by Meredith Magdsick

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) corn plasticis a leader among the alternatives to petroleum-based products. It is the only existing plastic made with 100% of renewable resources and is 100% biodegradable. Huge corporations like Google, Wal-Mart, Sony, and Toyota have adopted the environmentally friendly topic, and others will soon join them. Starbucks also plans to use the product for some of its new food packaging. As with any new product, corn plastic faces controversy in the specialized facilities needed to recycle the product. However, as more corn plastic is developed and produced, producers of the plastic and recycling facilities are developing new ways to make PLA the leading plastic in the United States.

Introduction

Throughout the last decade, the United States and the world have taken great initiative in “going green.” Almost every company posts a “green” or environmentally friendly label on at least one of their products. Advertisements and commercials encouraging people to recycle have become popular, and many celebrities have recently become advocates in recycling and becoming more environmentally friendly. The world is finally realizing how vital it is to Earth’s future to recycle and take care of the planet.

In doing so, farmers, environmentalists, scientists, and engineers have worked to develop alternatives to using petroleum, and they might have come up with a solution: corn. NatureWorks, located outside Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest lactic-acid plant in the world and is the largest developer and supplier of Polylactic Acid (PLA) plastic . The plant transforms corn into white pellets used as an industrial resin to provide an alternative to petroleum.

Decreasing Costs

In the past, about twenty years ago, is cost over two hundred dollars to produce one pound of PLA corn plastic. Because of the high expense, corn plastics were not used for broad, commercial application. In 1989, however, Patrick Gruber, a chemist for Cargill (an international producer and marketer of food, agriculture, financial and industrial services), invented a process to create the polymer needed to produce PLA plastic more efficiently. Since Gruber’s first prototype of PLA plastic, the price has dropped from over two hundred dollars per pound to being less than one dollar. PLA plastic is manufactured at a lower heat than traditional plastics, which also brings down the manufacturing costs of the biodegradable plastic. With an increase in oil prices, corn plasticsare predicted to be even cheaper. Because PLA is starch-based, instead of petroleum based, the cost of PLA plastic is not subject to fluctuation based on the price of fossil fuels. Today, the United States uses over 200,000 barrels of oil a day to produce all of the plastic the United States consumes. Using PLA corn plastic instead of traditional plastics would save the United States $11,726,000 per day, and $4,279,990,000 per year.

Increasing Popularity

So far, huge corporations like Google, Wal-Mart, and others have adopted the product. Google uses PLA corn plastic to package foods in their employee cafeterias in offices across the country. Wal-Mart started using the corn plastic to package foods and high-end electronic and has extended the use of corn plastic for grocery bags, gift cards, and calling cards. They also have started using corn plastic for the windows on their cake and doughnut boxes. The corn plastic “breathes” better than regular plastics, preventing condensation from forming inside the boxes. During a test, the corn plastic increased sales.

Overall, Wal-Mart plans to use over 114 million corn plastic containers next year, which will save 800,000 barrels of oil. Saving 800,000 barrels of oil will also save them $46,904,000 and “will reduce more than 11 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions,” according to Matt Kistler, vice president of brand product development for Wal-Mart. He states, “[Corn plastic] has a smaller packaging footprint, it’s completely biodegradable, and it costs less.” Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest grocery seller, and according to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, “the adoption of environmentally friendly packaging at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., has an unparalleled ability to mandate change in the consumer products world.”

Wild Oats, an organic grocery store in the United States and Canada, has also switched to using corn plastics. As an early adopter of corn plastic, they now use six million containers every year. “Our employees loved the environmental message of the containers, that they came from a renewable resource, and our customers had a strong reaction when we told them they were compostable,” says Sonja Tuitele, a Wild Oats spokesperson. The transition to corn plastic boosted their deli sales by 17%.

Newman’s Own Organics is also a corn plastics consumer, using the material to package all of their salad mixes. In adopting biodegradable corn plastic, Peter Meehan, the CEO of Newman’s Own Organics, issued the statement, “We felt strongly that everywhere we can get out of petroleum products, we should. No one has ever gone to war over corn.”

Several other companies have made the transition,too. Fujitsu, has commissioned its manufacturer Toray Industries to use corn plastic to make the shell for all of their personal computer series. Net-Corp is also using the biodegradable plastic to make the case for NTT DoCoMo’s (Japan’s largest mobile communications company) mobile phones. The new phone is called the “ECO mobile phone.” Sony is also a consumer of the product and is using the plastic for several small components of their products and is looking to use more of it. Toyota is also using corn plastic to make parts for their hybrid cars. NatureWorks also provides trays for Del Monte,and fruit containers in Meijer’s stores.

Starbucks is the next huge client for NatureWork’s biodegradable product. Starbucks will soon introduce the new packaging for their chocolate candies. Switching to the biodegradable plastic will eliminate harmful, bleached paperboard and will only use the half the material of the previous packaging. Margaret Papadekis, senior buyer of packaging for Starbucks Coffee Co., stated, “Environmentally friendly packages are not always more expensive.” She continued to state that Starbuck’s switch to corn plastic “is expected to save $500,000 a year.”

Hunger Issues

The adoption of biodegradable plastic by so many companies has given the product and the NatureWorks company a lot more attention and publicity. Many environmentalists are concerned that the use of corn for plastic is a waste of food for the millions of starving people across the world. However, PLA corn plastic is made with a low-grade corn. This low-grade corn not only reduces the cost of corn plastic, but it does not take anything away from the food supply because it is not corn for people to eat. NatureWorks uses every part of the stock, including the stalks and the husks. It is corn that would be used for animal-feed, not for starving people to eat.

Recycling PLA

It is made with 100% of renewable resources, and, under the right conditions, is completely broken down into carbon dioxide and water within as few as 90 days. It just cannot be beat. No other plastic is completely biodegradable like PLA corn plastic is. There are currently 113 corn plastic composting facilities in the country and more will be constructed as more corn plastic is produced. Right now, there is not enough corn plastic being circulated around the country to create a need for more facilities.

Norcal Waste Systems, headquartered in San Francisco, is the largest composting facility for corn plastic. In order to decompose the corn plastic, microbes must digest the plant scraps and turn them into fertilizer. Decomposition requires a lot of oxygen, which is extremely difficult to supply. However, in order to fix the problem, Norcal already has plans to convert its composters into anaerobic digesters that will break down the corn plastic without oxygen. They will use the resulting methane for fuel.

Until Norcal develops these composters, alternative ways to recycle the plastic have been developed. Because corn plastic containers can contaminate recycling systems of traditional plastics, corn plastic makers are labeling their containers much more clearly so that corn plastic containers can be easily separated from traditional plastics. Milk jugs, food containers, soda bottles, and water bottles are sorted and baled at places called “material recovery facilities,” or MRFs (pronounced merfs). Corn Plastic’s clear labels will enable the plastic to be sorted separately and will prevent them from becoming contaminates to the recycling of traditional plastics. When a material recycling facility collects enough corn plastic to fill a truck, NatureWorks promises to buy the corn plastic back and move it “to an industrial composter or haul it back to [NatureWorks headquarters] where the polymer can be broken down and remade into fresh PLA,” says Bridget Charon, a NatureWorks spokesperson.

Also consuming companies of the product are starting to collect used corn plastic containers so that the plastic can be recycled correctly. Wild Oats is the leader of this and accepts used corn plastic containers at eighty of their stores. After collecting a certain amount of corn plastic, Wild Oats sends it back to a proper composter. Again, more companies are starting to follow this trend.

Conclusion

Overall, PLA corn plastic is a vital alternative to petroleum-based fuels. It provides a great future for the planet and can help alleviate the amount of traditional plastics being dumped into landfills. As mentioned, it is 100% biodegradable and is made with 100% of renewable resources. It is the future of our world. Kathleen Bader, the former CEO of NatureWorks, states, “We’re offering companies a chance to preempt embarrassing demands for responsible packaging. Brands that wait for legislative fiat will be left behind and exposed.” Other environmental activists are in full support of corn plastic, and although he calls it “visionary,” Eric Lombardi, president of the Grassroots Recycling Network and an advocate in the international Zero Waste movement states, “True, there are problems with corn plastic, but let’s not kill the good in pursuit of the perfect.” We have to start somewhere, and it starts with corn plastic.