(Corrected, 8:30 a.m.)
NORTH KINGSTOWN – Snack foods maker Frito-Lay has honored the Toray Plastics (America) Inc. plant in North Kingstown as a 2009 supplier of the year for the plastics maker’s work on producing a compostable bag.
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Frito-Lay, a division of Pepsi Co., uses the bags to package its SunChips line. Frito-Lay said it worked with Woods End Laboratories in Mt. Vernon, Maine, to test the bag’s ability to break down under conditions at an industrial compost facility. The Biodegradable Products Institute later certified the bag as “industrial compostable.”
The Toray plant at Quonset Business Park produces the bags’ film, made from polylactic acid, or polylactide, a versatile polymer made from plants instead of petroleum.
“We are honored to be recognized as Frito-Lay’s 2009 Supplier of the Year in the Dave Rader Innovation of the Year category,” said Mike Brandmeier, senior vice president at Toray. “We share Frito-Lay’s commitment to sustainability, and it was very exciting to partner with them on such a challenging endeavor.”
Executives from Toray Plastics (America), a division of Japanese-based Toray, went to Frito-Lay’s headquarters in Texas last week to pick up the award, one of 12 awarded by the snack maker.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Toray produced the bags. The company produces the film used in the bags.
