Minnetonka, Minn.-based NatureWorks LLC, supplier of Ingeo™ biopolymers derived from annually renewable resources, has been nominated to receive a Leader of Change award, established by the Foundation for Social Change and the United Nations Office for Partnerships to recognize companies, financial institutions and advocacy groups that have committed to making sustainability — including environmental and social performance — part of their competitive strategy. The 2011 award will be presented October 6 at the annual Global Conference for Social Change: Turning Social Responsibility into Business Opportunity, in New York City.

"We've nominated NatureWorks as a 2011 Leader of Change because the organization embodies a compelling sustainability proof point," said Louise M. Guido, CEO, Foundation for Social Change. "NatureWorks is not a longstanding, conventional company that decided to 'go green,' this is a company actually founded — just 10 years ago — on the simple principle of selling sustainable performance products, giving contemporary industry a new way to do business, and offering today's consumer a new choice. And, as their Ingeo Earth Month project demonstrates, the early bet on environmental performance is clearly paying off."

NatureWorks established Ingeo Earth Month in 2005 to highlight innovation in low-carbon-footprint everyday consumer products made with bioplastics and biofibers derived from plant stock. As part of this year's program, the Ingeo Innovation Gallery traveled to New York City, Minneapolis and Boulder, Colo.; as well as to Germany for interpack 2011, a trade fair for the packaging sector and related processing industries, and to Shanghai for Chinaplas 2011, a trade fair for the plastics and rubber sectors.

August 16, 2011