BiodegradableStore.com, a Boulder, Colorado–based e-tailer, lists numerous service and packaging items made from PLA, which, it says, “looks and feel just like regular plastic” and, in addition to being fully compostable, is made from U.S.-grown corn. Among the site’s best sellers are 16-ounce corn cups, meal-sized clamshells, and plastic cutlery with a heat tolerance of 140°F.

Pricing for PLA corn cups is generally less expensive than for petroleum-based counterparts, reports BiodegradableStore.com. For other items, prices might be slightly higher.

Chipotle has found yet another innovative use for corn plastic. Beginning this holiday season, it will be the material of choice for its gift cards, says Chipotle spokesperson, Chris Arnold.

In addition to corn, compostable plastics, also called bioplastics, are also being made from other renewable sources such as potato starch, tapioca, cellulose, and lactic acid. Another increasingly popular eco-friendly packaging breakthrough is bagasse, a paper-like material made from the pulp of used sugarcane stalks. Fully compostable, bagasse can be molded into a wide variety of shapes and sizes for use as clamshells, plates, bowls, lids, and sectioned take-out trays. Products made from the material can tolerate liquids up to 190°F without requiring glass or plastic liners and do not absorb liquids or grease.

However, until recently, most bagasse products were bleached with chlorine or chlorine-based compounds that release dioxins into the environment as they break down. Los Angeles–based Clear Creek Compostables, which imports from China packaging made from 90 percent sugar cane pulp and 10 percent wood pulp, is committed to sourcing unbleached products as well as making the transition to 100 percent sugar cane, says company operations manager Michael Schondorf.

In most Asian cultures, bamboo has traditionally been used for a multitude of purposes from fuel to building materials to serving pieces and utensils. Three years ago Jeff Delkin and Rachel Speth, a husband and wife entrepreneurial team who live in Shanghai, introduced Bambu tableware, including a collection of disposable plates and utensils called Vaneerware, made from 100-percent organically grown, unbleached, dye-free, and biodegradable peeled bamboo stalks grown on farms. The bamboo is grown in chemical-free soil and requires no replanting.

Originally developed for home use, Bambu tableware quickly attracted the attention of commercial caterers, “the first movers into the green segment,” Delkin says. Vaneerware is priced somewhat higher than many foodservice paper products. “We’re about on par with Chinet,” Delkin says. Interest from restaurants in the casual dining segment has convinced the company to ramp up production and begin work on developing bulk purchase programs.

If current sales are any indication, the green movement in packaging is more than a passing fad. McDonald’s made news as long as a decade ago by packaging its Big Macs in EarthShell clamshells in selected markets. USA Today recently reported that earth-friendly brands such as NatureWorks and EarthShell and two corn-based plastics manufacturers, Fabri-Kal and Nat-Ur, “are taking a chunk out of the $30 billion market for disposable dinnerware.”

The publication goes on to quote estimates that “sales of eco-friendly plates, cups, and cutlery could top $500 million in 2006 and $1 billion by 2008.”

Earlier this year, agricultural processing giant Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and biotechnology leader Metabolix announced a joint venture to produce “a new generation of high-performance natural plastics that are eco-friendly and based on sustainable, renewable resources.” A major new commercial plant with an initial capacity of 50,000 tons a year will manufacture a wide range of products “including coated paper, film, and molded goods,” that will be resistant to hot liquids, greases, and oils, yet will “biodegrade in aquatic, marine, and soil environments,” including septic systems and municipal treatment plants,” read a joint press release.

But it’s still not that easy being green in America. In many municipalities, the benefits of using a compostable product are neutralized by the fact that there simply are not sufficient composting facilities available, says Michael Oshman, executive director of the Green Restaurant Association.

“For PLA, for example, you need a good commercial industrial composting system called hot composting to allow it to break down after use,” he says. “Since most cities don’t have curbside recycling, most of the packaging will get thrown out at home and as much as about 85 percent of it will wind up in landfills, where it is buried, compressed, and deprived of the oxygen it needs to biodegrade.

Many municipalities have composting for yard waste, but not foodservice waste. And even if consumers try to compost the products in their backyards, that kind of cold composting is a very slow process.

There is also the argument that it takes as much petroleum to grow corn as it does to actually create traditional paper and plastic products. Some environmental experts are also concerned about the possible use of insecticides and pesticides during the growing process.

“The question isn’t should we switch away from petroleum-based products to less toxic, sustainable materials,” Oshman says. “However, we’re still in the infancy stage of making sure the environment gets the benefits of the new technologies.”