Medical Equipment Will Use Bioplastic

Labcon North America, amanufacturer of disposable laboratory supplies, will use Mirel biodegradablepolymer for the production of its new Pagoda pipette reloading system.

Mirel will be used for the injection-molded tray that holdsthe pipettes in place. It is one of the first precision injection molding applicationsfor the new biopolymers, which have mostly stirred interest among packagingOEMs to date. The tray requires heat and chemical resistance, dimensional stabilityand durability. Labcon, which says it mayuse the product across a number of its applications,offers more than 800 products globallyand produces over 1 billion units per year.

"There has been growingconcern within our industry that the disposal of traditional plastics is toowasteful. We can now offer customers the opportunity to lower their carbonfootprint with our Pagoda line of products and many have indicated that theywill switch to our new products made from renewable resources. Labconpreviously supplied conventional plastic trays that were thrown away orreclaimed through Labcon's recycle program. Now we are planning to launch acomposting program to complement this initiative," says Jim Happ, president of Labcon, which is based in Petaluma, CA.

Metabolix andArcher Daniels Midland Company (ADM) are commercializing Mirel through a jointventure called Telles. The first commercial-scale Mirel production plant isbeing constructed adjacent to ADM's wet corn mill in Clinton, IA.The plant is designed to produce up to 110 mil lbs of Mirel annually. Mirelis made from plants and Metabolixrecently demonstratedthe viability of producing bioplastic in switchgrass.

Mirel will be sold at a significant premium over oil-basedplastics. Mirel will cost$2/lb to $2.50/lb while injection-moldable high-density polyethylene, forexample, sells at around 80 cents/lb. Another competitor, polypropylene,also sells around 80 cents/lb.

According to Metabolix, Mirel reduces the use of fossil energy by more than 95percent and provides a 200-percent reduction in greenhouse gases compared tothe production of conventional petroleum-based plastics.