Business formed to buy post-consumer PLA

BIOCOR LLC recently announced its launch as a new venture in the business of buying, aggregating, and processing post-consumer Polylactic acid (PLA), a 100-percent plant-based bioplastic.

Executive Director Mike Centers explains that the company will pay recyclers an economically attractive price for PLA in any packaging format, and work with recyclers to achieve efficient separation of post-consumer PLA from other plastics. According to BIOCOR, their primary focus is on supplying recycled PLA to those interested in lactic acid uses. The company says they will provide recyclers with a market for any post-consumer PLA they process, and will collaborate on PLA recycling pilot projects and work with federal, state, and municipal entities, non-governmental organizations, consumer groups, and recycling organizations.

 “Greater sustainability in plastic packaging depends on decreasing the carbon footprint of the plastics used, and on recapturing and re-using a greater percentage of post-consumer packaging,” said Centers. “Plastics made from renewable plant sources such as PLA, which is 100 percent bio-based, offer a means to achieve these goals. I’ve joined BIOCOR LLC with the intent of making a business out of buying the post-consumer PLA already out there in the market. I believe the economics of selling recycled PLA to a variety of lactic acid end markets are compelling. [We] will conserve non-renewable resources, lower carbon emissions, and reduce packaging waste.”

According to BIOCOR, unlike most petroleum-based plastics today, bioplastics such as PLA offer multiple end-of-life scenarios. The company says PLA offers a true “cradle-to-cradle” end-of-life option whereby it can be completely converted back into its fundamental building block, lactic acid, and then reformulated into a biopolymer – and it can be commercially composted.