Ingeo News: Vol 15, Iss 10

November 2020

Coffee to Compost and Beyond

A look inside the latest NatureWorks webinar, Coffee to Compost: Designing Compostable Coffee Pods for Growing US Industrial Composting Infrastructure

The latest NatureWorks webinar, Coffee to Compost: Designing Compostable Coffee Pods for the Growing US Industrial Composting Infrastructure, took place on October 7th, but if you missed it, you can see the presentation in its entirety on the NatureWorks YouTube channel. We welcomed guest speaker, Frank Franciosi, who is the Executive Director of the US Composting Council to weigh in on US composting infrastructure, as well as coffee pod market fixture, Flavio Di Marcotullio from NatureWorks to discuss coffee pod design for a sustainable and still excellent cup of single-serve coffee.

In the webinar, the experts discussed the growth of industrial composting infrastructure and curbside organics collections systems in communities across the U.S. and how they're guiding the design of compostable packaging to focus on applications like coffee pods that can divert food waste to compost. In addition, we explore how circular economy frameworks like the New Plastics Economy from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation are explicitly prioritizing the scale-up of compostable packaging for coffee pods to help recover the nutrients from the brewed coffee grounds. Watch the webinar for more information.

Bioplastics Successfully Meet All EU Safety Standards

Certified bioplastics successfully meet all EU safety standards - "Products made of bioplastics thus pass even more tests than conventional plastic products," says Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics (EUBP). In the EU, plastic products with food contact have to comply with strict regulations and they have to be met by bio-based as well as by conventional plastics. The relevant Commission Regulation, (EU) No. 10/2011, contains requirements for migration tests. A migration limit value indicates the maximum permitted quantity of an ingredient to transit into food and the limit value ensures that food contact material does not pose a health risk to consumers. In addition to the migration test, the composition of multi-component materials is checked. Only those substances and materials that have been assessed and listed in an EU overview as safe may be used in their manufacture.

With this news, EUBP notes certified bioplastics are safe "not since yesterday, but ever since! Happy to repeat it." Read the Press Release.                          

Compostable Bags Don't Impact Compost Quality

A new study from the Witzenhausen Institute and the University of Bayreuth in Germany suggests that compostable biowaste bags do not impact negatively on the quality of compost produced by industrial composting processes. The study shows that compostable bags disintegrate completely in the composting process after composts from eight different biowaste treatment plants were examined for film plastics, particularly compostable film plastics. Read the article.


'Game On!' For the Green Sports Alliance's 10th Annual Summit

As a longtime partner of the Green Sports Alliance, NatureWorks was proud to be the Presenting Sponsor of this year's virtual 10th Annual Summit, "Game On! The Future of Sports & Sustainability".  The summit featured a two-day event of high-level speakers, deep dive workshops, and tailored networking opportunities for the entire sports greening community.

Two presenting speakers from NatureWorks participated in the event including President & Chief Executive Officer, Rich Altice, who helped kick off the event with acknowledgements to stadiums utilizing waste diversion programs that lead to industrial composting for healthy, in-demand compost production.

Global Public Affairs Director, Mariagiovanna Vetere, spoke on The Future of Sports Sustainability Targets in the Wake of COVID-19 panel and observed, "It's exciting for me to see how sports can drive the attention of people on environmental topics like diversion, or the energy savings, or water savings - for me, as a European, that was completely new, unexpected, and brilliant."                     

If you missed this year's virtual summit, but want access to all the event content, you're in luck. The Green Sports Alliance has extended registration until the end of 2020, PLUS you are now able to access all the virtual content for 50% off full registration price. Access Event Content for 50% Off.

PARTNER UPDATES

Organizations

The Wave
The Wave recently praised sustainability partners as they successfully adapted their food program to focus on leveraging the crisis of pandemic-related funding support, to create systemic change in food systems and decided to lead with a centuries-old harvest in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska - seafood.
They have adopted and implemented a "communities helping communities" model and through the new model, The Wave has been able to provide funding to purchase sustainable seafood, keep fisherman working, and offer a healthy and culturally-relevant protein source as part of crisis-related food distribution efforts. Read the article.

Food Serviceware

Eco-Products
A very happy 30th anniversary was recently celebrated by Eco-Products. Over the next month they plan to continue the celebration over social media sharing their history including the birth of the GreenStripe® cup, plenty of "TBTs", and mission for the future. Follow Eco-Products on Twitter.


Vegware
Vegware was very proud to announce their appearance in The Times for their 43% growth in 1 year 2019 - 2020. Vegware CEO and founder, Joe Frankel said, “Growing sales to over £42.5m from £30.8m in a year is a fantastic result which validates our mission and reflects the global appetite for high quality foodservice packaging which drives a sustainability agenda as well as ensuring hygiene. Read the article.


BioPak
BioPak's compostable packaging made with Ingeo, coupled with their organics collection service has been listed as a viable solution to the climate crisis by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. "Compared with business-as-usual, a comprehensive circular economy approach has the potential to reduce the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by over 80%, generate savings of USD 200 billion per year, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%, and create 700,000 net additional jobs by 2040." Read the article.


NATUREWORKS & INDUSTRY NEWS

RECENT EVENTS

Great Coffee without Compromise: Designing High Performance Compostable Coffee Pods with Ingeo | Recorded September 9, 2020
Presenters: Donavon Kirschbaum, Applications Engineer, Joshua Weed, Senior Scientist & Technology Admin Lead, and Flavio Di Marcotullio, Global Industry Manager from NatureWorks.


China Bioplastics Annual Conference | November 4 | Nanjing, China
NatureWorks' Commercial Director of the Asia Pacific region, Ian Toh, presented at the China Bioplastics Annual Conference (Nov. 4th) on tailoring Ingeo for evolving markets in the circular economy. NatureWorks also had an exhibition booth at the conference.                                            
                 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Plastic Free World | November 9 - 10 | Virtual Conference
On November 10th, NatureWorks' Senior Sustainability Manager, Erwin Vink, will speak in two different sessions on how Ingeo fits within the circular economy and its low-carbon footprint as confirmed by Life Cycle Analysis. See the event agenda here.


Formnext | November 10 - 12 | Virtual Conference
We'll be exhibiting at this event and we'd love to see you, too! Use our NatureWorks code for a FREE TICKET and connect with Ady Jager, Dan Sawyer, Deepak Venkatraman, and Peter Vollmann. See you there! Get tickets at the Ticket Shop.   
  

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Available Job Opportunities:

Marketing Content Specialist | Minnetonka, MN
Responsibilities include bringing together words, images, and data into compelling stories that help us drive the adoption of the bio-materials we make from renewable resources. Candidate will own aspects the content process from writing high-quality copy to facilitating data visualization to directing photo shoots to best capture the value proposition of a product. If you’re an experienced writer who aspires to grow within the world’s leading bio-materials company, have a flair for translating highly technical content to broader audiences, and a desire to tell compelling stories, we want you as our Marketing Content Specialist.

Office Support Intern | Blair, NE
The Office Intern will assist with administrative and clerical task for the operations, maintenance, and engineering projects.

Responsibilities: 
  • Assist with administrative and clerical task for the operations, maintenance, and engineering projects.
  • Update site safety communication board
  • Update, scan, copy, and file information into the equipment library
  • Organize and communicate weekly safety drawing
  • Other duties as assigned by administrative assistant

Keep up with ALL of our available job opportunities on our Careers page.