Dream product breaks down

So-called ‘disposable’ plastic bags, Styrofoam finally meet their match in corn-based options

By Nancy Hill

Pamplin Media Group, May 8, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Shawn Alford, Trellis Earth’s territory manager, shows off a fresh batch of products, plates made out of corn oil. As U.S. cities join other countries in prohibiting more plastic products, Trellis Earth sees demand increasing for its biodegradable options.

©2007 NANCY HILL

The last couple of years, local businessmen Bill Collins and Chad Biasi have spent time traveling in Asia.

They had talked about selling products directly from China on a Web site, but as environmentalists they didn’t want an e-commerce business that put more unnecessary merchandise in the hands of hungry consumers.

All that changed in October 2006 when they found the perfect product: a bowl made out of corn oil.

“China had the foresight to create this product and bring it to market six years ago,” Biasi says. “When we ‘discovered’ it, we immediately started research and found out American companies didn’t have a comparable product.”

The same Chinese company that made the bowls also made biodegradable “plastic” bags out of corn. Biasi and Collins had found a few companies on the East Coast that sold biodegradable plastic bags, but the bags tended to melt at low temperatures, gather moisture and did not hold their shape.

Convinced China had a product that could be both profitable and ecologically sound, the two men formed Trellis Earth, with the 45-year-old Collins serving as the chief executive officer, and Biasi, 55, taking on the role of vice president.

Collins took out a home loan, and the two found local investors and contracted with a distributor. Then, using their Internet savvy, they set up an e-commerce site to introduce the line of biodegradable plastic food containers and bags to the United States.

“The time was right to introduce this into our country,” Biasi says. “A lot of the rest of the world already has outlawed the plastic bags and Styrofoam food containers Americans throw away by the millions, but people are becoming more and more savvy about ecology every day. We felt these products would do well here.”

Trellis Earth began to distribute products early this year. “Our products have taken off beyond anything we ever imagined,” Biasi reports. “We were in the right place at the right time.”

In addition to selling to numerous local companies such as Elephants Delicatessen, Daily Grind Natural Foods and Bower’s Bakery and Deli, Trellis Earth is negotiating to supply plastic bags to major supermarket chains in San Francisco, where the city’s Board of Supervisors recently voted to ban plastic bag use in large grocery chains.

Bags biodegrade in 21 days

Trellis Earth is about more than making money.

Biasi says: “There are only six of us who make up the company right now, and every one of us is an activist. So for us, this company is about offering a product made out of a material that is Earth-friendly.”

Trellis Earth’s plastic bags are an excellent example. Biasi explains, “The plastic bags everyone’s been using since the ’70s are made from petroleum, so they’re toxic when they’re created. They’re toxic to use because the benzene leaks into whatever you put in the bags.

“When you want to get rid of the bags, you can’t, so they become toxic to the environment,” he says. “The current plastic bags we see in stores last for over 1,000 years. On the other hand, our bags are nontoxic during their creation, use and destruction.”

Made of corn oil, the bags biodegrade in 21 days. They can be burned as a clean heat source. And Trellis Earth has found an enzyme that when added to the bags, breaks the bags down into biofuel within 10 days.

“Our food containers don’t have any toxins in them,” Biasa continues. “Eating a healthy salad out of a Styrofoam takeout container is silly. The toxins leak right into your food. So how healthy is your salad then?”

In addition to being completely toxin-free, the corn-product food containers and bags also keep food fresher for 30 percent longer than the plastic and Styrofoam containers grocery stores and restaurants currently use.

‘Green’ changes bring profits

Trellis Earth’s Territory Manager Shawn Alford, 37, says the company is working on a plan to reclaim the product after use.

“We’re dedicated to repurpose every product we sell, whether it’s used to make biofuel or heat pellets,” she says. “We’re in the research phase now and are really excited by all the possibilities.”

Alford acknowledges the company has some concerns about the product being shipped from China. “We’re well aware of the carbon footprints shipping leaves behind,” she says, “but overall, the amount of fuel saved by making and using these bags is so significant that the trade-off is worth it. We’re also talking about ways to address the situation.”

The corn used in the product is nonfeed grade. “When we entered into this, our manufacturers in China had enough corn stored to last several years, and we’re working on how we will go forward,” Alford says. “There’s a lot of serious research going into identifying ways other crops can be used for these products, and we’re staying abreast of all developments.”

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