Bringing a New Bio-Polymer to The World From Resin to Recycling Responsible Packaging and Disposal in a Global Marketplace

Transcription

1 Bringing a New Bio-Polymer to The World From Resin to Recycling Responsible Packaging and Disposal in a Global Marketplace Plastics Recycling February 14, 2007 Brian Glasbrenner Global Director Bottles NatureWorks LLC 1

2 NatureWorks LLC - Who We Are Established in 1997 Global stand-alone organization wholly owned by Cargill More than 200 employees Several hundred million dollar capital investment 300-million-pound polymer name plate capacity 2

3 Where NatureWorks Polymer Comes From NatureWorks Polymer sugar polymer conversion fermentation lactic acid monomer production lactide polymer production Ingeo Fibers 3

4 A Shared Commitment NatureWorks LLC is committed to producing a plastic from an annually renewable resource which meets the needs of today without compromising the earth s ability to meet the needs of tomorrow. How is this done: Dialogue and Engagement.Responsibly 4

5 Stakeholder Dialogues - Recycling June 2004 APR Technical Forum May 2005 Stakeholder meeting, San Francisco, CA City of SF, Alameda Cty, Beyond Compliance, EcoCycle, Earthbound Farms, Coke, CAW, USCC, Starbucks, IDEO, As You Sow, Allen Company June 2005 APR Technical Forum August 2005 NRC Discussion Panel September 2005 PETCore Technical Committee Meeting February 2006 Plastics Recycling Conference May 2006 Stakeholder meeting and plant tour, Omaha, NE ILSR, Method, As You Sow, Friends of the Earth, Healthy Building Network, IATP, ICCR, Coke, Earthbound Farms, Kaiser Permanente, Safeway, 7th Gen, Clean Production Action, City of SF, USCC October 2006 NRC Discussion Panel November to now - Engagement with the Coalition on Recycling Moratorium on new bottle development since October

6 Biggest Hurdle to a New Polymer in Recycling Critical mass Important when trying to understand the economic sustainability of recycling a new polymer Key when bottles made from a new polymer indistinguishable from other plastics Involvement of retailers, brand owners and other stakeholders is critical There must be enough critical mass to be real Real economics Real recovery Real end markets 6

7 What Do We Mean By Critical Mass? Assume target is 40,000 lbs of bales per 25g weight bottle, that would mean collection of 8,716,800 bottles per year If collection rate of custom bottles is 14% (a), there would need to be 62,262,852 bottles in the market This equates to 3,428, 571 lbs of resin in the market per year According to NAPCOR, there is 5,075,000,000 lbs of PET in bottles (b) available for recycling At this scale, PLA would only comprise.068% of the total market and that s a national number! (a) (b) 2004 APC Report 2005 NAPCOR Report Source R. W. Beck 7

8 Current Brands in the Market 8

9 Learning Is Important Initial small-scale launches have given us key learnings on what we need to know and what we need to improve upon Supply chain Logistics/transportation Confirmed fitness for use Labeling Consumer demand and concerns Better understanding of life-cycle impacts Possible Next Step: Revise the VISION and detail the ROADMAP to sustainable bioplastics then test it through targeted pilot programs with multistakeholder involvement 9

10 The Complexity of the Issue 10

11 Our Commitment to the Global Recycling Community Help with development of a viable economic model that fits within current end-of-life infrastructures A road map to creating critical mass that fits within a shared end-of-life vision how to get to PLA into PLA A responsible voice in the end game of zero waste cradle-to-cradle innovation Support in the development of improved recovery 11

12 Course Forward With stakeholders, begin to frame answers to key questions: 1. In terms of cradle-to-cradle, what is best end use for PLA? 2. While PLA is commercially compostable, what do we do when the composting infrastructure is limited? 3. While there is understandable concern for PLA bottle applications, what do we do with non-bottle PLA packages that end up in recycling waste stream? 4. With PLA, how can we leverage the developed recycling recovery system to increase plastics recovery rates that hover around 23%? 5. How do we brandowners, processors, producers, NGOs, government -- work together to develop the proper economic, regulatory and technical infrastructure needed to foster recovery of PLA? 12

13 Course Forward Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good These questions are too complex for us to solve alone, but working together, we can develop the solutions to a successful transition to sustainable bioplastics. 13

14 In Conclusion Petroleum will not last forever. The sooner we begin to shift to renewables, the easier the transition will be PLA is a TRANSFORMATIVE technology. Transitional challenges are intrinsic, but If we had already made the transition, how many of today s (and tomorrow s) problems could we avoid? We need to work together on a VISION and ROADMAP that meets multiple needs Plastic recycling must be expanded under 30% is not enough. MULTIPLE stakeholders are needed NatureWorks can t do it alone, but we are ready to do our part. 14

15 15 Thank You