End of Life

The Vision
The end-of-life vision for NatureWorks® biopolymer (PLA) in the long term is to maintain a journey to zero waste – keeping the biopolymer, regardless of form, out of the landfill and being able to recycle into the same use or higher valued use if possible. The ideal for NatureWorks biopolymer is chemical hydrolysis back into lactic acid for processing into essentially new NatureWorks resin.

We understand that products and packaging made from PLA will be landfilled and incinerated at the end of their useful life in the near term – but through future innovation, technology and education we are looking to build a bridge to a better end of life.

The Journey Today
With relatively small quantities of any PLA in the marketplace – it is currently predominantly used in food packaging, food serviceware and fiber-based products – the end products will be handled in current infrastructures, similar to the handling of PET and HDPE. No matter what the rate of growth is during this period – in the next five years, volumes of PLA in the waste stream will not be of great significance. At NatureWorks LLC we plan to use these next five years to set the stage for the longer-term future by assisting the industry to make possible, significant increases in both the composting and recycling of plastics. As an environmentally conscious organization, we understand that the choices we make will nevertheless be of great consequence.

Today, there is immense value in increasing the use of NatureWorks biopolymer in food packaging. Doing so can significantly enhance the potential and value of composting – worldwide. Not only can NatureWorks biopolymer itself be composted, but the use of NatureWorks biopolymer-based  packaging can enable food wastes to be more broadly composted, by eliminating much of the contamination by replacing the traditional plastics that can not be composted. Again, the major issue in doing this right is clear material identification and separation in the waste stream – a challenge in itself. Success in the composting arena will remove a large portion of the organic stream from landfill disposal.

However, it would not make environmental sense to stop here. To restrict PLA to food packaging alone would be to limit it primarily to a composting end use. And while this is superior to landfilling – the fate of most food waste and packaging – it is still not a high form of recycling for the carbon and energy inputs in a PLA package.

The real cradle-to-cradle potential for NatureWorks biopolymer  is in higher-value applications, beginning with items such as bottles and advancing from there. In these applications, NatureWorks biopolymer  can be recycled back into virgin resin through chemical hydrolysis, potentially at higher rates than PET or HDPE can be recycled.

Beyond Five Years
Past the next five years, and as NatureWorks biopolymer use increases significantly in multiple applications, the demand for recycled PLA should contribute to the emergence of a recycled PLA (rPLA) market. As we approach and pass this five-year benchmark, PLA will likely be separated as an independent value stream, perhaps sorted by technologies such as near-infrared. PLA will be recognized on the curbside and in the recycling center as a valued second-use material.

Packaging and plastics markets are going to continue to evolve. As time passes, a variety of different biopolymers will be available and potentially will have replaced their petroleum-based predecessors. The value and economics for both recycled post-consumer PLA and chemically recycled PLA will be established and become a part of the existing infrastructure. We believe that large-scale recovery of PLA and conversion to lactic acid will fulfill the polymer’s early promise of a closed-loop self-sustaining feedstock model.

Summary
As a single entity we cannot do the whole job by ourselves. NatureWorks LLC is committed, though, to leading by listening and partnering with key stakeholders involved. As a result of this dialogue, industry input and concern about maintaining the existing waste stream infrastructures globally, the company is actively engaging with the market ahead of large-scale adoption. This choice to be a responsible polymer producer at all points of manufacture and market presence extends to end-of-life solutions. We will continue to refine and add to programs as the volume of NatureWorks biopolymer  and biopolymers in general grow around the world.