Supplied by Floral Plant Growers, SoilWrap now available at Home
Depot and Shopko stores; plantable pots made from Mirel biopolymers save
gardeners time and provide a sustainable alternative to plastic
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & WEST CHICAGO, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Metabolix,
Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX), a bioscience company focused on developing
clean, sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy, Ball
Horticultural Company and Floral
Plant Growers LLC (FPG), today announced that the Mirel®-based
biodegradable SoilWrap®
plant containers are now available at Home
Depot and Shopko
stores located across the Midwest and Northwest.
SoilWrap biodegradable plantable flower pot. Floral Plant Growers and Ball Horticulture make SoilWrap using Mirel biopolymer from Metabolix.
(Photo: Business Wire)
Made from 100-percent renewable Mirel biopolymers, Ball SoilWrap is a
bottomless plant container that biodegrades naturally in soil. Its
innovative design promotes fast plant growth and eliminates transplant
shock by immediately bringing roots in direct contact with soil. Once
planted in the garden, SoilWrap degrades by becoming food for beneficial
soil microbes.1
"As a leader in the horticultural industry, we are dedicated to
providing gardeners and landscape professionals with new, more
sustainable solutions that promote healthy plant growth, enable
consumers to reduce waste and empower retailers to differentiate product
offerings," said Bill Doeckel, general manager of Ball Innovations, a
business unit of Ball Horticultural Company. "Metabolix invested
significantly in research and development to create its Mirel
biopolymers, which we have tested extensively for our SoilWrap product.
We are excited to be launching SoilWrap, with FPG, and do our part to
reduce the amount of horticultural plastic going to landfills."
As an alternative to petroleum-based plastics, SoilWrap enables home
gardeners to eliminate waste and reduce planting and clean-up time by 30
percent. For growers and retailers, the biodegradability properties
enabled by the Mirel biopolymers provide a differentiated and
sustainable bioplastic option for customers.
"With last year's successful marketing and consumer trial of Ball
Horticultural's SoilWrap plantable pots, we are excited to see the
commercial availability of the new product at leading retail locations
such as Home Depot and Shopko," said Richard P. Eno, president and CEO
of Metabolix. "As one of our earliest customers, Ball's SoilWrap
perfectly showcases the key benefits of our Mirel biopolymer. With
multiple disposal options, Mirel is one of the most versatile
biopolymers on the market and customers like Ball continue to rely on
these unique properties to develop more sustainable product offerings."
SoilWrap is currently available on multiple plant types at Home Depot
stores in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska and Shopko
stores in Illinois, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska,
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Mirel is completely biodegradable in natural soil and marine
environments, but delivers the same performance characteristics as many
petroleum-based plastics, including printability and heat resistance.
Mirel and SoilWrap are both listed on the USDA Biopreferred program,
which designates biobased products that are preferred for purchase by
federal agencies and their contractors.
About Floral Plant Growers
Floral Plant Growers LLC (FPG), headquartered in Denmark, Wisconsin has
greenhouse facilities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana. FPG has been
successful in the wholesale bedding plant industry for the past 40 years
being designated as primary supplier for the vast majority of its
customers, primarily as a result of FPG's continued emphasis on
providing sustainable high quality products followed up with strong
customer service and exceptional merchandising services. "SoilWrap" fits
well with FPG's ongoing commitment as a certified Veriflora Grower since
2008.
About Ball Horticultural Company
Ball Horticultural Company is an internationally renowned breeder,
producer and wholesale distributor of ornamental plants. A family-owned
business since it was founded in 1905, Ball has introduced many
innovative, award-winning varieties to the world of horticulture,
including the Wave(R) petunia family and Super Elfin(R) impatiens. Ball
is committed to sustainable practices and has highlighted its green
accomplishments in its "Sustainability Report." The company has
worldwide production, sales and marketing through its many subsidiaries
on six continents. For further information, log on to ballhort.com.
About Metabolix
Founded in 1992, Metabolix, Inc. is an innovation-driven bioscience
company focused on providing sustainable solutions for the world's needs
for plastics, chemicals and energy. The Company is taking a systems
approach, from gene to end product, integrating sophisticated
biotechnology with advanced industrial practice. Metabolix is developing
biosourced industrial chemicals and plastics, as well as a proprietary
platform technology for co-producing plastics, chemicals and energy from
crops.
For more information, please visit www.metabolix.com.
(MBLX-G)
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do
not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned
that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical
statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding market
acceptance of Mirel biopolymers, constitute forward-looking statements.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those anticipated and are detailed in Metabolix's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including its 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2011, which was filed on March 12, 2012. Metabolix
assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information
contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements
described herein.
1Center for Applied Horticultural Research (for the Ball
Horticultural Company), "Performance of Biopots Under Greenhouse
Conditions," www.ballhort.com/Growers/PdfAssets/pdfpage.aspx?pdfid=570
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50244382&lang=en
Media:
Metabolix
Lynne Brum, 617-682-4693
LBrum@metabolix.com
or
Schwartz
MSL Boston
Keith Giannini or Kirsten Swenson, 781-684-0770
metabolix@schwartzmsl.com
or
Investors:
ICR
James
Palczynski, 203-682-8229
james.palczynski@icrinc.com
Source: Metabolix, Inc.
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