Bioplastics Get Serious ATK2007
Key Partners Using NatureWorks® Biopolymer Showcase Unique Innovations
Dusseldorf, Germany, October 23, 2007 - K2007, a key international trade platform for the world of plastics and rubber, presents innovations in raw materials, machine technology, auxiliary and finished products. At this pre-eminent venue, NatureWorks LLC is supporting select licensee partners and invites both media and marketers to visit these exhibits to see and experience the reality these partners have achieved in their products and technologies with NatureWorks® biopolymer.
NatureWorks LLC is the world's first manufacturer of a commercial scale bioplastic. NatureWorks® biopolymer, an ingenious new material made from plants instead of oil, is the starting point for a whole new generation of "natural plastic lifestyle" innovations - seen today in more than 20 applications with more than 100 commercial partners. And today, these innovative consumer ideas are selling in more than 70.000 retail outlets worldwide.
At K2007, NatureWorks LLC highlights several exhibiting strategic partners including: Illig, Folietechniek, PEAL Inc. and SIG Corpoplast.
PEAL Inc, (Plastic Engineering Associates Licensing Inc - Booth no 13B 59-6) specializes in the manufacture of proprietary equipment designed to produce foam products from NatureWorks® biopolymer. High quality foam sheeting made using their technology provides significant production output efficiencies due to PEAL's unique design. NatureWorks® biopolymer trays special performance characteristics of low density combined with better toughness and stiffness allow for their use in high speed stretch and shrink wrapping machines providing a higher quality product for the food and beverage industry for foamed tray packaging.
SIG Corpoplast, one of the leading machine builders for bottles and stretch blow molding, are presenting and demonstrating their high speed Blomax SBM innovation designed specifically for the production of NatureWorks® biopolymer bottles. Current designs are already produced for Belu are commercial in the market place.
Folietechniek, (Hall 8 B, stand H 79) is a specialist extrusion company that manufactures sheet material in rolls for the thermoforming industry. They have 7 production lines producing greater than 20.000 tons p.a. mainly for export. Their NatureWorks® biopolymer sheet material will be used in demonstration of cup production in the ILLIG booth.
ILLIG Maschinenbau GmbH. A leading machine manufacturer for thermoforming and packaging who, during the past 60 years, has used its innovative technologies to convert system benefits into state-of-the-art technology, designed for optimum production possibilities for faster, more efficient and flexible manufacturing, combined with solid accuracy and quality. Here at K2007, ILLIG is presenting the new RDM 70K, a 3rd generation pressure thermoforming machine for cup production. At the ILLIG booth 03/A52 visitors and guests will discover two key stories:
o The first is a NatureWorks LLC brand partnership program that demonstrates a three-way cooperative development in action. Folietechniek, a the source for a comprehensive family of thermoformed sheet based on NatureWorks® biopolymer, and ILLIG, a leading manufacturer of machinery, designs and manufactures the customized equipment able to produce these innovative thermoformed final products. You will be able to see this partnership live, in action, in the ILLIG booth, demonstrating the business value in supply chain partnerships that amplify opportunities for all.
o The second is an Ingeo(TM) Creative Gallery in the heart of the booth demonstrating the breadth and depth of the current commercial offers using NatureWorks® biopolymer as the starting point to create consumer lifestyle innovations, all branded Ingeo(TM).
NatureWorks LLC fuels its business partner innovation to help satisfy the desires of their customers for more responsible, low environmental impact products. These supply chains are backed by the expanding production capacity of NatureWorks LLC's world scale production facility in Blair, Nebraska.
The accelerated commercialization of this revolutionary new material has been accompanied by a further evolution - represented by these finished goods being branded Ingeo(TM). NatureWorks® biopolymer is used uniquely to create these Ingeo(TM) innovative lifestyle products.
NatureWorks LLC is also pleased to announce that Teijin Limited of Japan, a leading innovator in the fields of fibers, films, and plastics entered into an agreement October 1, 2007, with Cargill in where Teijin will acquire 50 percent ownership of NatureWorks LLC. This alliance is a confirmation of the reality of the global status and potential for bioplastics and NatureWorks® biopolymer in particular. This joint venture comes as NatureWorks LLC expands to the nameplate capacity of its U.S. biopolymer plant - the world's first and largest commercial scale bioplastics manufacturing facility. Cargill and Teijin, a respected global polymer producer, expect this expansion to support the booming demand for responsible innovation in the market place, enabling and facilitating further product expansion in the broad plastics and fibers markets they serve.
NatureWorks LLC and its partners at K2007 - making contemporary products for everyone for better choices. Better for the planet, and so better for consumers and ultimately better for business.
About NatureWorks LLC
NatureWorks LLC is dedicated to meeting the world's needs today without compromising the earth's ability to meet the needs of tomorrow, NatureWorks LLC is the first company to offer a family of commercially available low carbon footprint polymers derived from annually renewable resources with cost and performance that compete with petroleum-based plastics and fibers. The company applies its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create a proprietary polylactide polymer, which is marketed under the Ingeo(TM) brand name.
