Huhtamaki Offers NatureWorks(TM) PLA Cups as Alternative to Returnable Cups

lken-Maes Breweries will serve approximately 1,5 million beers in new compostable cups made from NatureWorks™ PLA at music festivals across Belgium this August.

lken-Maes Breweries will serve approximately 1,5 million beers in new compostable cups made from NatureWorks™ PLA at music festivals across Belgium this August. Alken-Maes (Waarloosveld, Belgium) is the first Belgian brewer to use the maize-based plastic cups produced by the worldwide packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki (headquartered in Espoo, Finland). “We view NatureWorks PLA as a more practical and economical solution for reducing the amount of waste generated at festivals,” said An Steylemans, spokesperson, Alken-Maes. “While the cups look and handle like traditional plastic cups, NatureWorks PLA is a more sustainable material that will fully degrade in municipal composting facilities. This is a benefit for us and festival organizers, as it eliminates the expense and inconvenience associated with returnable polycarbonate cups, which are commonly used at large events and venues.” The NatureWorks PLA cups make their debut at the Dranouter Folk Festival in Dranouter, Belgium, 6-8 August. Later in the month, Alken-Maes will use similar cups at the Latin music festival, Antilliaanse Feesten in Hoogstraten, 13-14 August and Pukkelpop, an alternative music festival in Hasselt-Kiewit 19-21 August. The technology to produce NatureWorks PLA harvests the starch stored in maize 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 packaging and food service disposables like cups, plates and utensils. Huhtamaki has already adjusted production lines to run NatureWorks PLA in anticipation of growing demand for packaging articles made of the sustainable material. “The occasions where Alken-Maes will use our PLA cups are extremely interesting for us as a market test,” said Ute Bremm, business development manager, Huhtamaki. “In our commitment to sustainable development, we constantly seek environmentally-friendly materials and manufacturing processes, suitable for food and foodservice packaging,” explained Bremm. “For example, we make our Chinet® tableware range with renewable wood fibers by using scrap production material. Because of their origin and structure, the Chinet® plates can be directly composted to soil. With NatureWorks PLA, we now have new opportunities to expand environmentally-friendly offering into other product lines.” NatureWorks PLA will be a major raw material in the new, environmentally-friendly product range called BioWare, which Huhtamaki will launch later this autumn.