Alpha Packaging is now providing bottles made of NatureWorks PLA™ to Highland Laboratories, a recognized pioneer of environmentally-responsible packaging for the nutritional supplement market. The bottles are injection blow-molded by Alpha using existing tooling at its St. Louis plant, and supplied to Highland Laboratories through distributor TricorBraun.

Under its co-marketing agreement with NatureWorks PLA, Alpha has been working with the corn-based, Earth-friendly polylactide resin since late 2005. The companies have conducted a series of stability tests, and Alpha’s production team has refined its blow molding process to handle the unique qualities of the PLA resin.

“We have been running sample bottles in the PLA resin for months now,” says Carol McLerran, Alpha’s Director of Marketing, “and between January and April we had over 125 customers request samples. We know there is a lot of interest in compostable materials, and we are excited that Highland could be our first customer to move into this important new plastic.”

Beginning this spring, Highland Laboratories began using the PLA resin for about 20 products packaged in 250cc packers, and this summer it will begin moving other lines into 200cc PLA bottles. According to Highland Labs CEO Candy Scott, the company will eventually package all 250 of its products in theEarth-friendly resin.

“This is a material I have been following since 2003, when I first saw the compostable salad trays for single-serve use,” Scott says. “Then a few years later I read about it again, and asked our purchasing department to ask our distributors about it.” At that time, no rigid packaging manufacturers were using PLA for products with shelf lives of more than a few days or weeks. But earlier this year, TricorBraun learned that Alpha had invested in the processes to blow mold PLA bottles, and the companies began working together for a solution.

To complete the environmentally-friendly package, Highland Laboratories prints labels on recycled paper, and uses only soy-based inks and varnishes. Based on the initial stability tests run by Highland, they determined they did not need any additional barrier treatments on the bottles, and use only the same dessicants in certain moisture-sensitive products that they used in previous packaging.

According to McLerran, there is interest in PLA packaging from numerous industries, including food and beverage, household chemical, and other vitamin and supplement manufacturers. Many contract fillers have also inquired about the corn-based resin.

More information about PLA rigid packaging can be found on Alpha Packaging’s Web site, and samples can be ordered from the site. Information about the Earth-friendly resin may be found at www.natureworksllc.com.

In addition to its new capabilities in PLA blow molding, Alpha Packaging is a leading manufacturer of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars for the nutritional, pharmaceutical, personal care and niche food and beverage markets. In addition to manufacturing, Alpha Packaging has tool-making capabilities and offers in-house design on CAD/CAM systems, serving as a strategic industrial design partner for customers in a variety of industries.