Think Sustainable Plastics | Green Energy News

March 31, 2002 – Vol.7 No.1

THINK SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS.

Crude oil will probably never run out completely. It will just get more and more difficult to get. Those difficulties - technical, environmental and geopolitical - will lead to higher prices at the pump as well as higher prices for other crude-based products, such as plastics.

Fortunately, though, some plastics can now be made from renewable sources.

On what was once 16 acres of corn field, Cargill Dow has opened a manufacturing facility that can produce up to 300 million pounds per year of its NatureWorks (tm) PLA (polylactide) plastic resins and fibers.

In the Cargill Dow process, carbon, a necessary ingredient for plastics, is extracted from distilled and fermented corn to make the NatureWorks resins. The resins are then used to make common plastic products such as clothing, food packaging and bedding. According to the company, PLA resins are cost competitive with fossil-based resins.

And, in a full lifecycle analysis from the planting of corn to the delivery of a plastic product to the consumer, NatureWorks PLA reduces fossil fuel consumption by up to 50 percent. In its production process PLA generates 15 to 60 percent fewer greenhouse gases, and further advances in the technology could allow an 80 to 100 percent reduction in those gases.

The new production facility will allow Cargill Dow to expand its commercialization of NatureWorks PLA. The company will also spend $250 million over the next few years on commercial development, product technology development, and technology to convert other biomass sources, such as cornstalks, wheat straw, grasses, and other agricultural waste products, to PLA. Visit Cargill Dow at http://www.cargilldow.com