According to the 1/11/00 Wall Street Journal, Cargill and Dow are "ready to
launch full-scael commercial production of a new kind of 'natural plastic'
made from plants, sucha s corn or wheat, instead of petroleum....[said to
be] a cost efficient way to make durable platic from the natural chemicals
in common plants." Prior efforts in this direction have been to expensive
to be commercial, they claim. The name of the new plasitc is polylactide
or PLA and is said to closely resemble PET or polyester and be
biodegradable and usable in fottd containers, as well as textiles. "For
labeling purposes,the company is petitioning the federal trade regulators
to classify PLA as a whole new category of plastic.
Does anyone have any information about this effort, especially as to
whether it truly has any serious potential to be used as container
material, and, if so, its impacts on recycling programs relative to any
environmental benefits.
Peter
____________________________________
Peter Anderson
RecycleWorlds Consulting
4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com
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