NatureWorks nominated as a 2011 Leader of Change.

Ingeo Earth Month 2011, the month-long celebration of Ingeo, a plastic made from renewable plant material, not oil, stretched across three continents and involved thousands of people with innovative and sustainable consumer products through the traveling Ingeo Innovation Gallery. Upon the close of the month,NatureWorkswas nominated as a Leader of Change, a prestigious award instituted by the Foundation for Social Change and the United Nations Office for Partnerships. The award recognizes visionary executives of companies, financial institutions, and advocacy groups that have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the pursuit of sustainability whereby environmental and social performance are embedded in the competitive strategy of the organization. The 2011 Leader of Change award ceremony will take place on 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,” explains 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.”

The 2011 Ingeo Earth Month program took the Ingeo Innovation Gallery, a showcase of the latest in low-carbon-footprint consumer products, to three locations in the United States and to stops in Europe and Asia. Brands participating in Ingeo Earth Month included Bioserie, Coca-Cola, Danone, Earth’s Best, Electrolux, Elements Naturals, Frito-Lay, Henkel, Shiseido, Stonyfield, Target, and Walmart.

Inspired by the United Nations Earth Day, Ingeo Earth Month, in its seventh edition in 2011, has grown over the past seven years, reflecting the importance of showcasing product innovation through the practical application in everyday consumer products of plastics and fibers made from plants. Today, there are hundreds of products being made with Ingeo, from plastic cups to iPhone covers, and the Ingeo Innovation Gallery represents a selection of this fast-emerging business sector.