for more information about stanelco click on the links.

driver's research page link
http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/posts.php?tid=7681#lastread
website link
http://www.stanelco.co.uk/index.htm

Tonyrelaxes - 18 Aug 2006 13:09 - 19088 of 19090
I think it is great


I think he is charlatan. Just an opinion backed up with reasoning.

I have it on good authority that Sainsburys will not allow their food to be packed in Starpol as it is derived from genetically modified crops.I hope Stanelco are allready addressing this problem and I will be in touch with them to this end.

MP,
I raised the question some months ago and was informed that for a premium, the crops can be GM free.
alan

Alan I will pass this on but I don't think they(Sainsburys) will like the "premium" bit.

Without getting technical I hope I can answer your questions:



1) All PLA can be guaranteed GM free even if the source is GM crops as all GM signature is destroyed during the fermentation process of manufacture. However in reality the corn that goes into NatureWorks may come from genetically modified corn as about 50% of US corn has been modified in order to reduce the herbicides and pesticides used. NatureWorks has a cost offset programme set up that guarantees that if a company want GM free crop they will purchase that amount of raw material on your behalf and mix it with their regular stock. This way a company can honestly say they are buying GM free corn for the product. Alternatively NatureWorks will clean their plant and run guaranteed GM free corn if the order (and cost) is high enough. To make PLA you do not need GM crop, but in the USA a lot of corn has been genetically modified and most companies are taking a pragmatic view that it is better to use a partial GM source sustainable crop material rather than 100% fossil fuel material for food trays and other containers. NatureWorks could not sustain the world usage for PLA and as the demand grows other factories in various other parts of the world will produce PLA from non GM crop. Tate and Lyle have recently purchased the Hycail PLA pilot plant in Holland and will, in the fullness of time, be producing PLA from non GM stock. Others are following. Stanelco is talking to these companies on a regular basis. Whilst GM is a major world issue I believe the way to change things is to work with companies to change and by increasing the use of PLA world wide more factories will be built and non GM crop will be used. There are issues regarding GM in other crops, such as cotton and Soya and US cola drinks. About 50% of the worlds cotton is GM a great deal more Soya has been modified and the corn syrup going into US cola type drinks uses American corn, all of which makes the tiny amount of packaging made from sustainable products that may have come from GM crops a very small issue. Stanelco will purchase guaranteed GM free corn if its customers require it. Starpol 3000 has very little PLA, the main ingredient being starch, which is GM free European grown.



2) Starpol 2000 is currently made as a polymer in Germany, however as sales grow franchises and joint ventures manufacturing plants can be set up where ever the material is required. This is no different from any other plastic polymer which may come from the Far East or the USA to make packaging or other plastic components in any other part of the world.



3) Many plastics are currently transported around the world. Carrier bags for most of the European supermarkets are made in the Far East often from polymers that are made in the USA. The only commercial plant to make PLA is currently in the USA, so all PLA in the world is transported many miles. As the usage of PLA increases more plants will be built which will reduce the transportation down to below that of fossil fuel plastics as crops will be grown on each continent that has a factory. The transport energy used by PLA is generally no more than fossil fuel at the moment and can only improve.



4) The manufacture of PLA takes no more energy than standard fossil fuel plastics to make, however all the time the crop is growing it is absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and is generally CO2 neutral which makes it more environmentally responsible than fossil fuel polymers towards global warming. If you compare energy efficiency between plastic and the most well known sustainable packaging product paper, you will find that paper uses 4 times more water than plastic, takes 4/5 times more energy and need about 5 times more vehicles on the road to deliver the finished good and 5 times more warehouse space to store paper bags compared to plastic bags. PLA material is comparative to a standard fossil fuel plastic in terms of energy use but with reduced greenhouse gasses.







I hope this helps, please call if you have any more queries.





Kind Regards



Terry Robins

Chief Operating Officer

Stanelco plc



That was from terry on the 16/06/2006 in reply to my querying the green credentials of SEO.
Hope it helps,
alan

alan
from your post 17297 on 16 june.

1) All PLA can be guaranteed GM free even if the source is GM crops as all GM signature is destroyed during the fermentation process of manufacture. However in reality the corn that goes into NatureWorks may come from genetically modified corn as about 50% of US corn has been modified in order to reduce the herbicides and pesticides used. NatureWorks has a cost offset programme set up that guarantees that if a company want GM free crop they will purchase that amount of raw material on your behalf and mix it with their regular stock. This way a company can honestly say they are buying GM free corn for the product. Alternatively NatureWorks will clean their plant and run guaranteed GM free corn if the order (and cost) is high enough. To make PLA you do not need GM crop, but in the USA a lot of corn has been genetically modified and most companies are taking a pragmatic view that it is better to use a partial GM source sustainable crop material rather than 100% fossil fuel material for food trays and other containers. NatureWorks could not sustain the world usage for PLA and as the demand grows other factories in various other parts of the world will produce PLA from non GM crop. Tate and Lyle have recently purchased the Hycail PLA pilot plant in Holland and will, in the fullness of time, be producing PLA from non GM stock. Others are following. Stanelco is talking to these companies on a regular basis. Whilst GM is a major world issue I believe the way to change things is to work with companies to change and by increasing the use of PLA world wide more factories will be built and non GM crop will be used. There are issues regarding GM in other crops, such as cotton and Soya and US cola drinks. About 50% of the worlds cotton is GM a great deal more Soya has been modified and the corn syrup going into US cola type drinks uses American corn, all of which makes the tiny amount of packaging made from sustainable products that may have come from GM crops a very small issue. Stanelco will purchase guaranteed GM free corn if its customers require it. Starpol 3000 has very little PLA, the main ingredient being starch, which is GM free European grown.

If I knew you were filing it for future reference I'd have been more careful in waht i wrote!!!!
;-)
Alan

And we still don't know what % the premium would be.

Alan if its ok with you I will get a copy of your post up to Holborn and ask for comments.

No, but we do know that Sainsburys stock every other type of GM known to man.
From that we can assume they have no great ideological problem with it, simply a marketing problem, which can be addressed by the arguments outlined above. That all GM signatures are destroyed in the creation of the product, and so it is possible to say that the product contains no GM crop.

Fire away MP.

alan
I found it while i was looking back, to find what they used the last 3.7m raised for sure they had a use for it not just running costs. Memory not so good now.

My contact is not available right now but I did speak to the Sainsburys helpline 0800636262 and the gentleman there assured me that none of Sainsburys own label products contain any GM ingredients.Ring him if you dont believe me.

Al, sorry, but my little lawyer's brain (I keep it in a jar by my bed) has gone into overdrive.

Are we saying a product is GM-free if the production process alters the nature of the ingredients to such an extent that there is no evidence of the GM left over? Surely the criterion should not be unrecognisability of the product's origins but rather that fact that it came from crops that were never GM in the first place.

A pork sausage is still not kosher even if you dress it up to look like beef.

I'm no scientist but as I read it the situation is that processing destroys the modified bit of the plant. All that is used is the starch, and this is untouched by tinkering with the genes.
if that is the case then I assume what Terry is saying is that one could advertise it as not containing any GM material (In much the same way as you could probably describe your sausage as not containing any pork ;-) ).
This would be true, even though the original crop was GM. Further you could say that the crops sourced to produce your Starpol was GM free, by allowing the precise quantity of GM free stuff you need to be mixed in with the batch in general. To a lawyer it may seem to be stretching language to breaking point. To an adman it is hum drum everyday stuff.
After all, Sainsburys are happy to say that all their own label stuff is GM free, but is that the same as not from GM based crops, where for instance, starch is added??
i don't doubt Mad Pad at all, but words can mean anything you want. After all, look at SEO's RNS!!!
Alan

AL, I understnad you, but I'm not sure how it will go down with the green lobby. I know the problem is surmountable, and it may not even be that serious depending on how high a profile the "Frankenfoods" issue gets regarding this product.

I referred to that In June, too. I was of the opinion that Asda / WM would not risk buying anything that, when they produced it as green, was shot down by the green lobby. I thought it was one of the causes of delay, then.
I doubt it would be too heavily attacked as it is so much better than the status quo, or the alternatives currently available. Surely the reply is it is better to be 75% green than 0% green.
Alan

Good reasoning. we shall see what happens. Thanks very much for your informative posts!

It's simple don't eat the wrapper!

As for the argument that it will decompose into the soil and effect new plants.
WELL THATS PLAIN COCK>
ask a scientist.

extract from alans post: re gm

Starpol 2000 is currently made as a polymer in Germany, however as sales grow franchises and joint ventures manufacturing plants can be set up where ever the material is required.
Tate and Lyle have recently purchased the Hycail PLA pilot plant in Holland and will, in the fullness of time, be producing PLA from non GM stock. Others are following. Stanelco is talking to these companies on a regular basis. Whilst GM is a major world issue I believe the way to change things is to work with companies to change and by increasing the use of PLA world wide more factories will be built and non GM crop will be used.