Who are we?

What began in 1997 as a Cargill research project looking for innovative uses of carbohydrates from plants as feedstock for more sustainable plastics has quickly matured into the innovative materials for which we are known today.  NatureWorks LLC is an independent company wholly owned by Cargill.  Our company is the first to offer a family of commercially available biopolymers derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources with cost and performance that compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fibers. NatureWorks LLC applies our unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create the proprietary polylactide polymer marketed under the Ingeo™ brand name.  Today NatureWorks LLC employs approximately 120 people globally.
 
NatureWorks LLC represents one of the largest efforts ever in green chemistry and biorefinery.
 
Our manufacturing facility, located in Blair, Nebraska, USA, has a name plate capacity of 300 million pounds (140,000 metric tons) of polymer.  Our plant came online in 2002.  In 2003, NatureWorks LLC built the world’s largest lactic acid manufacturing facility to feed our polymer plant.  In 2005, NatureWorks LLC purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (green energy) to offset all non-renewable energy used for our entire 2006 production, making Ingeo™ biopolymer the first commercially available polymer, with significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
 
Today NatureWorks LLC does business in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and works with converters, brandowners and retailers around the world to help introduce Ingeo™ biopolymer and fiber products into the ever-evolving marketplace for plastics and synthetic performance fibers.