Jun 20 2008
Cereplast, Inc., manufacturer of proprietary bio-based, sustainable plastics, announced today that products made from Cereplast Compostables® resins meet new federal procurement guidelines for bio-based content enacted June 13 by the United States Department of Agriculture. All companies using Cereplast Compostables® resins can be listed on the USDA “BioPreferred” web site. “BioPreferred” products are given preference by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the purchasing agent responsible for billions of dollars in products which are supplied to various federal agencies.
Companies looking to develop “BioPreferred” products can turn to Cereplast as a solutions provider for a wide range of plastic products, especially those targeted at food service applications such as plastic straws, utensils, cups, bags and containers.
“This is the culmination of many years of proactive work to improve access of federal agencies to sustainable goods, and we’re looking forward to helping our customers develop new bio-based products for inclusion in the ‘BioPreferred’ program,” said Frederic Scheer, chairman and CEO of Cereplast. “Practically speaking, this means that federal agencies are now required to use bio-based products for their food service ware supplies, and we see this as a great opportunity for our customers to expand the reach of their ‘green’ sales.”
Scheer added, “With this new regulation, the federal government is making a strong commitment to enhance the use of bioplastics which should result in additional demand for Compostables® resin from our converter customers.”
Products from Cereplast’s consumer products division, Nat-Ur, are already categorized as “BioPreferred” on the USDA web site. Additional products made from Cereplast Compostables® plastic resin by existing Cereplast converters such as Genpak, Innoware and Alcoa will be posted shortly.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture formally amended the guidelines for designating bio-based products for federal procurement, to add sections to designate items, including subcategories, within which bio-based products will be afforded federal procurement preference. The USDA guidelines include minimum bio-based content.
Cereplast Compostables®-made products far exceed these new procurement guidelines, while still remaining cost-competitive with traditional plastic products, especially with oil prices at recent levels, making them an ideal solution for converters supplying federal and state agencies.