August 8, 2005 - Nature-Based Packaging Helps Reduce Environmental Impact of Telluride Bluegrass Music Festival

MINNETONKA, Minn. – August 8, 2005 – For the second-consecutive year, serviceware from NatureWorks® PLA brought an innovative approach to waste reduction at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, held in June in Telluride, Colo. During the festival, more than 80,000 meals and beverages were served during the four-day event with bottles, cups, plates and eating utensils made from the corn-based packaging, as well as compostable paper products. All of this packaging was then composted by a local industrial compost facility, significantly reducing the amount of landfill waste created by the festival.

In addition to waste reduction, the nature-based packaging also played an important role in helping enhance the festival's image. “Our company has taken a significant steps in the last couple of years to reduce landfill waste at all of our events and to educate our audience about viable alternatives to traditional plastics that are available to the world,” says Steve Szymanski, vice president of Planet Bluegrass. “Our guests' overwhelmingly positive response to our use of nature-based packaging has helped us further strengthen customer loyalty.”

About NatureWorks LLC
Based in Minnetonka, Minn., USA with manufacturing facilities in Blair, Neb., NatureWorks LLC is the first company to offer a family of commercially available polymers derived 100 percent from annually renewable resources with cost and performance that compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fiber. The company applies its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create a proprietary polylactide polymer, which is marketed under the NatureWorks® PLA and Ingeo™ fiber brand names.

For more information about NatureWorks PLA, please visit www.NatureWorksPLA.com.

NatureWorks and EcoPLA design are registered trademarks of NatureWorks LLC