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Corn-based resin makes North American debut

Wilkinson Manufacturing Co. is the first North American converter to thermoform containers from corn-based polylactide polymer, or PLA. The converter welcomes the material’s sustainable, renewable characteristics, and its consumer-friendly properties.

Thermoformed from corn-based polylactide polymer, or PLA, these clear containers show examples of some of the carry-out products
Thermoformed from corn-based polylactide polymer, or PLA, these clear containers show examples of some of the carry-out products

When it produced the initial aluminum TV dinner trays for Swanson Frozen Foods a half-century ago, Wilkinson Manufacturing prided itself as a pioneer. It still does. The Fort Calhoun, NE, company remains a leader today, as evidenced by its becoming the first North American company to make thermoformed food containers from corn-based polylactide polymer, or PLA.

Wilkinson receives PLA in resin form from Cargill Dow LLC (Minnetonka, MN). It then extrudes the resin into sheet form and thermoforms the sheet into clear bases and matching lids on equipment from Brown Machine (Beaverton, MI). Wilkinson uses the same thermoforming equipment to make oriented polystyrene containers.

“We think it’s significant that we’re the first North American company to use PLA,” asserts Wilkinson president Robert Dalziel. “We were a leader back in 1952 with the Swanson trays, and while we’re not as large as some of our competitors, we’ve always tried to stay on the [cutting] edge of things. We see [the use of PLA] as another example of that.”

As this issue of Packaging World went to press, Wilkinson was beginning to market containers made from PLA to potential grocery store customers for cakes, pies, cookies, cut fruits and vegetables, and party trays sold in deli and bakery departments. Dalziel estimates that container thicknesses will range from 10 mils to 30 mils, with cake containers measuring 8” to 10” in diameter and up to 5” high. The converter will market containers under its own trademarked name, NaturesPLAstic, and Cargill Dow’s NatureWorks™ PLA.

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