As most brand managers know, the written and unwritten rules of packaging are changing. Environmentally aware consumers are demanding an earth-friendly approach, and government legislation isn’t far behind, with municipalities across North America demanding that retail stores and corporations pick up more of the tab for recycling mountains of plastic and other waste.

One company successfully meeting new green requirements is Nviroplast, a LaPlace, LA-based a manufacturer of environmentally friendly bioplastic products with estimated 2009 revenues of $2.5 million. One of its products is the NviroWare bioplastic line of tableware products, which includes forks and knives packaged in a rigid, printed container made from Evlon® Natureworks™ PLA, supplied by BI-AX Intl., Inc.

“The packaging had to be in keeping with our environmentally friendly cutlery,” says Nviroplast founder/COO Blaine DuBose. “It was quite a search to find packaging that matched the green standards of our product. But Evlon met our requirements in every way. The BI-AX team worked with us as well as a packaging converter for more than six months to ensure we came to market with the best possible solution.”

Nviroplast is currently on track to produce $2 million a year with NviroWare products and promises to be a $10 million-per-year business based on interest from large U.S. retail chains. NviroWare products include plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery kits.

"We are experiencing tremendous success with NviroWare," says DuBose. "And we've heard that our retailers in some cases are marking up NviroWare products that represent about a 50-percent premium over traditional plastics. This matches our own research that says 80 percent of consumers will pay 99 cents more for the demonstrably greener version of consumer staple products. Consumers want to do the right thing, and that's what is being reflected in our retail customers' environmental mandates.

The suggested list price for NviroWare ranges from $3.29 for a package of 15-count plates to $3.39 for a package of 48 pieces of cutlery, compared to oil-based competitors that retail for about $2.39 for plates and $2.59 for cutlery kits.

"In our case, Evlon is an absolute requirement. Yes, it costs more than plastic, but our customers are thrilled that our bioplastic cutlery sets are biodegradable and compostable, right down to the packages we put them in. The bottom line's right at the cash register, and consumers are speaking with their wallets."

Brand managers understand the green in green
Doing the right thing does engender extra cost, note both Nviroplast and BI-AX executives. “One of the toughest parts of our job is convincing customers that our products deserve a premium price over petroleum-based products, but will help them make money,” says DuBose.

Says BI-AX CEO David Inglis, “We’ll often get stopped by a purchasing manager, but once we get to the brand manager, like the people at Nviroplast, they understand they can charge a premium and build a stronger business. In a typical package, we’re talking pennies per unit for a product that can range from a couple of bucks for a consumer staple to $40 or more for cosmetics. As with all products, when the volume becomes large, the economics of scale go to work, and price tends to go down.”

The impetus for Evlon
Inglis says the inspiration for Evlon came from the rolling fields surrounding BI-AX's two manufacturing plants, totaling 265,000 sq ft, in the southwestern Ontario farm communities of Wingham and Tiverton. Evlon's key ingredient is corn, a renewable field crop that provides starch, converted to sugar, then fermented to form lactic acid. The lactic acid is converted into a lactide molecule using heat, then the lactic acid molecules are polymerized to form PLA, or Ingeo, provided to BI-AX by NatureWorks.

BI-AX employs a proprietary process to turn the PLA into manufactured film in a range of thicknesses that can be used for printable packaging, including gift bags, health food and produce wrappers, candy wrappers, snack food bags, DVD and CD wraps, rigid cosmetics containers, labels, folding cartons, and more.

Evlon is certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) as a packaging material that can disintegrate and biodegrade quickly and safely when composted in a professionally managed facility. When composted all that remains is water and carbon dioxide.