CORN STARCH PLA PRODUCTS EXPLAINED
As the name implies, our Bonnie Bio compostable products are made from corn starch. PLA (Polyactic Acid) is typically made from the sugars in corn starch, cassava or sugarcane. It is biodegradable, carbon-neutral and edible. To transform corn into plastic, corn kernels are immersed in sulfur dioxide and hot water, where its components break down into starch, protein, and fiber.
The starch is comprised of long chains of carbon molecules, similar to the carbon chains in plastic from fossil fuels. Biodegradable plastics take three to six months to decompose fully. That’s much quicker than synthetic counterparts that can take several hundred years. Exactly how long a biodegradable product takes to break down depends on various factors, such as temperature, the amount of moisture and oxygen present.
