Concord, CA — A new company hopes to create a market for recycled bioplastic in the United States by buying post-consumer and post-industrial polylactic acid and turning it back into usable material or compost.

Most bioplastics are made of polylactic acid (PLA), a material derived from plant starches, generally from corn. While one of the benefits of PLA is that it comes from renewable resources instead of oil, it can also be completely recycled back into usable PLA or composted when disposed of.

However, there is sparse industrial composting infrastructure in the U.S. and even less bioplastic recycling. Concord-based Biocor hopes to change that.

The company is currently developing its own infrastructure and hiring staff in North America, and will be buying both post-consumer and post-industrial bioplastic made from PLA.

Biocor says it will primarily focus on turning PLA into its base material, lactic acid, for sale to companies that want to use recycled PLA, but it can also turn it into compost.

The company also plans to work with recyclers on separating PLA from other plastics, and it will collaborate with governments and other groups to create pilot recycling projects.

Bioplastics are currently identified with the number 7 resin code, which is a general category for "other" plastics. Since most recycling programs focus only on PET and HDPE plastic (identified by the number 1 and 2 resin codes, respectively), those "other" plastics are of little value.  Biocor's outreach will focus on the value of PLA materials and how to separate them from similar-looking plastics.

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