All about PLA & CPLA - Vegware

All about PLA & CPLA &#; compostable bioplastics made from plant starches

At Vegware, we manufacture our catering disposables from a variety of plant-based materials. We use paper, board and pulp, but the big difference is that we don&#;t use conventional plastics.

sontex are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.

Our cups still need to be leakproof, and our clients still want clear windows, so we use compostable bioplastics &#; compostable materials derived from plant sources.

A compostable lunch: PLA cold cups and portion pots, PLA linings in our hot cups, and CPLA coffee lids and cutlery

What is PLA?

PLA is a compostable bioplastic derived from plant sugars. PLA stands for polylactic acid. It can be made from any sugar, such as corn starch, cassava, sugar cane, or sugar beet. NatureWorks is the world&#;s largest producer of PLA, and a key partner to Vegware. Industrial corn is the primary source crop at the moment, but NatureWorks are working actively to diversify feedstocks.

NatureWorks refer to their PLA under the Ingeo brand, and offer full information online on how it is made, and end of life options.

How PLA is made

Corn plants are milled to extract the starch, in the form of glucose. The glucose is then fermented to produce lactic acid. Next up, a chemical process transforms the lactic acid into a polymer, which can be made into pellets, known in the industry as resin.

Just like a conventional plastic resin, the PLA pellets can be used in a variety of ways &#; extruded into a sheet or film, injection moulded, cast into sheets, or spun into fibres. PLA has a huge range of applications, but at Vegware we use it for:

• Moisture resistant linings in paper cups & bowls
• Clear cold cups, salad containers, sauce pots
• Lids for a variety of products
• Clear windows in sandwich wedges, salad boxes and catering trays

PLA pellets ready for a variety of uses

CPLA &#; crystallised PLA for higher heat use

PLA has a low melt point, so is best for cold use up to around 40ºC or 105ºF. Where more heat resistance is needed, such as in cutlery and coffee cup lids, we use a crystallised form. This involves adding chalk to the PLA to act as a catalyst, and then rapidly heating and cooling the PLA resin during production. The result is a product which is heat stable to 90ºC or 194ºF. Vegware&#;s CPLA products are suitable for industrial / commercial composting.

CPLA is crystallised PLA, for hotter uses like coffee lids or cutlery

Corn for food, feed AND industrial uses

The industrial corn used to make NatureWorks Ingeo PLA is non-food-grade, so it is not competing with food for human consumption. The whole plant is harvested, and every part of it is used. The plant-based proteins are used to make animal feed, and the starch has many industrial uses including: in airbags, corrugated cardboard, recycled paper, pharmaceuticals, condoms, and making PLA!

If you want to learn more, please visit our website biodegradable CPLA cutlery set(fr,es,it).

Read more information on food and bioplastics from NatureWorks, the world&#;s largest producer of PLA.

All of the corn plant is used, creating animal feed and many industrial products.

PLA &#; which waste stream?

Vegware&#;s compostable catering disposables can biodegrade in under 12 weeks in commercial composting, which provides the perfect balance of microbes, moisture and warmth.

Where there is no access to industrial composting, used Vegware should be put in general waste. Vegware&#;s takeaway packaging is made from plants, not plastic, using lower carbon, renewable or recycled materials, and these sustainability benefits still apply no matter what happens to them after use.

• Used Vegware should NOT be placed in standard recycling bins which collect paper and plastics as those materials go to a different type of sorting facility. Another reason is that food waste negatively impacts the quality of mechanical recycling &#; the same applies to any used foodservice disposables, even those made from "recyclable" plastics.
• General waste goes to either incineration or landfill.
• In landfill, studies have shown that compostable packaging is inert and does not give off methane. PLA does not break down in landfill, but neither does anything else.
• Please do not litter &#; compostable packaging is not expected to break down when discarded in the environment, and is not a solution to marine pollution.
• Home composting conditions vary with the skill of the householder, so we don&#;t make any claims there, but there have been successful trials using hot compost bins.

Looking for eco-friendly cutlery for takeaway food? You may have come across some of the widely available options. Cutlery made from sustainably sourced wood is a fantastic green choice. And, CPLA bioplastic cutlery is popular with those who prefer the texture and feel of, well, bioplastic. There are also outlets selling PSM cutlery, which is cheaper than CPLA and often described as biodegradable and plant-based. But what are CPLA and PSM utensils made from? And how sustainable is each of these materials? Here is our CPLA vs. PSM cutlery comparison.

Raw Materials

CPLA is crystallised PLA (polylactic acid), a compostable bioplastic made from plant starch (frequently industrial grade corn). PLA is heat sensitive above 40 °C, but crystallising it increases its heat resistance to around 95 °, while it remains fully compostable.
(The terms PLA and CPLA are somewhat interchangeable, basically referring to the same material. You may see this cutlery referred to as PLA cutlery, too. One key difference, however is that CPLA is opaque, while PLA can be clear.)
CPLA (and PLA) is a fully plant-based material and 100% renewable.

PSM stands for &#;plant starch material&#;. However, PSM cutlery is not fully renewable and plant-based, but a hybrid material &#; a blend of plant based bioplastic resin and petroleum-based plastic. This creates a plastic with a high tolerance for heat.
There is no standard ratio of plant-based content to fossil fuel-based content, and the cutlery could be anywhere from 20% to 70% plant-based.

End of Life

CPLA is biodegradable and certified compostable. It requires large-scale or industrial composting conditions to biodegrade quickly. In a large compost pile it will break down into harmless biomass within 180 days (usually much quicker &#; in good conditions it can break down within less than two weeks). As a product that is certified compostable, CPLA has been tested according to international standards. So you can rest assured it is genuinely compostable and can biodegrade into healthy biomass.

PSM is not compostable. We have seen some companies claim that PSM cutlery is biodegradable. Unless these claims have certification to back them up, they are unreliable at best and potentially very misleading. (From our standpoint, we don&#;t believe we have yet come across genuinely biodegradable or compostable cutlery in South Africa that is made from a blend of plant starch and petroleum plastic.)

Companies selling PSM often claim that it will break down in landfill in a certain amount of time. Again, this seems misleading as landfills are not designed to break anything down. Waste is compacted and includes a lot of suffocating plastic with very limited oxygen.

While the use of plant-based materials is a good thing (they are renewable with a lower carbon footprint), mixing them with plastic and creating a non-compostable product means the cutlery is destined to become waste.
Also, as PSM does not undergo compostability certification, it is not tested to ensure that it adheres to international eco-toxicity standards.

CPLA vs. PSM Cutlery

CPLA vs. PSM Cutlery: Our Verdict

CPLA is 100% plant-based and renewable and fully compostable. It provides excellent functionality, with a viable end-of-life solution. It thus offers a significant upgrade when compared to conventional petroleum-based plastic.
CPLA does need to be composted in large-scale composting facilities, however. While the composting sector is growing (in South Africa and globally), we would like to see this growth speed up significantly, so that we can divert more food waste, together with compostable packaging, from landfill.

PSM is non-compostable and therefore functionally the same as plastic cutlery. Therefore, we don&#;t think it can be considered a viable sustainable option. Does it make sense to mix biodegradable plant-materials with petroleum plastic to make more non-compostable plastic? We don&#;t think so.
PSM has no end-of life strategy and is destined to become waste. Designing products for landfill only leads to increased pollution.

We have unfortunately been seeing misleading claims about cheaper, non-compostable &#;bioplastic&#; products for a long time. Have you heard about the burn test? It&#;s one way to test if your cutlery is genuinely compostable.

By only designing and supporting products that fit into a circular economy we can aid our transition towards a waste-free society.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Biodegradable Cutlery Solution. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.