NatureWorks LLC is an international company that manufactures

bioplastics Bioplastics are plastic materials produced from renewable biomass sources. Historically, bioplastics made from natural materials like shellac or cellulose had been the first plastics. Since the end of the 19th century they have been increasingl ...

—

polymers A polymer () is a substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, b ...

derived entirely from plant resources—as an alternative to conventional

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

, which is made from

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

. The commercial quality polymer is made from the

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

found in simple plant sugars such as

corn starch Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch (American English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the seed, kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thick ...

to create a proprietary

polylactic acid Polylactic acid, also known as poly(lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA), is a plastic material. As a thermoplastic polyester (or polyhydroxyalkanoate) it has the backbone formula or . PLA is formally obtained by condensation of lactic acid with ...

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

(PLA) which is marketed under the brand name

Ingeo Ingeo is a range of polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymers owned by NatureWorks. Resinex Group distributes Ingeo in Europe. Ingeo is created using carbon stored in plants via photosynthesis and takes the form of dextrose sugar. These sugars are then ...

. Headquartered in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, NatureWorks is jointly owned by

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...

and

PTT Global Chemical PTT Global Chemical (), also known as PTTGC, is a petrochemical company that specializes in synthesizing olefins and aromatics. It was founded in 2011 and is a subsidiary of PTT Public Company Limited. It was listed on the top 10 Dow Jones Susta ...

, a Thai

state-owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

History

In 2001, a joint venture between Cargill and the Dow Chemical Company was formed under the name Cargill Dow LLC and in 2005, Cargill bought out Dow’s interest in the venture. In 2002, a manufacturing facility in

Blair Blair is a Scots-English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or " field", frequently ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

began operations. It is the world's first and largest PLA facility and it supplies NatureWorks' Ingeo

biopolymer Biopolymers are natural polymers produced by the cells of living organisms. Like other polymers, biopolymers consist of monomeric units that are covalently bonded in chains to form larger molecules. There are three main classes of biopolymers, ...

. The Blair facility slated to increase its Ingeo nameplate capacity to 150,000 metric tons in the first quarter of 2013. In 2007 Cargill, the parent company, entered into a joint venture with

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Teijin is a Japanese chemical, pharmaceutical and information technology company. Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibers such as aramid, carbon fibers & composites, healthcare, films, resin & plastic processing, polyester fibers, prod ...

, which acquired a 50% stake in NatureWorks. The partnership was dissolved in July 2009 when Teijin faced corporate

restructuring Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. ...

in the wake of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. NatureWorks is headquartered in

, but its main manufacturing facility is in

, with additional offices

Naarden Naarden () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and former List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Gooi region in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It has been part ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

;

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

; and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. It was considering building an additional manufacturing plant in

but due to the

2014 Thai coup d'état On 22 May 2014, the Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, launched a coup d'état, the twelfth since the country's first coup in 1932, against the caretaker government follow ...

and related turmoil it had not committed. Other countries under consideration include

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. In 2013 NatureWorks sold 1 billion pounds of Ingeo. Its competitors in the bioplastics industry include

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

Braskem Braskem S.A is a Brazilian petrochemical company headquartered in São Paulo. The company is the largest petrochemical company in Latin America and has become a major player in the international petrochemical market (8th largest resin producer wo ...

(BAK),

Toray Industries is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry. Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, ...

Lanxess AG Lanxess AG is a German specialty chemicals company based in Cologne, Germany. It was founded in 2004 after Bayer AG spun off its chemicals division and parts of its polymers business. History The company's roots trace back to 1863, with the fo ...

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

, and

Eastman Chemical Company Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals an ...

. NatureWorks hosts a conference called "Innovation takes Root", which brings together Ingeo Polymer users.

Recycling

Ingeo biopolymer bears the

resin identification code The Resin Identification Code (RIC) is a technical standard with a set of symbols appearing on plastic products that identify the Synthetic resin, plastic resin out of which the product is made. It was developed in 1988 by the Society of the P ...

7 and can be chemically recycled,

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...

ed or

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

ed. Ordinary home composts cannot break down the polymer, although high-temperature commercial composting systems can. NatureWorks integrated NatureWorks PLA into the recycling system in the United States according to guidelines published by the Association of Plastic Recyclers. It commissioned an independent third party to study PLA's environmental impact, which indicated that PLA was a "neutral contributor in the existing recycling stream and can be effectively sorted using available detection technology".{{cite web, title=NatureWorks® PLA in the Recycling Stream in the United States, url=http://www.plasticredesignproject.org/files/NWRecyclePsntn.pdf, website=The Plastic Redesign Project, access-date=30 January 2015

References

Companies based in Plymouth, Minnesota Bioplastics Manufacturing companies based in Minnesota