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Print Edition StoriesFriday, March 20, 2009
Metabolix, Telles deal cleans pond scum with bioplastics
By Efrain Viscarolasaga
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Cambridge-based bioplastics maker Metabolix Inc. has landed its first customer in the marine and freshwater equipment market, one of the six industries targeted for the company’s joint venture, Telles Inc., and its Mirel injection-mold-grade bioplastic resin.
Under terms of the agreement, Minnesota-based Bioverse Inc. will use the Mirel bioplastic in the manufacture of its AquaSphere PRO pond and lake treatment systems for golf courses. The system uses a proprietary chemical solution dispensed through a large plastic sphere to improve the quality and clarity of water in ponds and other small bodies of water. Once the solution is dispensed fully, the sphere itself, made of Mirel, degrades in an environmentally friendly way.
The deal represents the first partnership for Lowell-based Telles, a joint venture between Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland Co., in the aquatic industry. Since the joint venture’s founding in 2006, Telles has managed to gain market penetration in the other five of its target markets — agriculture, composting, consumer products, business equipment and packaging — according to Bob Findlen, vice president of sales and marketing for Telles.
“This deal is a bit of a milestone because it takes into account the product’s degradation in water,” as opposed to the soil or composting material in other applications, he said.
The deal also comes at an opportune time for the company. Metabolix recently announced a $36 million net loss on revenue of $1.6 million for 2008, mostly due to the construction of a Telles production facility in Iowa, according to company sources. The plant is expected to open in the second half of this year and once fully operational, will be able to produce 110 million pounds of Mirel per year, compared to the roughly 4.8 million pounds per year it is making in its pilot plant now.
That production is expected to put Telles at the center of a bioplastics industry experts say should blossom in the coming years. According to a report last year from German research firm Helmut Kayser Consultancy, the market for bioplastics reached more than $1 billion in 2007 and could surpass $10 billion by 2020.
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