Lakeside Plastics Selects Telles' Mirel Film Product for New Line of Compostable Bags

Telles, a joint venture between Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX) and Archer Daniels Midland Company, today announced that Lakeside Plastics Ltd., an innovative film converter headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, will be launching a compostable bag product line based on Mvera™ B5002, a compostable film product made from a proprietary blend with Mirel™ bioplastics. Lakeside will purchase Mvera film grade under a supply agreement with Telles, for large-volume applications including yard waste and consumer kitchen compost bags. The specific terms of the contract have not been disclosed.

Lakeside Plastics has been working with Telles to produce compostable trash liners, lawn and leaf, and kitchen compost bags. The new product line of bags will use Mvera B5002 film material, enabling consumer yard waste and organics diversion to industrial composting.

"We are very excited with the superior performance of Mvera B5002 film in terms of strength, rapid composting ability, and that it meets or exceeds ASTM standard D6400 for compostable plastics," said Stuart MacDonald, chief operating officer with Lakeside. "As we commit to manufacturing compostable bags for the burgeoning North American market, we are confident in doing so with Mvera B5002, that our product line will have wide appeal to the consumer and industrial compost bag segments alike."

"Through Lakeside, we are bringing a tough and faster composting film material to the market," explained Bob Engle, Telles general manager. "Mvera B5002 film for compost bags has the strength that consumers are asking for. With the rapid composting and D6400 certification to a thickness of 288 µm (11 mil), Mvera is an excellent material choice for both consumer and commercial organic waste diversion needs."

The global market for bioplastic packaging demand is forecast to achieve a 24.9 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2010-15 according to a new report from PIRA International. The report forecasts that flexible packaging will take a growing share of bioplastics segment up to 2020.

About Lakeside Plastics Ltd.

Headquartered in Salmon Arm in BC, Lakeside Plastics has offices in Fort Worth, TX and Denver CO. With over 30 years of manufacturing flexible packaging, Lakeside services the retail, produce, horticulture and mining sectors with custom manufactured bags. Contact: smacdonald@lakesidepackaging.net

About Mirel Bioplastics

Mirel is a family of bioplastic materials that have physical properties comparable to petroleum-based resins, yet are biobased and biodegradable in natural soil and water environments, in home composting systems, and in industrial composting facilities where such facilities are available. The rate and extent of Mirel's biodegradability will depend on the size and shape of the articles made from it. However, like nearly all bioplastics and organic matter, Mirel is not designed to biodegrade in conventional landfills.

Commercial grades of Mirel are available for injection molding, thermoforming, sheet extrusion, and film applications. For more information please visit www.mirelplastics.com.

About Metabolix

Founded in 1992, Metabolix, Inc. is an innovation-driven bioscience company focused on providing sustainable solutions for the world's needs for plastics, chemicals and energy. The Company is taking a systems approach, from gene to end product, integrating sophisticated biotechnology with advanced industrial practice. Metabolix is now developing and commercializing Mirel™, a family of high performance bioplastics which are biobased and biodegradable alternatives to many petroleum based plastics, through Telles, a joint venture between Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland Company. Metabolix is also developing a proprietary platform technology for co-producing plastics, chemicals and energy, from crops such as switchgrass, oilseeds and sugarcane.

Source:  www.metabolix.com.