JYRA LABS

Many plastics start out as oil, the remains of plants that extracted CO2 from ancient Earth’s atmosphere. NatureWorks PLA skips the million-year process of turning CO2 into oil by making PLA from plants grown today. Unlike oil, plants are renewable resources that harvest greenhouse gases from modern Earth’s atmosphere.

The starches in plants like corn or beets are molecular chains of glucose. NatureWorks uses enzymes to break these chains into simpler sugars. Microorganisms eat the sugars in a fermentation process similar to using yeasts to make bread or beer. Rather than releasing CO2 or alcohol, these microorganisms release lactic acid.

Greenhouse gas concentrations in our atmosphere is at record levels, driving climate changes that will profoundly affect modern civilization. Making products from Ingeo PLA is one small step towards reversing this trend as its production emits seven times fewer greenhouse gases than petroleum-based plastics such as ABS.