Frequently asked questions

Bioplastics are plastics that are either biobased, meaning it is made from plants and not fossil fuels, biodegradable, or both. Luminy® PLA is one of the few bioplastics that is both biobased and biodegradable.

The term bioplastics encompasses a wide range of plastics, including PLA.

Throughout our communications, unless otherwise specified, the terms ‘biobased’ and ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’ refer to EN16785-1 and EN13432 standards respectively. It is the responsibility of the article producer to ensure that claims on final products are substantiated by testing against the relevant standards. Check your locally available end-of-life infrastructure to ensure that legitimate end-of-life claims are made on the final product.

TotalEnergies Corbion produces Luminy® PLA, a plant-based bioplastic resin made from ethically farmed sugarcane. We take this one simple ingredient and transform it into plastic pellets, which our partners use to create a wide range of products—from running shoes to potato chip bags.

While we don’t manufacture the final products ourselves, we actively support our partners throughout their testing and development processes, providing PLA expertise to help them get the best results.

Polylactic Acid, or PLA for short, is a bioplastic made 100% from plant sugars. Items made from Luminy® PLA look, feel, and behave as if they were made from conventional plastic, but they have a much smaller impact on the environment.

Luminy® PLA is made from ethically harvested sugarcane crops that get processed into sugar and then naturally fermented using microorganisms to produce lactic acid. Our team puts the lactic acid through a polymerization process to convert it into PLA resin.

TotalEnergies Corbion works with brand owners, converters, and compounders all over the world to help them create sustainable products made with Luminy® PLA. These products include food packaging, medical devices, cosmetics packaging, 3D printing filament, drinking bottles, furniture, automotive parts, consumer appliances, t-shirts, and so much more. The possibilities are endless, and the industry is rapidly growing.

Notable examples of brands that have introduced bioplastic packaging are Danone (Actimel, Activia), EarthFirst (Numi tea), Changsu (M&Ms), and Sulapac (Chanel) cosmetics packaging.

Industrially compostable plastic materials or products certified according to EN 13432 / 14995 are allowed to carry the Seedling compostability label. This brand is owned by European Bioplastics. The independent certifiers DIN CERTCO (Germany) and TUV Austria (Belgium) carry out this certification process. An alternative is the ‘OK compost’ label issued by TUV Austria. It is based on the same standards.

The certifiers DIN CERTCO (Germany) and TUV Austria (Belgium) have also introduced labels showing the biobased carbon content of bioplastics. The measuring of the biobased carbon content is based on CEN/TS 16137.1

1 Answer taken from ‘Frequently Asked Questions on Bioplastics’, Aug 2013, European Bioplastics.

Our 100% biobased PLA resins can be used anywhere most conventional plastics are used. It is often a direct swap, making products more sustainable without having to compromise on look, feel, or functionality.

Luminy® PLA can be processed using many techniques, including:

• 3D printing, including high-speed
• Blow molding
• Compression molding
• Extrusion
• Film casting
• Injection molding
• Melt-blown and spunbond
• Thermoforming

Yes, Luminy® PLA is fully recyclable through both mechanical and advanced recycling (depolymerization) methods.

We actively work with customers to create closed-loop systems, collecting and recycling PLA products from events, hotels, sports competitions, and post-industrial waste streams. Recycled Luminy® PLA grades (rPLA) are also available with 20%, 30%, and 100% allocated recycled content.

Thanks to progressions in Near Infrared (NIR) technology, density separation, AI, and robotics systems in waste management, PLA can be easily separated from other types of polymers on the sorting line, including, among others, PET, PS, and HDPE. Purities of 97% have been obtained using NIR sorting of PLA, higher than most traditional plastics.*

*Technical quality of rPET. Technical quality of rPET that can be obtained from Dutch PET bottles that have been collected, sorted, and mechanically recycled, Wageningen University & Research (2016) https://edepot.wur.nl/392306

TotalEnergies Corbion takes the challenge of plastic pollution—on land and in waterways—extremely seriously. While the most effective long‑term solutions depend on smarter product design, better consumer education, and well‑functioning waste‑management systems, the compostability and biodegradability of Luminy® PLA can provide meaningful support.

A recent meta‑study by HYDRA Marine Sciences shows that, due to its inherent material characteristics—specifically its hydrolysis‑driven degradation process—PLA does not form persistent microplastics when it ends up in the environment. Unlike conventional, non‑biodegradable plastics that accumulate indefinitely as micro‑ and nanoplastics, PLA breaks down when exposed to moisture and water, preventing long‑lasting pollution.

No material should ever be released into the environment, and no certification should be seen as a license to litter. However, the same properties that make PLA compostable also ensure that, if it does escape waste‑management systems, its long‑term environmental impact is significantly lower than that of traditional plastics.

Read the Meta-Study on the environmental fate of PLA: https://www.hydramarinesciences.com/news-harris/meta-study-on-environmental-fate-of-pla

Throughout our communications, unless otherwise specified, the terms ‘biobased’ and ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’ refer to EN16785-1 and EN13432 standards respectively.

According to a recent study by Chaire CoPack, in partnership with AgroParisTech and the University of Montpellier, the certified EN13432 compostable bioplastics, including Luminy® PLA, fully biodegrade in industrial composting facilities. The study also found that the bioplastics positively affected the composting yield, did not have any negative consequences on the agronomic quality of the final compost, and did not generate ecotoxicity to higher plants, earthworms, and daphnia.

According to a recent meta-study by HYDRA Marine Sciences, commissioned by Holland Bioplastics, PLA fully hydrolyzes in water or humid conditions, leaving no persistent nano- or microplastics behind. This confirms PLA as an environmentally responsible material that does not contribute to long-term plastic pollution.

Producing 1 kg of Luminy® PLA requires 1.75 m² of land and 0.6 m³ of water, the majority of which comes from rainfall. The sugarcane used for Luminy® PLA is grown in regions with minimal water stress and occupies only 0.8% of Thailand’s arable land annually.

We believe in transparency and understanding our impact. Today, the entire bioplastics industry uses just 0.0015% of global arable land. Even if all plastics were replaced with Luminy® PLA, it would require only 1.23% of global arable land—small enough to not compete with food supply.

While land use is always a factor we consider, we believe the benefits are significant: a 75% lower carbon footprint than conventional plastics and 1.83 kg of CO₂ absorbed by the sugarcane for every kilogram of Luminy® PLA produced. It’s a step toward a more sustainable future.

*Whitepaper: Planting the future with PLA: Sustainability aspects and advantages of renewable feedstocks in bioplastics production.

The global attitude to PLA is positive and we are detecting interest and faith in our technology from policymakers globally.

Markets including Europe, USA and APAC are making regulatory frameworks positively affecting PLA, which support their goals to reaching a circular economy and supporting their carbon ambitions.

It is clear from our conversations with various governmental institutions globally, that they see the value and potential of including bioplastics such as PLA in their strategies to reduce plastic pollution and increase recycling rates, given the unique and wide ranging biogenic and compostable applications of PLA.

Certification of biodegradable/compostable products is available fromDIN CERTCO (Germany)TUV AUSTRIABPI (USA)

Biobased certification based on CEN/TS 16137 is available from:DIN CERTCO (Germany)TUV AustriaBiopreferred program (USA)

Answer taken from ‘Frequently Asked Questions on Bioplastics’, Aug 2013, European Bioplastics. For more information: http://en.european-bioplastics.org/standards/certification/