Acknowledgements

The BioSpecs for Food Service Ware: Environmentally Preferable Specifications for Compostable Biobased Food Service Ware, or simply, the BioSpecs, reflect the ideas, efforts, and input of many individuals and their organizations. The BioSpecs evolved from a series of documents that provided the foundation for defining sustainability criteria for biobased materials, including:

• Sustainable Biopolymer Purchaser Guidelines (Healthy Building Network et al., 2006)
• Choosing Environmentally Preferable Food Service Ware: Reusable and Sustainable Biobased Plastics (Health Care Without Harm, 2007)
• Guidelines for Sustainable Bioplastics (Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, 2009)

The BioSpecs were also informed by a market survey, conducted in 2008, of 45 biobased food service products made by 22 manufacturers. We thank all the producers who participated in our survey, provided detailed data on their products, and answered our many follow-up questions. A special acknowledgement goes to Arielle Tozier of the Oregon Center for Environmental Health for coordinating the survey and to Health Care Without Harm for supporting the survey work. We especially appreciate the time and counsel provided by our Technical Advisory Committee: Clinton S. Boyd of the Sustainable Research Group, Dr. Joseph Greene of California State University at Chico, Lee Kane of Whole Foods Market, Susan Kinsella of the Green Purchasing Institute, Tom Lent of the Healthy Building Network, Jack Macy of the City and County of San Francisco, Josephine Miller of the City of Santa Monica, Dr. Ramani Narayan of Michigan State University, and Tom Wright of Sustainable Bizness Practices.*

We would also like to thank the following individuals for their hard work in making the BioSpecs a success: Mark Newton of Dell, Julia Olmstead of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Arielle Tozier, Marie Kulick, Tom Cooper, and Alicia Culver of the Green Purchasing Institute.*

The beta version of the BioSpecs v.1.0 was made available for public comment in fall 2009. We received over 70 comments from people involved in various fields and of varying backgrounds. We thank all the people who took the time to read over the BioSpecs and give us their feedback. The BioSpecs were revised based upon the feedback we received and will be further updated as the industry and our understanding of the opportunities and challenges of manufacturing sustainable biobased products evolve.

About the Technical Advisory Committee

The Technical Advisory Committee consists of 16 members from varying expertise and backgrounds that was formed to create and analyze the BioSpecs criteria for necessity and practicality and to review the comments received on the beta version of the BioSpecs for Food Service Ware. The Committee includes representatives from NGOs, academia, local government, and retail: Brenda Platt and Heeral Bhalala (Institute for Local Self- Reliance), Mark Rossi (Clean Production Action), Jim Kleinschmit and Julia Olmstead (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy), David Levine (American Sustainable Business Council), Cathy Crumbley (Lowell Center for Sustainable Production), Clinton Boyd (Sustainable Research Group), Jack Macy (City and County of San Francisco), Dr. Ramani Narayan (Michigan State University), Lee Kane (Whole Foods Market), Tom Wright (Sustainable Bizness Practices), Dr. Joseph Green (California State University at Chico), Tom Lent (Healthy Building Network), Susan Kinsella (Green Purchasing Institute), and Josephine Miller (City of Santa Monica).

 

* Organizations’ names are listed for affiliation purposes only and do not imply organizational endorsement of the BioSpecs.