PLA (Polylactic Acid)

A bioplastic made from plant starch (often corn or sugarcane) used for clear cold cups and cutlery. It's commercially compostable but looks and feels like conventional plastic.

PLA is a bioplastic polymerised from plant sugars — commonly corn or sugarcane starch — rather than from crude oil. It's prized in food service because it's clear, rigid and glossy: PLA cold cups, domed lids and clear cutlery look and feel like conventional plastic, so they suit iced drinks, salads and grab-and-go displays.

Its main limitation is heat. PLA softens at relatively low temperatures, so it's a cold-side material — not for hot coffee or hot-fill soups, where PLA-lined paper or other coatings are used instead. It's also compostable only under industrial conditions (AS 4736), not in a home compost or a landfill.

One recycling note worth knowing: PLA looks like PET but isn't, and mixing the two contaminates a PET recycling stream. Keep PLA out of the plastics recycling bin and route it to commercial composting where available. For a café, PLA is a sensible clear-cup choice when you have an organics collection to match.