Harco offers bioplastic product lines

Peterborough, Ont.-based Harco Enterprises Ltd. is venturing into the bioplastics market. The company started offering alternative products made of biodegradable plastics to its existing client base in December.

“We’re offering [bioplastic] as an option right now on most of our line items, and we’re hoping to get into some custom molded items,” said vice president Terry Harris.

Harco occupies a 16,000 square foot facility with nine presses. The company’s new bioplastic products will be sold under the name NaturesPlast, and manufactured on Harco’s existing presses. Harris explained that they have made small tooling modifications such as different gating to accommodate the new material.

The company will be using resin sourced from Cereplast Inc. made from plants and polylactic acid (PLA).

“We have had a lot of inquiries, there’s quite a bit of activity around it right now, and it’s relatively new for us so we are being asked for a lot of information,” said Harris. “We feel that our primary target being a lot of food service and disposable items lends itself very well to this kind of product.”