DuPont and Plantic Technologies Limited plan to collaborate in the development and sale of renewably sourced polymers made from Plantic technology. Plans include the collaborative development of new, renewably sourced resins and sheet materials based on high-amylose corn starch as the renewable feedstock for applications including cosmetics, personal care and food packaging trays, caps and containers. In addition to co-developing these new materials, DuPont will market and distribute Plantic's starch-based resins and sheet products under the DuPont(TM) Biomax(R) family of products.

"Putting DuPont's polymer science and biotechnology together with Plantic's leading-edge starch-based technology helps both companies broaden the performance of this class of polymers, while accelerating the availability of more options to replace the use of nonrenewable feedstocks," Shanna Moore, DuPont global business director for sustainable packaging materials, said. "This is part of the company's overall strategy to nearly double revenues from non-depletable resources to $8 billion by 2015 through a combination of DuPont R&D and targeted strategic partnerships."

Under the agreement, DuPont will market Plantic's starch-based sheet materials for trays and rigid packaging applications in North America, extending Plantic's existing markets for these materials, which previously had been limited to Europe and Australia. DuPont also will brand and sell starch- based injection molding resins made with Plantic technology in all markets except Australia and New Zealand, using the DuPont(TM) Biomax(R) brand. "This agreement with DuPont helps Plantic expand the reach of its renewably sourced polymer technology around the world, and significantly enhances the opportunities for product development for this technology by tapping into one of the world's leading science companies," Plantic CEO Grant Dow said.