After following 46 comments addressing “ What is greener? Biodegradable or 100% recycled?” it was time to speak to the practitioners.

April 13- 15 venue; three days in Dallas, Texas amongst innovators, entrepreneurs and technology experts in biobased materials and biopolymers hosted by NatureWorks LLC. Some 320 to 350 inquisitive delegates representing thirty countries converged to applaud the progress and support ongoing developments in the deployment of biopolymers.

It’s seldom that we see industry finesse conservation practices on their own accord to the degree that an audience of tech savvy were utterly wowed. Dave Haft, Group VP Sustainability Productivity for Frito-Lay Inc without a doubt accomplished this in his keynote address on environmental sustainability. What I recognized as World Class Manufacturing practices suddenly escalated to an industrial art form the likes of which we hadn’t seen since da Vinci. Intensifying sunlight with mirrors to generate steam as a closed loop system in order to power complete production plants was just the teaser. Heat recovery systems, transport fleet fuel efficiencies, grease-less fifth wheels, off the grid facilities the list was impressive. Of course the trump card was Frito-Lay’s 100% compostable SunChips bag.

Mingling with practitioners places you at the source and every question is deserving of an answer. Be it daily networking receptions, exhibition halls or panel discussions there was no shortage of opportunity for knowledge sharing. A genuine desire to nurture what is intuitively a step in the right direction was the prevailing mood. Discussions ran on a number of tracks; processing improvements, commercialized products and case studies. The intensity of the dialog and the omnipresent buzz indicated that this conference was being taken seriously.

“Strategies for the Green Economy” by keynote speaker Joel Makower was charismatically delivered. Crisp imagery anchored Joel’s key points and like an early spring unfurled a green foliage as the ultimate destination for sustainability.

Pièce de résistance were two independent commercial initiatives that closed the loop on biopolymers for textile applications. Dirk De Saedeleir, Director of Product Development of the family business Sommer Needlepunch produced the Ingeo carpet that the delegates of the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Conference strolled across. Recyclable event carpeting truly an entrepreneurial venture.

Now couple that with “Loopla” a new process based on the chemical recycling of PLA back into lactic acid provided by Galactic. Steve De Jonghe the project manger of this unique Cradle-to Cradle approach provides the end-of life option for event carpets, fantastic. Think about it for a moment. Event carpets are unique to the event due to the advertising or theme that is woven into the carpet. Could one think of a more sustainable solution to dispose of a dated carpet than to render it back to its basic components in time for the next event.

When you can no longer distinguish the forest from the trees or as a dog chases its own tail. As in the case of our 46 comments to the biodegradable or recyclable discussion, my suggestion is seek out the practitioners and walk in their footsteps for a perspective other than our own.

My thanks to NatureWorks LLC for providing the oasis to glimpse what can be.