Oakland bans Polystyrene from Food Industry

Oakland bans Polystyrene...Cereplast briefs food industry.


Cereplast, Inc. has been Invited to Oakland CA Green Food Ware Fair. Cereplast provides alternatives as Polystyrene foam containers are phased out.


The fair will be held in the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and is being sponsored by Vice Mayor of Oakland Jean Quan.

The City of Oakland has invited Cereplast, Inc. of Hawthorne, a producer of renewable and biodegradable resins that are alternatives to petroleum based resins, to attend its Green Food Ware Fair on November 16, 2006. The Green Food Ware Fair is being held to prepare food service providers for the city wide ban on polystyrene foam. Asof January 2, 2007, food vendors in Oakland may no longer use disposable food service ware made from polystyrene foam (sometimes referred to as Styrofoam®). Instead, disposable food service ware must transition to biodegradable and compostable products.

Cereplast's "Biodegradable Products Institute" (BPI) certified resins use a patented and proprietary manufacturing process that incorporates starch and other biodegradable components. These resins are a substitute for petroleum based resins, and can be used to manufacture plastic cutlery, plates, cups, straws and containers that are biodegradable and compostable. Cereplast has been working closely with many of the major food packaging converters to facilitate the development of biodegradable and compostable food service ware.

"We are pleased to support the City of Oakland in showing food service vendors that viable biodegradable and compostable alternatives for food service products are readily available. One of our customers is launching a new and comprehensive line of food service products using Cereplast resins," said Frederic Scheer, President and CEO of Cereplast. "We expect that this ban on polystyrene foam enacted in Oakland and in other cities around the country, will further accelerate the increasing demand for biodegradable resins."

This is a time of increasing sensitivity on the part of municipalities, food service businesses and consumers to the environmental effects of non-biodegradable plastics. Cities such as Santa Monica, Oakland and Baltimore have moved to ban polystyrene products, and food service suppliers have been looking for alternative packaging to meet increasing consumer demand.