Schnucks, Smart & Final To Debut EarthShell Products

LOS ANGELES AND ST. LOUIS -- Smart & Final and Schnucks Markets will be the first grocery customers to add EarthShell Packaging plates and bowls by its United States-based licensee, ReNewable Products, Inc. (RPI).

The chains are scheduled to debut EarthShell disposable dinnerware products in January, including 9-inch plates and 12-ounce bowls, which will be available in a newly designed retail package.

Initial product shipments to both customers are scheduled to begin in January. Los Angles-based Smart & Final operates more than 235 non-membership warehouse stores for food and foodservice supplies in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho. St. Louis-based Schnucks Markets currently operates 102 stores and 99 pharmacies in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Mississippi and Iowa.

The supplier said EarthShell products reduce the environmental burdens of rigid food service packaging through the careful selection of raw materials, processes, and suppliers.

The products, which are made primarily from natural limestone and starch from potatoes, wheat or corn, biodegrade when exposed to moisture in nature, physically disintegrate in water when crushed or broken, and can be composted in a commercial facility or in consumers' backyards.