Sam’s Club to Package Produce in Containers Made from NatureWorks PLA

The clear, thermoformed packaging will appear in stores nationwide beginning November 2005, starting with fresh-cut fruit, herbs, strawberries and Brussels sprouts.

After a year of research and test marketing, replacing conventional packaging with NatureWorks PLA for just four items would translate to more than 100 million containers per year for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

"With this change to packaging made from corn we will save the equivalent of 800,000 gallons of gasoline and reduce more than 11 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from polluting our environment," Matt Kistler, Sam’s Club vice president product development and private brands, says.

According to a press release from Sam’s Club, NatureWorks PLA’s “ability to provide a price-stable product as the price of oil needed to produce conventional packaging keeps climbing higher and higher is attractive to all clients.”

Made from Midwestern field corn, NatureWorks PLA is a bio-based plastic that can be used in a wide range of packaging applications from clear food containers to non-carbonated beverage bottles.

"We have worked hand-in-hand with Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart to demonstrate NatureWorks PLA packaging is not only a more sustainable alternative that consumers desire, but also a sound financial move in this era of unpredictable oil prices," Dennis McGrew, vice president and chief marketing officer of NatureWorks LLC, says. "The cost of our raw material, essentially corn, has remained stable for decades, while oil and natural gas—which is what the majority of existing plastics are made from—has been on a roller coaster ride that has made it difficult for companies to forecast their packaging costs."

Wal-Mart will be replacing existing packaging with NatureWorks PLA products in a series of phases through its supply chain. Phase one will roll out the first week in November 2005 with four products in the fresh produce aisle. Phase two includes approximately 8 million more packaging items with cut vegetable containers. Phase three, just in time for the Holidays, will be new NatureWorks PLA gift cards. The final phase scheduled for 2005 will include bread bags, donut boxes and select tomato packaging.

The technology to produce NatureWorks PLA essentially harvests the starch stored in corn into natural plant sugars. The sugar is then fermented into lactic acid, which is used to create a clear plastic called polylactide (PLA) that can be shaped into a variety of bottles, containers, trays, film and other packaging.

Based in Minnetonka, Minn., with manufacturing facilities in Blair, Neb., NatureWorks LLC, is wholly owned by Cargill Inc.

More information about NatureWorks PLA, is available online at www.NatureWorksPLA.com.