Looking to make a purchase? Check out our 100% compostable utensils.

Plastic cutlery is used around the world by restaurants and food service businesses. Unfortunately, it wastes a lot of resources and is rarely recycled.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way.

Today, we’d like to share 2 quick reasons why you shouldn’t be using plastic cutlery, the 2 reasons why most people & businesses do use it, and then a few recommendations for both consumers and businesses who would like to reduce their plastic cutlery consumption.

Why you shouldn’t use plastic cutlery

#1 – The vast majority of plastic cutlery can’t be recycled

First of all, only 6% of all plastic waste in the US is recycled. Let me repeat that – only 6% of all plastic waste in the US is recycled. That’s a very low number.

Most plastic cutlery is made from a type of plastic known as polystyrene¹. Polystyrene or expanded polystyrene is more commonly referred to as Styrofoam. It is very difficult to recycle Styrofoam. Most municipalities simply do not offer Styrofoam recycling and thus plastic cutlery that is put into a recycling bin is usually just sorted out at the recycling facility and sent to a landfill.

#2 – It creates waste

This is a bit of a no-brainer, but I want to paint the full picture here. If you use plastic cutlery and don’t or can’t recycle it, then it’s sent to a landfill.

If you use compostable cutlery however it can be composted and instead of piling up in a landfill it can be used as fertilizer in your garden (or in someone else’s garden).

If you’re using re-usable cutlery or metal cutlery, even better. You completely avoid the process of creating a single use item, and again – no solid waste is created.

But solid waste isn’t the only thing that’s wasteful about plastic cutlery. Plastic cutlery also takes energy and water to create. Some compostable food packaging manufacturers for instance can make 2 compostable forks (made of PLA derived from corn) using the same energy used to make 1 polystyrene fork.

Why plastic cutlery is so widely used today

#1 – Cost

The simple fact is that compostable utensils are one of the few compostable food packaging items where costs have not come down significantly, relative to available plastic options. A case of compostable cutlery can be 3x or 4x the price of a case of plastic cutlery ($10 for a case of 1,000 plastic forks vs $30-$40 for a case of 1,000 compostable forks). This can be tough to stomach, particularly for small business owners of restaurants & cafes who operate on very thin margins.

The trouble is that the cost of plastic cutlery doesn’t account for its full environmental cost. It doesn’t account for the landfill space needed, the increased energy used to manufacture it, and it sure doesn’t account for the BP Oil Spills of the world.

#2 – Convenience

Plastic cutlery makes life easier on businesses, who instead of having to wash a host of metal forks, spoons, and knives, can simply ask cutomers to discard their cutlery once they’re done eating.

It also makes life easier on consumers who are hosting events or parties with a large amount of guests. No clean-up involved – simply toss the utensils in the trash.

This factor I take serious issue with however. Most households and businesses have dishwashers that make the cleaning process very quick and efficient… and even if they don’t, how long does is really take to clean a big batch of utensils?

Recommendations

For consumers, I’d like to recommend the following:

1. Use re-usable metal cutlery whenever you’re eating at home with your family.
2. If you’re throwing a big event and must use disposables, please purchase compostable cutlery.
3. If you’re offered plastic cutlery by a business (e.g., you’re picking up some to go food), ask yourself if you really need it. Over the past few years, I’ve started turning down almost all plastic cutlery that I’m offered. It’s a bit awkward at first with cashiers, but you get used it, and it’s the only way we’re going to educate businesses that they don’t need to hand out plastic cutlery in every to go bag.

For businesses and restaurants, I’d like to recommend the following:

1. For customers that are dining in, please use metal re-usable cutlery. Plastic just doesn’t taste good in your mouth and you’ll find most of your customers would much prefer to eat with metal cutlery (I know I do). The improved dining experience should be well worth the cleaning, and in the end you’ll end up saving money as you’ll only be paying for a little water and soap to wash your cutlery… as opposed to paying for a new fork for each customer.
2. For customers that are getting their food delivered – they’re at home! What home does not have metal cutlery in the drawer. These folks do not need disposables.
3. For customers that are taking their food to go, please ask them if they need disposable cutlery before simply putting it in their to go bag. Many customers are heading home or back to work where they have access to re-usable cutlery and will simply throw away your plastic cutlery (I know you’ve seen this happen just as many times as I have). Save the cutlery and the money and ask the question first.
4. And lastly, in the event you do have to give out disposable cutlery – use compostable cutlery. Not plastic.

Are you finding ways to reduce the amount of plastic cutlery you use in your home or business? Let us know in the comments!

References:
1) Wikipedia: Plastic

There are a lot of things folks don’t know when they’re purchasing paper coffee cups. Here’s what you should be looking for if you’re trying to make sustainable choices when purchasing your paper coffee cups.

#1 – Do you need to be using disposable cups in the first place?

A lot of folks who purchase paper coffee cups simply don’t need to be buying them. They’re purchasing the cups for an office or an area where there is just not a large throughput of traffic. If this is the case, you should be using a re-usable mug or container. Paper coffee cups are needed for “to-go” purposes at cafes where they can’t be handing out ceramic mugs that cost $1 a pop to folks who aren’t going to return the mugs. They’re also needed at some events and venues where there is just such a high throughput of people that it’s not economically feasible for a business to carry & maintain (i.e. wash) re-usable mugs.

Studies have been conducted to compare the environmental footprint of re-usable cups vs. paper coffee cups. Typically, manufacturing a re-usable mug takes more energy then manufacturing a paper coffee cup. The break-even point at which a re-usable coffee cup becomes more environmentally friendly than a paper coffee cup is actually quite low though – just 24 uses.¹

If you’re in an office space, we definitely recommend pushing your co-workers to use a re-usable mug. You’ll be doing some good for the environment in less than a month :-).

#2 – Is the paper in the cup recycled or is it FSC certified?

Virgin paper has a significantly higher environmental footprint than recycled paper. Run a few calculations over at the Environmental Defense Fund’s Paper Calculator to see the numbers for yourself. Increasing recycled content in your cup results in a direct 1:1 drop in the amount of wood used (e.g., using cups with 50% recycled content as opposed to 0% requires 50% less wood) as well as reductions in the amount of energy used, waste water, and solid waste (these reductions are not 1:1, but are still significant at anywhere from 1:5 to 1:3).

Similarly, paper that is FSC certified comes from well managed forests which means that the forests are managed according to the strictest sustainability standards, which include:

• Strong forest and environmental protection standards
• Requiring protection of old growth and endangered forests
• Establishing limits on large-scale clear cutting
• Encouraging forestry practices that reduce toxic chemical use
• Strong community protection standards
• Consistently protecting native peoples rights

And that’s just naming a few.

#3 – Is the Paper PCF or ECF?

PCF standards for processed chlorine free. ECF stands for elemental chlorine free.

Why is it important to purchase paper that is PCF or ECF? White paper bleached with Chlorine and Chlorine Dioxide emits dioxins and other organochlorides into the air and water. These toxins get into the food chain and accumulate in the fat cells of animals. Through consumption, dioxin moves up the food chain and reach their highest concentration in the animals who are at the top of the food chain. As you would guess, humans occupy one of these slots. Once in our bodies, dioxin help cause diabetes, endometriosis, immune system suppression, infertility and cancer.

#4 – Are the paper coffee cups compostable?

If you can compost your paper coffee cups than you are eliminating the solid waste created by these cups.

Paper coffee cups can be certified compostable according to standards ASTM D6400 and EN13432. The simplest way to check whether a brand of cups is certified compostable is to check the Biodegradable Products Institute’s list of approved food service products.

It’s also important to note that cups that are lined with PE, polyethelyne, are not accepted by 90% of composting facilities that accept food waste (as the PE contaminates the compost). There are cups out there that are lined with PE and have been greenwashing and claiming to be compostable (see Perfectouch Hot Cups). Be sure to steer clear of these cups if you’re planning on composting your paper coffee cups.

Hope they’re helpful!

(PS – Do you have a 5th question we should be asking? Drop it in the comments and share it with our community)

References:
1) Ask Pablo. Disposable Cups vs. Reusable Mugs.

If you haven’t seen them yet, we’ve been busy the past few weeks creating a series of educational videos on topics related to compostable food packaging.

We’ve noticed over the past several months that a very serious knowledge gap exists amongst purchasers of compostable food packaging. Many buyers are unclear or confused about: 1) how to purchase compostables that are truly green, and 2) how and where to compost compostable packaging.

As a result, we decided to explore some of these issues through a few in-office Viv shorts. Hope you enjoy!

Viv Video: Biodegradable Packaging vs Compostable Packaging – DON’T get Greenwashed

Viv Video: 4 Tips To Ensure Your PLA Corn Cups Are Actually Composted

Viv Video: 4 Tips to Buying Truly Green Biodegradable Coffee Cups

Viv Video: Bagasse Products & Packaging – Why We’re Big Fans of Bagasse

(PS – I’m thinking a blue collared shirt for the next videos :-)… need to keep up this solid colored golf shirt motif)
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Last week we highlighted a major issue that eco-minded businesses are facing:

Plastic food packaging is preventing many of them from recycling more, composting more, and moving toward zero waste.

One of the recommendations we discussed to increase your businesses waste diversion was to eliminate or dramatically reduce the size of your trash can.

Today, I’d like to go into more depth here on this issue and why I think this is one of the most powerful and under utilized tactics to increasing your waste diversion rate as a business.

4 reasons why you should eliminate or dramatically reduce the size of your trash can

1. Eliminating your trash will dramatically increase your recycling & composting rates. Why is this true? Well, changing a person’s behavior is not an easy thing to do. If unmotivated, people tend to do what they’re used to, what’s easy, and what’s comfortable. Most people are used to putting all of their waste in 1 trash can. So long as a trash can is available, that will continue to happen. That’s why you need to do something that will force behavior change. If you’re used to putting all your trash in a trash can and all the sudden there is no trash can… well, now you have to figure out what to do with that waste.
   • *ENTER OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR*. Now you’re confused. You have a bunch of waste, but no trash can, and you’re looking for someone to tell you what to do with your waste. This is where amazing recycling and composting signage + trained employees are key. These signs & people educate you and tell you to put your recyclables in the recycling bin and your compostables in the composting bin. And as a result, you change your behavior and divert more of your waste to recycling and composting bins.
2. Cut down on your waste hauling costs. Many municipalities and waste haulers charge money to take away your trash. If you have less trash, then that’s less money spent having it hauled away. Further, some cities (e.g., San Francisco) offer businesses rebates if they shift their waste from trash to recycling & composting.
3. 

   The DIY Bin Solution Constructed by Rigolo

   Save space in your store or office. Many of the small businesses we’ve worked with have told us that they have trouble finding space for 3 bins: trash, composting, and recycling in the front of their house. The simple solution – eliminate your trash can and move to a 2 bin system for recycling & composting only.
4. 3-compartment waste containers can be hard to find. We’ve also heard this from multiple business owners. One of the businesses we’ve worked with, Rigolo, in Laurel Heights in San Francisco, CA had such a difficult time finding a classy 3 bin system that he eventually had to go forward with a DIY approach (shown to the right), where he sawed holes into the lids of these bins. If you only need 2 bins, there are more options available and you don’t encounter these problems.

And we’re not just talking about food service businesses or retail…

Cubicles at Clorox now only have recycling bins (no trash)

My girlfriend is interning at Clorox in Oakland, CA this summer. She told me earlier this week that the Clorox green team has removed all the trash cans in every cubicle within the building. Cubicles now only have recycling bins.

To throw something in the trash now, employees must get up from their desk and walk to the kitchen on the floor. Once at the kitchen there are then also composting and recycling cans available with signage encouraging employees to put items into the correct bins.

This is a huge step in the right direction and a big kudos to Clorox.

If you think about the type of waste you have at an office, almost all of it can be recycled: copy paper, mail / envelopes, plastic bottles, staples / paperclips, packaging, etc.

Clorox Employees are forced to take their waste to the kitchen, where Recycling, Composting, and Waste Bins are available

The fact of the matter is though, most of us are quite lazy. If you have a trash can in your cubicle, you’re very likely to take the easy route and just put all your waste into that one trash bin.

Clorox however has now forced employees to get up and take their waste to an area where they’re encouraged to compost & recycle most of their waste. Great work.

But what do I do with items that can’t be composted or recycled?

First, eliminate as many of these items as you can. Most should not have to be used daily. Restaurants and food service businesses can move to re-usables & compostables. Offices, as I’ve said, should be able to recycle the vast majority of their waste.

For the few businesses though that still have to use items that are not recyclable or compostable, I recommend having a very small trash can that is not easily accessed by customers or employees. For instance, Loving Cup, a rice pudding shop in San Francisco, keeps a very small trash bin behind their counter. This way customers must ask an employee to use the trash if they really have something that shouldn’t go in a recycling or composting bin.

But, aren’t our recycling and composting bins going to be contaminated?

This is a very valid concern. If you do eliminate your trash can, customers and/or employees are going to incorrectly sort their waste. Recyclables will end up in the compost, compostables in the recycling, and so forth. I have 4 thoughts on this:

1. Preventing contamination is the key, and as we’ve said before, good signage will go a long way toward preventing contamination.
2. It’s dirty work, but if you have the will and manpower, employees can sort through bins after they’re full and remove the items which are causing the contamination.
3. Recycling and composting facilities will resort the waste at their facility. These facilities have specific technologies and practices in place to sort through composting and recycling piles and minimize contamination before these items are processed.
4. The Greater Good must win out. In this case, we need to bite the bullet on increased contamination of our recycling and composting in the short-term, to enable the education of our citizens and a much larger diversion of our waste in the long-term.

With that, I call upon all business managers, owners, green teams, and others to eliminate or dramatically reduce the size of your trash can.

Let’s take out the trash for good.

***
Have you eliminated a trash can in your home or workplace? Share you story.

As you know, we cover a lot of innovations in the food packaging space. We’re big fans of compostables and all the innovation that’s taking place in that industry, but a new product is really taking the idea of compostable to a whole new level:

Meet Jelloware – an edible concept cup made entirely out of agar agar (a vegan gelatin derived from red algae that’s often used in Asian deserts).

The cups are designed by The Way We See The World, a New York based design consultancy. They’re available in various flavors to compliment your drink, including: lemon-basil, ginger-mint, or rosemary-beet. They are disposable and are meant to be thrown in the grass to biodegrade after you’re finished (and as TWWSTW points out, agar agar actually nourishes the growth of plants).

Now over the course of running the Viv Biz Club we’ve had quite a few folks ask us what happens if they accidentally take a bite out of a corn cup made from PLA.

The short answer is: “well, we don’t recommended eating PLA products, but you should be fine”. PLA is non-toxic and a small piece will simply pass right through your gastrointestinal tract.

That being said, if you have been looking for an edible cup, well look no further.

via TreeHugger

We’re part of a LinkedIn group called the Compost Network and recently had an interesting exchange with another member of the group.

Kathy W. said: “Any hope for composting movie theatre trash? I have a client that generates a lot of trash at their multiple locations. We’ve got them recycling the cardboard and larger plastics, but the bulk of their waste is from the snack bar. There is nothing clean about any of it: nacho cheese sauce on boxes, popcorn, cups with soda, etc.

Is there any hope to help them compost or otherwise recycle this mess? They do not, under their current staffing levels, have the time or manpower – or even storage space – for sorting. I welcome any suggestions!”

1. Tickets = Paper (Recyclable or Compostable)
2. Paper Towels in the Bathrooms = Paper (Compostable)
3. Food and Drink = Organic (Compostable)
4. Food and Drink Packaging from the Snack Bar = Plastic (! Not Compostable !)

There it is again… pesky plastic food packaging getting in the way of businesses who want to move toward zero waste.

As Kathy notes later “Many theatres have tried cafes with baked goods, healthy foods, etc, but the public still wants their jumbo popcorn, drink and jumbo candies when they go to the movies. And that is where the theatres make their money, not on the price of the ticket.”

So the food packaging is here to stay (at least for now). The question is, can we divert it to a recycling or composting bin? So with that, here are:

3 Quick Recommendations for Diverting Your Waste and Reducing Your Business’ Plastic Food Packaging

1. Create Killer Signage on Your Composting & Recycling Bins – Ever since San Francisco started requiring businesses to offer composting to their customers I’ve seen great examples of recycling and composting signage. The best signage in my opinion involves:
   • Color coded bins (blue = recycle, green = compost),
   • A large sign on the bin that says either “Recycle” or “Compost”, and
   • (this is the most important point) Pasted onto these signs are the actual objects that are supposed to go in either the recycling or composting bin. This is an amazing visual cue for customers and it’s very effective at getting the waste into the right bins.
   

   Recycling and Composting Signage at and Outdoor Event in SF

2. Switch to compostable food packaging – If you’re municipality will not recycle your plastic soda cups, lids, styrofoam containers, etc, then move to compostables. Most of these items come with some form of labeling (typically a green-stripe) and while it may take some effort to get your customers to place them in the correct bin, good signage will go a long way.
3. Remove your trash can or make it dramatically smaller. Let’s take the example of a movie theatre. They should be able to use compostable containers made from PLA-lined paper or bagasse for all their popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, etc. Soda cups, straws, and lids could all be made out of compostable PLA. The trouble is, you still have all those plastic snack wrappers and you’re not going to get the snack companies to move away from those over night. So what do you do? How about reducing the size of your trash can by 3X and leaving just a very small hole only large enough for a crumpled up snack wrapper. This will make customers think twice the next time they throw something away and should prevent the vast majority of your larger compostable and recylable containers from being put in the wrong bin.

Plastic Food Packaging may be unnecessary, tough to get rid of, and bad for our environment, but it doesn’t have to prevent us from diverting 80-90%+ of our waste to recycling or composting bins.

PS – I mentioned to Kathy that some snack manufacturers, like SunChips, are already moving to compostable bags, and that maybe they should be working with SunChips more. What did she say:

“I mentioned the Sun Chips bag and my client laughed — ‘Do you know how loud that new packaging is?’, he said. Not a good fit for a movie theatre.”

Ha. Guess she has a point there.

Food service businesses of all types have been using plastic containers with lids for decades. The containers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and are used as: take out food clamshells, deli containers, water and soda bottles, coffee cups, personal care bottles (e.g., shampoo or body wash bottles), and a great number of food items lining the shelves of grocery stores (e.g., milk cartons, food trays for produce, yogurt cups).

Traditionally, these items have been made from petroleum, but increasingly a new generation of containers and lids are available that are made from renewable resources including polylactic acid (corn), bagasse, paper, and wheat straw. These materials can be used to make food containers and lids that are certified 100% compostable according to ASTM D-6400 and D-6868, and can thus be composted in a commercial composting facility.

So with that, here are:

6 Reasons to Switch from Plastic Containers to Compostable Containers

1. In the US, only ~6% of all plastic waste gets recycled. This compares with a 50% recycling rate for paper, 37% for metals, and 22% for glass (according to the EPA). The low recycling rate for plastic containers is due to a range of factors, including: a) consumer confusion regarding which plastics (#1 – #7) can be recycled in their municipality, b) complexity in the process of sorting and processing each of the various types of plastic, and c) the unfavorable economics of processing certain types of plastic. Some plastics do have higher recycling rates (e.g., ~24% of water & soda bottles, plastic #1, are recycled each year), but most are unfortunately downcycled into other secondary products like textiles or plastic lumber (this again is unlike metals and glass which are often recycled back into new cans / bottles).
2. Health concerns with BPA (in plastics #7 and #3). BPA is a common chemical used in the manufacture of plastic containers and to line some metal containers. It is found in baby bottles, water bottles, almost all canned food, soda cans. When these items are heated or cooled BPA can leech into foods and BPA has been found by some studies to be in the urine of 95% of Americans. BPA is a known endocrine disruptor and when in your body, it can mimic your hormones, eventually causing an imbalance. Several studies have linked BPA to medical problems, including breast and prostate cancer, thyroid disruption, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, hyperactivity, disruptions in fetal and infant brain development, and possibly miscarriages.
3. Health concerns with styrene (in plastic #6), also known as polystyrene or Styrofoam. From the EPA – “Acute (short-term) exposure to styrene in humans results in mucous membrane and eye irritation, and gastrointestinal effects. Chronic (long-term) exposure to styrene in humans results in effects on the central nervous system (CNS), such as headache, fatigue, weakness, and depression, CSN dysfunction, hearing loss, and peripheral neuropathy… Human studies are inconclusive on the reproductive and developmental effects of styrene; several studies did not report an increase in developmental effects in women who worked in the plastics industry.” The EPA has also not released a formal classification of Styrene as a carcinogen, but studies have linked styrene exposure to increased risk of leukemia and lymphoma.
4. Using renewable resources as opposed to relying on petroleum based products. The BP Oil Spill has finally been capped, but with it, we saw the “worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.” Much finger pointing and blame gaming has taken place, but the most compelling piece of blame I’ve seen has been written about in the NYT, by Thomas Friedman, saying “The BP Oil Spill is My Fault”. Friedman quotes his friend Mark Mykleby in a letter to the editor written by Mark – “If we want to end our oil addiction, we, as citizens, need to pony up: bike to work, plant a garden, do something.” One of the major focuses of our country (and the planet for that matter) is on lessening our dependence on oil… and one of the simplest things we can do is to step up and stop using petroleum based plastic containers.
5. Increasing demand for composting access & curbside composting programs. There are ~3,400 composting facilities across the US, but unfortunately some research asserts less than 5% of U.S. communities have direct access to composting. We need to drive demand for more commercial composting facilities, for more curbside composting programs, and for increased diversion of food waste and compostable food packaging from landfills by municipalities. This can only be done if more people and businesses are using compostable containers and growing demand.
6. Prices on compostables are coming down. Traditionally, plastic containers and lids have been cheaper than most compostable options, but this is becoming less and less true. While Styrofoam (or plastic #6) is still the cheapest of all food packaging options, paper based compostable food containers has been found to be comparable in price to plastic food containers (see City of Richmond). Containers and products made from bio-plastics such as PLA do tend to still be more expensive than plastic containers, but prices are coming down dramatically each year as production capacity increases, and other alternatives, such as group purchasing organizations (like us :-)) exist to helps businesses move to compostables at a more affordable rate.

Are you a consumer who has stopped using plastic containers or perhaps a business owner who’s now purchasing compostables? What made you switch?

The vast majority of the US does not live in a city / town that offers curbside composting. Traditionally this has meant that if you want to compost, you need to set up your own home or backyard composting system. For some folks this is easy – they have acres of land and setting up a compost pile is a piece of cake.

For city dwellers however it’s a bit more difficult. Backyards are scarce, sometimes shared, and often small. Indoor composting options are available, but they can be expensive (e.g., the Naturemill starts at $299) and the cheaper home-made options can be smelly or attract bugs.

And that’s just for your home. Now think about running an eco-minded restaurant or cafe where you have 10x the waste of a household. You’re trying to move toward zero-waste and compost your food scraps (and even your food packaging)… but you don’t have a backyard, and you sure don’t have enough space to compost all your food waste indoors in your kitchen.

So what do you do?

Well, ideally our cities all start instituting curbside composting programs. It’d be great if we could all simply walk out back and dump all our food waste into a green cart (as we can here in San Francisco). And while I do believe that curbside composting is going to take off over the next decade (the same way curbside recycling took off in the 80s), that still leaves quite a few years where city dwellers and businesses are out of luck.

So that’s why I’ve become a big fan of a new tool for finding local composting facilities, called (quite appropriately) – Find a Composter. It’s incredibly easy to use and we’ve been recommending it to many of our Viv businesses who are looking to compost all their food waste and packaging, but don’t know where to start.

How Find A Composter Works

Well, you might say it sounds pretty simple – you, um, find composters :-)… but really it’s much more robust than that:

First, you can search for composting facilities by geography, including: zip code and by state. If you search by zipcode, you can narrow in your search by miles from your location.

Second, you can narrow your search in by types of material (e.g., dairy, bones, compostable bags, leaves). This is a very important feature as unfortunately only 8% of the ~3,400 commercial composting facilities in the country accept food waste (the vast majority only accept yard trimmings).

Third, there’s a wealth of information provided on each facility, including: phone number, website, acreage, availability of compost for purchase, certifications, etc.

Fourth, if a facility isn’t listed, you can just “Add Composting Facility”.

Do you drop off your composting at a local facility? Share your tips & tricks for finding facilities and diverting your waste below.

**Find a Composter is a joint project sponsored by BioCycle and the Biodegradable Products Institute.

Polylactic acid (also referred to as poly lactic acid, polylactide, or PLA) is a biopolymer made from renewable resources such as corn starch and cane sugar. It is biodegradable in a commercial composting environment and has a broad range of applications, including: textiles, furnishings, medical devices, food packaging, and more.

Polylactic Acid Pellets

This article is going to focus exclusively on polylactic acid as it relates to food packaging and food packaging products.

Physical Properties

PLA products are typically clear and look and feel very similar to typical petroleum based plastic products. Traditionally the products have been weaker and more brittle than petroleum-based plastic products (e.g., a hot cup coffee lid could crack or tear when being placed on a cup) but recent manufacturing advances have brought overall strength of these products in line with petroleum-based plastic products.

Unless specifically noted most poly lactic acid food packaging products are meant strictly for cold food and beverage and have a maximum heat tolerance of 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Many product manufacturers offer custom printing on PLA products and thus the PLA can be colored.

Manufacture

To make polylactic acid, field corn is harvested and broken down into its various component parts, one of which is corn sugar or dextrose. Dextrose is then fermented and distilled into a substance called lactic acid, and lactic acid is than converted into PLA.

Natureworks is the leading commercial manufactuer of polylactic acid. Natureworks is an independent company wholly owned by Cargill, the international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Natureworks produces a PLA polymer under the brand name Ingeo™, and this Ingeo™ resin is what’s found in most polylactic acid food packaging products today. Naturework’s manufacturing facility is located in Blair, Nebreska and has a production capacity of 300 million pounds per year.

A 16 oz Cup Made from Polylactic Acid

Applications

Food packaging applications of polylactic acid include compostable: cold cups, lining for hot cups, portion cups, deli containers, clamshells, cutlery, straws, bags, and more.

Typically, manufacturers purchase the Ingeo resin from Natureworks in the form of pellets. Polylactic acid pellets are then melted and used to shape a range of food packaging products. Leading manufacturers include: EcoProducts, Nature Friendly, World Centric, Asean, Fabrikal, Solo, Pactiv, and more.

Environmental Benefits

PLA has a variety of environmental benefits, as it:

• takes 43 percent less energy to produce than conventional oil-based plastics including PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), PP (polypropylene), and PS (polystyrene or styrofoam)


From Natureworks - The Lifecycle of Ingeo

• generates 48 percent fewer greenhouse gasses
• and contains no toxins

(the above statistics are specific to the Ingeo biopolymer)

As stated, PLA is also fully compostable and thus when composted results in zero waste.

The Ingeo™ brand of PLA has been certified to be free of any genetic material by GeneScan Inc. (the leading international authority for testing food, feed and raw materials). Ingeo™ does not contain genetic material, and its production does not require any genetic content from field corn.

A full life cycle analysis of Ingeo™ is also available.

Have you used PLA or polylactic acid products before? Tell us about an experience you’ve had.

Looking to make a purchase? Check out our 100% compostable bowls.

We’ve had a variety of dessert businesses join our Eco Buying Group recently – frozen yogurt shops, ice cream parlors, gelato makers, etc.

Sustainability has become very important to many of these businesses – from sourcing organic milk & dairy, to using energy efficient lighting & appliances, to minimizing the waste from their stores & operations.

In particular, many of these businesses have come to us looking for compostable ice cream cups and ice cream bowls, and as a result, we’ve started to gain a fair amount of insight into the supply needs of dessert business owners. And with that, we decided to put together:

The Definitive Guide to Purchasing Compostable Ice Cream Containers

We’re going to focus here on purchasing compostables, but we will say first, we highly recommend using re-usables for any customers that are having their ice cream or frozen yogurt in-store.

Here’s what you need to be looking for when it comes to compostables:

1. Price – This is the most important factor for most organizations when it comes to purchasing compostable cups and bowls. Again, we believe we have some of the best pricing available for small businesses, but we do encourage you to look around as pricing does vary widely.
2. Cups vs. Bowls – There is some division across ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt owners over whether to use compostable cups or bowls for their products. We’ve found that most owners do prefer to use bowls, as they provide easier access to a spoon, but unfortunately, compostable bowls can be difficult to find in a size smaller than 6 oz as the products and the compostable industry are still nascent.
3. Sizes & Types of Bowls & Cups – We’ve found that owners are looking for 3 main sizes of ice cream cups and bowls:
• The small | 4 oz, 5 oz, or 6 oz – Bowls are typically not available in 4 oz and 5 oz sizes. As such many ice cream owners move forward with a clear corn or PLA cup for this size. Most owners prefer cups that fan out toward the top which provides better access to the spoon (e.g., our 5 oz cup does this). Ocassionaly bagasse or wheat straw bowls are available in a 6oz size (for instance, World Centric stocks a 6oz bowl), but we haven’t heard of PLA-lined (PLA is a 100% compostable plastic polymer made from corn) paper bowls in any of these sizes.
• The medium | 7 oz and 8 oz – 8oz paper PLA-lined bowls are typically available. 7 oz corn cups are also available, but most owners prefer a squat 7 oz cup which can be more difficult to find.
• The large | 9 oz, 10 oz, and 12oz – Many owners will choose the 9 oz clear corn squat cup for larger servings (typically good for 2 scoops). The squat cup also provides easier access to a spoon and to the scooping up of toppings. 10 oz and 12 oz paper PLA-lined bowls can also be found with the 12 oz generally being easier to find.
4. Design / Labeling – If purchaisng compostables, most owners & managers prefer to have a cup or bowl that is clearly labled as being compostable. Most corn cups & PLA-lined paper bowls are clearly labeled with the words “100% compostable” and a green stripe. Bagasse bowls typcially do not contain compostable labeling. This labeling is important to ensure that cups and bowls are placed in a composting bin by customers and are properly sorted at recycling and composting facilities.
5. Compostability – Per our previous buying guides on compostable corn cups & compostable coffee cups make sure that the cups you purchase are 100% compostable and are certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI).

Do you own or work for an ice cream, frozen yogurt, or gelato shop? Do you have a preference about your compostable ice cream cups or bowls? Write in a comment and tell us what you think.