Because PLA is made from inputs such as corn and sugar, do your PLA products take away from the food supply?

Currently, our major supplier of PLA uses the dextrose made from No. 2 yellow dent corn – the most abundant and cheapest source of a fermentable sugar available in the U.S. Less than one percent of the available U.S. corn crop is used for this purpose. In addition, only part of the corn kernel is used to make PLA. Other parts are used to make ingredients for salad dressing, snack foods, pet feed, and more, thereby allowing a single kernel of corn to produce both PLA and food products. We also source some PLA that is made from sugar. While we are not aware of any concerns about sugar-derived PLA taking away from the food supply, we are actively working to better understand the environmental and social issues related to our sugarcane supply chain. Check out our latest sustainability report to read more about this and other sustainability commitments.