so in the future, the polymer could be made from other dominant, locally available crops.)
Looking ahead, NatureWorks LLC is working to develop technologies to facilitate the use of lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks, such as corn stover, wheat and rice straw and bagasse. So, today we are using agricultural products, ‘tomorrow’ we intend to use agricultural waste streams.
Is Ingeo™ biopolymer edible?
While Ingeo™ biopolymer is well suited for food contact and packaging, it is not recommended for human consumption. However, if it is accidentally ingested, Ingeo™ biopolymer, as with all plastics would be considered a foreign body. Most swallowed foreign bodies pass harmlessly through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and are eliminated in the stool. In the US, although exact figures are unavailable, foreign body ingestion is clearly very common among children. Nearly 75,000 ingestions of foreign bodies by patients aged 19 years and younger were reported to 67 American Poison Control Centers in 1996. In a recent cross-sectional survey of parents of over 1500 children, 4% of the children had swallowed a coin (the most commonly swallowed foreign body).
What about those with corn allergies?
In the case of corn allergens, profilin has been identified in corn and many other plant food extracts. Profilin is an allergen present in many foods and pollens, which is usually heat-sensitive and capable of causing symptoms only in the nose and mouth area. Because of the extreme heat used in processing corn into feedstock, PLA does not contain immunologically reactive profiling. NatureWorks PLA is non-allergenic.
Is there GMO (genetic material) in NatureWorks® PLA?
No. NatureWorks® PLA has been certified to be free of any genetic material by GeneScan Inc., which is internationally recognized by governments and non-government organizations (NGOs) as the leading authority for testing food, feed and raw materials. NatureWorks® PLA does not contain genetic material, and its production does not require any genetic content from field corn.
Is genetically modified (GMO) corn needed to make NatureWorks® PLA?
NatureWorks® PLA does not contain any genetic material and does not require any genetic content from field corn. The corn source is a typical North American mix of GM and conventional field corn used for animal feed, and that comes from local farmers around
Can NatureWorks® PLA containers be used for hot foods?
Like many other plastics, NatureWorks® PLA is not intended for hot food use or for applications requiring microwavability or ovenability.
What are the shipping and storing considerations for parts made from NatureWorks® PLA?
